Die term deiksis is afgelei van die Griekse woord deiktikos wat 'wys na' betaken, en verwys
na daardie uitdrukkings wat in 'n taal gebruik word om die belangrikste orientasiepunte in 'n
gespreksituasie te verwoord. Aile deiktiese interpretasies kan net relatief tot 'n spesifieke
verwysingspunt (deiktiese sentrum) gemaak word.
Vyf deiktiese kategoriee word onderskei. Persoonsdeiksis hou verband met die deiktiese
persona, m.a.w. die spreker en aangesprokeneen moontlik 'n derde persoon indian hy/sy/dit
in die gespreksituasie teenwoordig is. Persoonsdeiksis word hoofsaaklik in Noord-Sotho se
kongruensie-en pronominale sisteem gereflekteer.
Sosiale deiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat die spreker se houding teenoor die
aangesprokene of die derde persoon weergee. In Noord-Sotho word leksikale items met 'n
sosiaal--deiktiese funksie aangetrefwat die spreker se bewondering, afkeer of respek teenoor
die aangesprokene reflekteer, asook verwantskapstenne en aanspreekvonne. Alhoewel
Noord-Sotho se pro nominate stelsel neutraal is ten opsigte van geslag, is daar ander maniere
om taalkundig 'n onderskeid tussen die geslagte te maak.
Plekdeiktiese uitdrukkings word gebruik om die Jigging van 'n objek relatief tot die deiktiese
sentrum te beskryf. Die posisie van die gespreksgenote of hulle fisiese gestaltes kan hierdie
deiktiese sentrum uitmaak. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, demonstratief-kopulatiewe,
lokatiewe kopulatiewe,lokatiewe bywoorde en sekere werkwoorde vir hierdie doe I aangewend.
Tyddeiksis word in Noord-Sotho hoofsaaklik deur middel van temporale bywoorde
geleksikaliseer en deur middel van tydsvonne in die werkwoord gegrammatikaliseer. Die
interpretasie van hierdie uitdrukkings is van die deiktiese sentrum (tyd wanneer die uiting
gemaak is) afhanklik. Temporale bywoorde sowel as die tydsvonn van die werkwoord beskryf
die tyd wanneer die handeling plaasvind. Hierdie vonne sal aandui of die handeling v66r
koderingstyd plaasgevind het (verlede tyd), of dit na koderingstyd sal plaasvind (toe~omende
tyd), en of die handeling met koderingstyd saamval (teenwoordige tyd).
Diskoersdeiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat gebruik word om na dele van die diskoers,
of na naamwoordelike antesedente waarvoor daar nie 'n referent in die buitetaalse
werklikheid bestaan nie, te verwys. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, pronomina van die
derde persoon, demonstratief-kopulatiewe, sekere bywoorde, identifiserende kopulatiewe,
sekere kwalifikatiewe en sekere voegwoorde vir hierdie doel aangewend.
The term deixis is derived from a Greek word deiktikos which means 'point at' and it is used
in grammar to refer to those expressions which describe the essential points of orientation in
a speech situation. The interpretation of deictic expressions can only be made in relation to
a specific reference point (the deictic centre).
Five deictic categories are distinguished. Person deixis concerns the deictic persons, that is
the speaker, the addressee and possibly a third person if he/she/it is present in the speech
situation. Person deixis is mainly reflected in the concordia! and the pronominal system of
Northern Sotho.
Social deixis refers to those expressions which reflect the speaker's attitude towards the
addressee or the third person. Such expressions include lexical items which reflect the
speaker's admiration, dislike or respect towards the addressee, as well as kinship terms and
vocatives. Although the pronominal system of Northern Sotho is neutral with regard to sex,
there are other linguistic ways in which gender distinctions can be drawn.
Place deictic expressions are used to identify the location of an object relative to the deictic
centre. The location of the speech participants or their bodies may constitute this deictic
centre. Demonstratives, demonstrative-copulatives, locational copulatives, locative adverbs
and certain verbs are used for this purpose in Northern Sotho.
Time deixis is mainly lexicalised by means of temporal adverbs and grammaticalised by
means of tense morphemes in the Northern Sotho verb. The interpretation of these
expressions depends on the deictic centre (time when the utterance is made). Time adverbs
as well as the tenses describe the time of an event. These structures will indicate whether
the action took place before coding time (past tense), whether it will take place after coding
time (future tense), or whether it coincides with coding time (present tense).
Discourse deixis pertains to those expressions which are used to refer to parts of the
discourse, or to nominal antecedents of which the referent is not present in the extra-linguistic
context of the utterance. Demonstratives, demonstrative copulatives, third person pronouns,
certain adverbs, identifying copulatives, certain qualificatives and certain conjunctions are used
for this purpose in Northern Sotho.
