Cognitive Interpretation Of Deixis

Deixis, as an important topic in pragmatics, remains the research focus of philosophy, linguistics and psychology. Deixis is deemed as the linguistic means that directly reflect the interrelation between linguistic structures and the context. It is realized by lexical and grammatical units which rely on contextual parameters for interpretation. That is, its meaning is not semantically derived. Rather, it is deduced from contextual clues. Issues concerning the definition, the classification, the egocentricity of deixis, deictic projection have been sorted out by traditional grammarians, which lays foundations for further analyses.Previous studies of deixis are mainly conducted from the pragmatic perspective and hence their analyses tend to focus on the macro aspects concerning deixis, for instance, its pragmatic functions, its contextual dependence, etc., without taking subjective, social and cognitive facets into consideration. Based on these previous studies, the thesis argues that three aspects concerning deixis are not adequately accounted for and worth further elaboration, namely:1) The various sub-categories of deixis are actually closely related, which is not captured by traditional studies. This paper holds spatial deixis or the space domain may serve as the base for constructing other sub-categories.2) Deixis, in addition to its physical relatedness, is also a psychological concern which involves the speakers’repertoire of knowledge, attitudes, emotions and values. These subjective aspects of deixis are expounded on by invoking the notion of Epistemic Grounding, Ground and Epistemic Models to probe into the underlying cognitive basis of deixis.3) The conversion of deixis in conversation and the switching between direct speech and indirect speech do not receive due attention, whereas the analysis of deictic projection is mainly conducted in terms of pragmatic inferring. Here, Ground Theory, Mental Spaces and Conceptual Blending Theory will offer a vivid externalization of the inner meaning construction. The cognitive analyses mentioned above concern both the internal cognitive mechanism as well as the interrelation within the deixis category and the usage of deixis, which is intended to offer a rather comprehensive analysis of deixis.