Overview
The lecture introduces deixis, tense, and aspect in linguistics, focusing on how context and the speaker's viewpoint affect reference to space, time, and people.
Deixis: Contextual Reference System
- Deixis refers to how language points to people, places, or times depending on context and speaker ’s perspective.
- Spatial deixis uses words like "here," "there," and demonstratives like "this," "that."
- Temporal deixis involves time references using adverbs ("now," "later") or verb tenses.
- Personal deixis refers to people using pronouns like "I," "we."
- Demonstrative pronouns change meaning based on the speaker’s physical location.
Tense: Locating Events in Time
- Tense places events in relation to the time of speaking (present, past, or future).
- Present tense describes current actions ("Let’s go to the movies").
- Present tense can also denote future events with additional context ("We’re going to the movies at four").
- Future tense ("We will go to the movies") indicates actions after the utterance time.
- Past tense ("We went to the movies") refers to events completed before the utterance.
- Specificity is added with time adverbs ("yesterday," "today," "tomorrow").
Conditional: Future in the Past and Probability
- The conditional tense expresses the future relative to a past event or hypothetical probabilities.
- Example: "He called me yesterday saying he would arrive around six" (future from past perspective).
- Example: "If I had money, I would buy a car" (expresses probability or hypothetical situations).
Aspect: Internal Structure of Events
- Aspect describes the internal development or flow of an event, not just when it happened.
- "Juliana finished her homework" shows a completed action.
- "Fabiana works on Mondays" refers to a habitual/routine action.
- "Alex plays soccer now" shows an ongoing action with no specified end.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Deixis — Reference system dependent on context and speaker’s viewpoint.
- Spatial Deixis — Reference to location (e.g., "here," "there").
- Temporal Deixis — Reference to time (e.g., "now," "later").
- Personal Deixis — Reference to people (e.g., "I," "we").
- Tense — Grammatical system placing actions in time (past, present, future).
- Aspect — Describes how an event unfolds internally (completed, habitual, ongoing).
- Conditional — Verb form expressing future relative to the past, or hypothetical probability.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review differences between tense and aspect, and types of aspect, in the next lecture.