A Pragma-stylistic Approach on Deixis

Abstract

Both linguistic stylistics and pragmatics have as a starting point the spoken language. Linguistic stylistics regards language from the perspective of the subjectivity that embellishes its use. Pragmatics is, in its turn, concerned with subjectivity in language; in this case, however, subjectivity is not reduced only to the mere expression of affectivity, but it also encloses all the elements in a spoken language used by people to meet their specific activities. That is why the research in the field of stylistics comprises all linguistic means of expression of subjectivity (phonetic, morphological, syntactic, lexical, semantic means), while pragmatic research focuses on the speakers’ usage of language depending on their mood, on the time and place of the utterance and on any other matters that may influence the process of communication.

  Deixis is one of the pragmatic elements that help granting a meaning to the speakers’ utterances in a given context, indicating at the same time their position towards themselves, towards the message and the interlocutor, from whom they require a certain action/expect a certain reaction.

Keywords: deixis, stylistics, pragmatics, subjectivity, negotiation.