Deixis In Somali Documentation And Descriptio
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2014-07
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Abstract
This study is concemed with describing deixis in the Somali language. Deixis is the way referents
are pointed to by means of lingui stic expression s. Accordingly, Somali deictics include: personal,
spatial, temporal, social, manner and quantitative, presentative, discoursal, and recognitiona! devices.
Tn the category of Somali personal pronouns, the first person plural has two forms, inclusive (where
the addressee(s) is/are included) and exclusive (where the addressee(s) is/are excluded). The
demonstratives indicate proximal and distal objects from the speaker. Tbere are two kinds of distal
demonstratives of which one is contrastive to either the proximal or to another distal one. Tn Somali,
there are two directional deictics that point to the concepts of space and time in reference to the sun.
One directional deix is points to the sun as an entity coming toward the top of the horizon while the
other directional deixis points to the sun going away. On the other hand, the concept of the
movement of the sun could be considered temporal as ante-meridian and post-meridian. The
language uses two tenses in time deixis- past and non-past marked on verbs, adjectives as well as
nouns. Time deixis is also indicated by lexicalized calendric tem1s, which count preceding and
following days and nights from the deictic center. Traditional clock tem1S (related to prayer time)
are also used for the approximation of time. In addition, there are nouns and verbs that indicate travel
points from temporal perspective. The speakers of the language also use presentative, as well as
manner (the way something is done) and quantitative (showing amount) deictics. In social deixis,
kinship and absolutive ten11S are used. Kinship terms occur in rcfcrcncing and addressing (tone is
involved). Absolutive terms are two types: address and response tell11s. Demonstratives or the
definite article in combination with temporal terms can function as discourse deixis. The anaphoric
expressions and distal contrastive demonstrative are used for tracking what has already been
expressed or what is to be expressed.
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personal, spatial, temporal, social, manner and quantitative, presentative, discoursal, and recognitiona! devices.