Edited by Laure Sarda and Benjamin Fagard
[Human Cognitive Processing 72] 2022
► pp. 25–41
This chapter discusses whether Deixis is genuinely a subcomponent of Path, as defined in Talmy’s motion typology. Although previous studies have already pointed out several characteristics of Deixis that distinguish it from other non-Deictic Path components, its typological status remains vague and should be better defined. In this chapter, based on a video-based production experiment in Japanese and French, I argue that Deictic verbs have a functional meaning in both languages, and that this functional meaning of Deixis can be considered a subcomponent of Path, as it is motivated by the speaker’s and Figure’s relative position and Ground schema. Based on analyses with reference to different Deictic expressions, I also propose another typology of the ways in which speakers of different languages organize their “here” space vis-à-vis perceived physical events.