Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2020

When distance fails to explain how to differentiate between this-these and that-those: a meta-operational approach to English demonstratives.

Résumé

Grammarians and teachers of English invariably explain the difference between this-these and that-those by referring to « inches », whether literally when spatial references are concerned – this book near at hand or that book over there on the shelf – or metaphorically when non spatial references are concerned – this nice girl or that awful girl. Unfortunately the « inch rule » fails to account for everyday occurrences. Objects that are near at hand and viewed positively can be referred to with that-those while things that are not even present and viewed negatively can be referred to with this-these. Such occurrences should be treated as exceptions or speakers’ whims. Using the theoretical framework known as meta-operational grammar we propose to tackle the question in a far more satisfactory fashion. As we shall demonstrate, by choosing either this/these or that/those, the speaker attributes a status to the noun that is preceded by a demonstrative and this status depends on how the addressee is associated in his or her choice of noun. When most linguists agree that languages are based « on finite means for infinite usage » status proves to be a very productive means indeed.

Domaines

Linguistique
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
A meta-operational approach to English demonstratives..pdf (355.99 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-04887747 , version 1 (15-01-2025)

Licence

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04887747 , version 1

Citer

Jean-Pierre Gabilan. When distance fails to explain how to differentiate between this-these and that-those: a meta-operational approach to English demonstratives.. 2020. ⟨hal-04887747⟩

Collections

UNIV-SAVOIE LLSETI
0 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Partager

More