LINGUIST List 3.14

Sun 05 Jan 1992

Disc: Demonstratives

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , 3.4 Demonstratives
2. bert peeters, 2.886 Iconicity deictics / demonstratives

Actually, only one of the Swahili demonstratives cited by Herb Stahlke
as a possible counterexample to the iconicity principle has an inherent
vowel. The demonstratives are h- + reduplicated vowel of concordial
noun class prefix followed by the concordial prefix (=proximal),
h- + the above + relativizing -o suffix (medial distance or afore-
mentioned), and concordial prefix + -le (=distal). The vowels of
hii, huu, etc. are those of the respective concordial prefixes of
noun classes, not part of the deictics themselves. If the suffixed -o
of the medial demonstrative were counted as part of the deictic, I
guess Swahili would be a counterexample in that the medial and distal
deictics would have vowels of equal degrees of closeness (o and e
respectively), but that depends whether the iconicity hypothesis is
making a claim that increasing distance MUST correspond with decreasing
vowel closeness, as opposed to equal-or-greater closeness.

> Date: Wed, 18 Dec 91 22:28:09 MEZ
> From: Martin Haase <MHAASEDOSUNI1.bitnet>
> Iconicity in demonstratives / local adverbs
>
> In many languages deictic local adverbs ('here, there') form a
> system, often related to the system of demonstratives. It seems
> that such systems follow an iconic principle: typically, smaller
> or greater distance from the speaker/hearer (the 'deictic point')
> are indicated by closer or more open vowels.
>
> In order not to take English, here is French as an example for a
> better known language: _ici_ 'here', _la_ 'there' (similarly: the
> corresponding demonstratives: _ceci_ 'this', _cela_ 'that' etc.).

... and the corresponding postnominal particles -ci and -la` as in

ce livre-ci 'this book [here]'
ce livre-la` 'that book [there]'

In French, demonstrative adjectives are indifferentiated wrt the deictic
point, and the recourse to particles is necessary to prevent ambiguity.

I can also confirm the existence of the iconic principle in the case of
Dutch:

hier - daar 'here - there'
dit - dat 'this - that' (pronouns and neuter adjectives)

but it does not work in the case of masculine and feminine demonstrative
adjectives:

deze jongen - deze dame 'this boy - this lady'
die jongen - die dame 'that boy - that lady'
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Bert Peeters Tel: +61 02 202344
Department of Modern Languages 002 202344
University of Tasmania at Hobart Fax: 002 207813
GPO Box 252C Bert.Peetersmodlang.utas.edu.au
Hobart TAS 7001
Australia