Demonstrative
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Demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to, and distinguishes those entities from others. Demonstratives are usually employed for spatial deixis, but in many languages they double as discourse deictics, referring not to concrete objects but to words, phrases and propositions mentioned in speech. Examples of demonstratives are English this and that.
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Distal and proximal demonstratives
Some languages make a two-way distinction between demonstratives. Typically, one set of demonstratives is proximal, indicating objects close to the speaker (English this, French celui-ci); and the other series is distal, indicating objects removed from the speaker (English that, French celui-là).
Other languages, like Spanish, Japanese, and some dialects of Jin Chinese, make a three-way distinction. Typically there is a distinction between objects proximal to the speaker, objects proximal to the hearer, and objects distal to both. So for example, in Japanese:
- kono ringo "this apple"
- sono ringo "that apple (near you)"
- ano ringo "that apple (over there, away from both of us)"
Demonstrative series
English has four demonstratives, grouped in two series (each containing singular and plural): this, that, these, and those.
Latin had several sets of demonstratives, including hic, haec, hoc, ille, illa, illud, and iste, ista, istud (note that Latin has not only number, but also three grammatical genders). The second set of Latin demonstratives (ille, etc., meaning that), developed into the definite articles in most Romance languages, such as el, la, los, las in Spanish, le, la, les in French and il, la, i, le in Italian. These Romance languages have several sets of demonstratives, comparable to the Latin ones, but distinguishing only two genders.
Japanese has three pairs of demonstratives, the determinative kono, sono, ano and the independent are, kore, sore (see below).
Determinative vs. independent demonstratives
It is relatively common for a language to distinguish between determinative demonstratives and independent demonstratives. A determinative demonstrative (cf determinative possessive) modifies a noun:
- This apple is good.
- I like those houses.
An independent demonstrative (cf independent possessive) stands on its own, replacing rather than modifying a noun (therefore acting like a pronoun):
- This is good.
- I like those.
As is obvious from the examples, English employs the same words for both types of demonstratives. Sometimes a difference is made specific by using the pronoun one (this one, those ones). This is not the case in many other languages. In French, for example, you would say cette table-ci to mean this table, but celle-ci as an answer to the question Which table? Similarly, a Japanese person might respond to the question of Which apple? with simply one of kore, sore, are, depending on whether he meant 'this', 'that (near you)' or 'that (far from both of us)', respectively. In Spanish the difference is less marked; except for the series of singular neuter independent pronouns (esto, eso, aquello), the rest of the independent demonstratives are identical to the determinative ones (except in writing, where a diacritic accent mark is used to mark the independent series).
Discourse deixis
As mentioned above, while the primary function of demonstratives is to provide spatial references of concrete objects (that building, this table), there is a secondary function: referring to items of discourse. For example:
- This sentence is false.
- I said her dress looked hideous. She didn't like that.
In the above, this sentence refers to the sentence being spoken, and that refers to the content of the previous statement. These are abstract entities of discourse, not concrete objects. Each language may have subtly different rules on how to use demonstratives to refer to things previously spoken, currently being spoken, or about to be spoken.de:Demonstrativpronomen nl:Aanwijzend voornaamwoord