Deixis in Bangla

DEIXIS IN BANGLA SABARNI DUTTA

1.0 Introduction Deixis is reference by means of an expression whose interpretation requires

information about the context of utterance or speech event. The term ‘deixis’ is borrowed

from the Greek word for pointing or indicating, and has as prototypical or focal exemplars the use of demonstratives, first and second person pronouns, tense, specific time and place adverbs and a variety of other grammatical features.

A deictic word or an indexical is a word which takes some element of its meaning

from the situation(i.e., the speaker, the addressee, the time and the place) of the utterance in which it is used.

The traditional categories of deixis are person, place and time, which have been

complemented by Fillmore (1975) with discourse and social deixis.

Person deixis concerns the encoding of the role of participants in the speech event

in which the utterance in question is delivered: first person is the grammaticalisation of the speaker’s reference to himself, second person is the encoding of the speaker’s reference to one or more addressees, and third person is the encoding of reference to persons and

entities which are neither speakers nor addressees of the utterance in question.

Time deixis concerns the encoding of temporal points and spans relative to the

time at which the utterance was delivered. This time is called the coding time or CT, which

may be distinct from the time of its reception or receiving time (RT). In the canonical

situation of utterance, i.e., in a face-to-face interaction, the RT is identical to CT.

Place deixis concerns the encoding of spatial locations relative to the location of the participants in the speech event at the coding time. Discourse (or text) deixis concerns the encoding of reference to portions of the

unfolding discourse in which the utterance is located.

Social deixis concerns the encoding of social distinctions that are relative to

participant-roles, particularly aspects of the social relationship holding between the speaker and addressee(s) or speaker and some referent.

Deictic expressions can be thought to be anchored to specific points in the communicative event. Deictic expressions are typically egocentric, in which case the unmarked anchorage points are assumed to be as follows: i)

the central person is the speaker

ii) the central time is the time at which the speaker produces the utterance

iii) the central place is the speaker’s location at CT

iv) the discourse centre is that point which the speaker is currently at in the production of his utterance

v) the social centre is the speaker’s social status and rank, to which the status or rank of addressees or referents is relative.

This set of points is called the deictic centre. As speakers take turns in a

conversation, the deictic centre is moved from participant to participant. Sometimes, deictic expressions are used in ways that shift this deictic centre to other participants. This is termed deictic projection by Lyons (1977).

The aim of this paper is to examine the phenomena of person, time and place

deixis in Bangla. Bangla is a major Indo-European language of the Indian subcontinent

which, together with Oriya, Assamese, Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri, constitutes the

eastern group of languages within the Magadhan subfamily. It is spoken in the state of West Bengal in eastern India and the adjoining republic of Bangladesh. Bangla has

diglossia. But the “high”, literary variety of the language known as Sadhu Bhasa is now on

the verge of being almost completely replaced by the “low”, colloquial variety known as

Colit Bhasa, even in formal and literary contexts.

The variety of Bangla I have chosen to describe is the “low” one, which is also called

Standard Colloquial Bangla. This is the variety that is spoken in South-eastern West Bengal, including Kolkata.

2.0 Examples of Deictic Expressions in Bangla 2.1 Person Deixis Person deixis in Bangla is expressed in its pronominal system, verb morphology

and kinship terms.

2.1.1 Pronominal System Bangla pronouns are inflected for person(first, second, third), number(singular,

plural) and case(nominative, accusative/dative, genitive). They establish points on a

formality scale – the second- and third-person pronouns have distinct forms for different degrees of formality.

First-person pronouns encode reference to the speaker(s).

Table 1. First-person pronouns

Number

Case

Singular

Plural

Nom

ami

amra

Acc/Dat

amake/amae

amad̪er

Gen

amar

amad̪er

Second-person pronouns encode reference to the addressee(s). Three degrees of

formality are maintained in the second person – intimate(Int), neutral(Neut), formal(For). Table 2. Second-person pronouns

Case Nom

Acc/Dat

Gen

Number

Formality

Singular

Plural

Int

t̪ui

t̪ora

Neut

t̪umi

t̪omra

For

apni

apnara

Int

t̪oke

t̪od̪er

Neut

t̪omake

t̪omad̪er

For

apnake

apnad̪er

Int

t̪or

t̪od̪er

Neut

t̪omar

t̪omad̪er

For

apnar

apnad̪er

Third-person pronouns encode reference to persons or entities which are neither

speakers nor addressees of the utterance in question. Two degrees of formality are

maintained in the third person – neutral(Neut), formal(For). The Demonstrative Determiners are used for the neutral third-person pronouns. Bangla has three sets of third-person

pronouns/determiners – proximal(close to speaker), distal(not close to speaker), anaphoric. The first two sets (i.e., the proximal and distal) are deictic in nature. Chatterji(1945: 278281) suggests that the third set of pronouns is deictic, and those pronouns encode

reference to persons or entities which are neither speakers nor addressees of the utterance in question and are not present in the speech event in which the utterance is delivered.

Bangla also makes a distinction between third-person pronouns referring to humans and those referring to non-humans.

Table 3. Third-person [+human] pronouns

Case

Deictic

Formality

Proximal Singular

Nom

Acc/Dat

Plural

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Neut

e

era

o

ora

ʃe

t̪ara

For

ini

ẽra

uni

õra

t̪ini

t̪ãra

Neut

eke

ed̪er

oke

od̪er

t̪ake

t̪ad̪er

For

ẽke

ẽd̪er

õke

õd̪er

t̪ãke

t̪ãd̪er

Neut

er

ed̪er

or

od̪er

t̪ar

t̪ad̪er

For

ẽr

ẽd̪er

õr

õd̪er

t̪ãr

t̪ãd̪er

inara

inad̪er

inake Gen

Anaphoric

Distal

inar

unara

unake

inad̪er

unad̪er

unar

unad̪er

t̪inara

t̪inake

t̪inad̪er

The third-person [-human] pronouns are formed by suffixing the singular classifier

–ta/-ti and the plural classifier –gulo/-guli to the third-person [+human] pronominal roots.

Table 4. Third-person [-human] pronouns

Deictic

Case

Proximal Singular

Anaphoric

Distal Plural

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Nom

eta

egulo

ota

ogulo

ʃeta

ʃegulo

Acc/Dat

eta

egulo

ota

ogulo

ʃeta

ʃegulo

Gen

etar

egulor

otar

ogulor

ʃetar

ʃegulor

Loc

etat̪e

egulot̪e

otat̪e

ogulot̪e

ʃetat̪e

ʃegulot̪e

2.1.2 Verb Morphology Bangla finite verbs agree with the nominative subject for person and formality. Therefore, these distinctions are encoded in verbal inflections. For example, the verb /bɔla/ ‘to say’ inflects in the Simple Present as shown in

Table 5.

Table 5. Inflectional paradigm of verb /bɔla/ in Simple Present

2nd Person

1st Person

Intimate

boli

boliʃ

2nd/3rd Person

3rd Person

Formal

Neutral

Neutral

bɔlo

bɔlen

bɔle

2.1.2 Kinship terms Bangla kinship terms are of two types. Terms of one type(shown in Table 6) are

used in address(as vocatives in second person usage) as well as reference(reference to

individuals in 3rd person role); terms of the other type(shown in Table 7) are used only in reference. The referents of the terms in Table 7 are addressed by the speaker by their given names.

Table 6. Kinship terms used in both address and reference

Term

Gloss

ma

mother

baba

father

tʰakurd̪a

paternal grandfather

tʰhakurma

paternal grandmother

tʰhakuma tʰamma d̪ad̪u

maternal grandfather

d̪id̪a

maternal grandmother

d̪ad̪a / d̪id̪i

elder brother/sister

bor d̪a/d̪i

eldest brother/sister

meʤ d̪a/d̪i

2nd eldest brother/sister

ʃeʤ d̪a/d̪i

3rd eldest brother/sister

nɔ d̪a/d̪i

4th eldest brother/sister

raŋa d̪a/d̪i

5th eldest brother/sister

pʰul d̪a/d̪i

6th eldest brother/sister

ʧʰor d̪a/d̪i

youngest eldest brother/sister

nat̪bou

grandson’s wife

bouma

son’s wife

younger brother’s wife

nat̪ʤamai

granddaughter’s husband

ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima

father’s elder brother/his wife

ʤetʰu/ʤetʰimuni kaka/kakima

father’s younger brother/his wife

piʃi/piʃo

father’s sister/her husband

Term

Gloss

mama/mamima

mother’s brother/his wife

maʃi/meʃo

mother’s sister/her husband

boro ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima

father’s eldest brother/his wife

" " "

piʃi/piʃo mama/mamima maʃi/meʃo

meʤo ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima piʃi/piʃo

" " "

mama/mamima maʃi/meʃo

ʃeʤo ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima kaka/kakima

" " " "

piʃi/piʃo mama/mamima maʃi/meʃo

nɔ ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima

" piʃi/piʃo " mama/mamima " maʃi/meʃo raŋa ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima

" " "

piʃi/piʃo mama/mamima maʃi/meʃo

pʰul ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima

" piʃi/piʃo " mama/mamima " maʃi/meʃo ʧʰoto ʤætʰa/ʤetʰima " kaka/kakima

" " "

piʃi/piʃo mama/mamima maʃi/meʃo

father’s oldest younger brother/his wife father’s oldest sister/her husband mother’s oldest brother/his wife

mother’s oldest sister/her husband father’s 2nd eldest brother/his wife

father’s 2nd oldest younger brother/his wife father’s 2nd oldest sister/her husband mother’s 2nd oldest brother/his wife

mother’s 2nd oldest sister/her husband

father’s 3rd eldest brother/his wife father’s 3rd oldest younger brother/his wife father’s 3rd oldest sister/her husband mother’s 3rd oldest brother/his wife

mother’s 3rd oldest sister/her husband father’s 4th eldest brother/his wife

father’s 4th oldest younger brother/his wife father’s 4th oldest sister/her husband mother’s 4th oldest brother/his wife

mother’s 4th oldest sister/her husband father’s 5th eldest brother/his wife

father’s 5th oldest younger brother/his wife father’s 5th oldest sister/her husband mother’s 5th oldest brother/his wife

mother’s 5th oldest sister/her husband father’s 6th eldest brother/his wife

father’s 6th oldest younger brother/his wife father’s 6th oldest sister/her husband mother’s 6th oldest brother/his wife

mother’s 6th oldest sister/her husband father’s youngest elder brother/his wife

father’s youngest younger brother/his wife father’s youngest sister/her husband mother’s youngest brother/his wife

mother’s youngest sister/her husband

boud̪i

elder brother’s wife

ʤamaibabu

elder sister’s husband

younger sister’s husband

Table7. Kinship terms used only in reference

Term

Gloss

ʧʰele

son

me

daughter

bʱai

younger brother

bon

younger sister

ʤamai

daughter’s husband

nat̪i

grandson

nat̪ni

granddaughter

put̪i

great grandson

put̪ni

great granddaughter

ʤætʰt̪ut̪o bʱai/bon

father’s elder brother’s son/daughter

kʰurt̪ut̪o bʱai/bon

father’s younger brother’s son/daughter

pist̪ut̪o bʱai/bon

father’s sister’s son/daughter

mamat̪o bʱai/bon

mother’s brother’s son/daughter

mast̪ut̪o bʱai/bon

mother’s sister’s son/daughter

bʱaipo/bʱaiʤʱi

brother’s son/daughter

bʱagne/bʱagni

sister’s son/daughter

Kinship terms for relatives by marriage (Table 8) can be used only in reference. The

referents are addressed by the terms used by the speaker’s spouse (exception /bɔr/,/bou/ : see below)

Table 8. Kinship terms for relatives by marriage

Term

Gloss

bɔr

husband

bou

wife

ʃoʃur

spouse’s father

ʃaʃuri

spouse’s mother

kʰurʃoʃur

spouse’s father’s younger brother

ʤætʰʃoʃur

spouse’s father’s elder brother

piʃ ʃaʃuri/ʃoʃur

spouse’s father’s sister/her husband

maʃ ʃaʃuri/ʃoʃur

spouse’s mother’s siter/her husband

bʱaʃur

husband’s elder brother

d̪æor

husband’s younger brother

ʤa

husband’s brother’s wife

nɔnod̪

husband’s sister

nɔnd̪ai

husband’s sister’s husband

ʃala/ʃali

wife’s brother/sister

bʱaera

wife’s sister’s husband

The speaker addresses his/her spouse with /ai/, as in: (1)

ai, t̪umi ki apel kʰabe?

‘Spouse, will you eat (an) apple?’ This term /ai/ is a call or summons, but not an address: (2)

* amar ʃɔmɔe nei, ai.

‘I don’t have time, spouse.’ 2.1.3 Deictic Projection In Bangla, deictic projection or shifts in points of view for the purpose of vocative

selection is common. So, it is possible for a person’s father to say to him/her: (3)

ma baʤare gæʧʰe

‘Ma has gone to the market.’ Here, /ma/ refers to the addressee’s mother, and not to the speaker’s mother.

2.2 Time Deixis Bangla, like many other languages, contains ‘pure’ time deictic expressions, as well

as non-deictic ways of referring to time. In pure time deixis, there is no direct interaction with non-deictic methods of time reckoning. Non-deictic or absolute methods use

absolute units of time such as the natural cycles of days, seasons and years, and units derived from these, such as weeks and months. 2.2.1 Pure time deictic expressions Pure time deixis is expressed in time adverbials and distinctions in tense in Bangla. Table 9. Time adverbials

Term

Gloss

ækʰon

the pragmatically given span including CT

t̪ɔkʰon

the pragmatically given span removed from CT

ækʰoni

instant of time following CT

ekʰ:uni

instant of time including CT

t̪okʰ:uni

instant of time removed from CT

id̪aniŋ

span of time preceding and inclusive of CT

pɔre

span of time following and not inclusive of CT

Tenses encode a mixture of deictic time distinctions and aspectual distinctions. In Bangla, the Past, Present and Future tenses interact with the Simple, Progressive, Perfective and Habitual aspects. Table 10 gives the gloss of the tenses as used in Bangla. Table 10.

Tense Present

Gloss Specifies that the state or event holds or is

occurring during a span of time including CT;

proximal to CT Past

Specifies that the state or event held or occurred

during a span of time preceding CT; distal to CT

Future

Specifies that the state or event will hold or occur during a span of time succeeding CT; distal to CT

2.2.2 Interaction of time deixis with absolute units of time This sub-section deals with the interaction of time deixis with cultural

measurements of time in an absolute or non-deictic way.

Bangla has a symmetrical system for naming three days on either side today. The words for them are given in Table 11 gives words from Bangla that are used as measures relative to the CT.

Table 11. words used to measure diurnal spans relative to the CT.

Term

Gloss

aʤ

the diurnal span(DS) including CT

kal

the DS adjacent to the DS that includes CT

porʃu

the DS that is one DS removed from the DS that

t̪orʃu

the DS that is two DSs removed from the DS that

includes CT

includes CT

These measure words pre-empt the calendrical ways of referring to the relevant

days. So, the following, said on Monday, refers to the next Tuesday, and not to the

following day: (4)

t̪omar ʃɔŋge moŋgolbar dækʰa hɔbe ‘I’ll see you on Tuesday’

However, utterances such as (4) are interpreted differently by different speakers –

(4) can refer to either the immediately following day or some remote Tuesday.

Table 12 shows complex time adverbials in Bangla which consist of a deictic

modifier and a non-deictic name or measure word. The measure word is represented by X and Y. X ranges over the terms week, month, year; Y is a proper noun denoting a day of the week or a month of the year.

Table 12. Complex time adverbials

Expression

Gloss

ei X

the unit X including CT

ager X

the unit X preceding the unit X including CT

agami X

the unit X succeeding the unit X including CT

ei Y

the unit Y which succeeds or precedes the unit of

ager Y

the unit Y which precedes the unit of the same

the same order that includes CT order that includes CT

agami Y

the unit Y which succeeds the unit of the same order that includes CT

Complex adverbials consisting of a non-deictic name that refers to a specific period

of the day are slightly more complicated – Bangla requires different expressions for

referring to a period of the day when that span includes CT and a period of the day when the span does not include CT, but is within the diurnal span containing CT.

Table 13 gives a list of Bangla terms used to refer to specific periods of the day. Table 13

Term

Gloss

bʱor

dawn to sunrise

ʃɔkal

sunrise to noon

d̪upur

noon to 3PM

bikel

3PM to sunset

ʃond̪ʱe

sunset to 9PM

rat̪/rat̪ri

9PM to dawn

The expression eiX-e, where X ranges over the terms given in Table 13, is used to

refer to the span X when X includes CT. (5)

eiʃɔkal-e ami kɔla kʰe:ʧʰi this morning-LOC I banana eat-1p.-Pres.Perf. ‘I have eaten a banana this morning’

CT = in the morning

The expressions aʤ X-e and Xbæla-e are used to refer to the span X when CT is

not included in X. (6)

aʤ ʃɔkal-e ami kɔla kʰe:ʧʰi today morning-LOC I banana eat-1p.-Pres.Perf. ‘I have eaten a banana this morning’

CT = not in the morning (7)

ʃɔkalbæla-e ami kɔla kʰe:ʧʰi

morningtime-LOC I banana eat-1p.-Pres.Perf. ‘I have eaten a banana this morning’ CT = not in the morning

2.3 Place Deixis Place or spatial deixis in Bangla is expressed by the use of demonstrative

determiners and motion verbs.

2.3.1 Demonstrative Determiners Bangla has three demonstrative determiners: i)

/e(i)/

ii) /o(i)/

iii) /ʃe(i)/ Dasgupta (2003) terms them Proximal, Distal, and Sequent (respectively). According to Dasgupta, “Sequents are follow-up Demonstratives, not pointing to the external world, but sending us back to a first reference to the entity in the sentence or the discourse.” The demonstrative determiners combined with /kʰan-e/ ‘in place’ form place

adverbs in Bangla: i)

Proximal:

e(i)kʰan-e

this place-LOC

‘in this place’ ii)

Distal:

o(i)kʰan-e

that(deictic) place-LOC ‘in that place’

ii)

Sequent:

ʃe(i)kʰan-e

that(anaphoric) place-LOC ‘in that place’

The Proximal and Distal adverbs are deictic, and the Sequent is anaphoric. The

distal-deictic and anaphoric adverbs can be used in correlative constructions (Bagchi 1994).

The interpretation of the deictic adverbs depends on their usage, as shown in Table

14.

Table 14

Adverb e(i)kʰan-e

Usage gestural

Gloss the pragmatically given space, proximal to

the speaker’s location at CT and visible to

the speaker at CT, that includes the point or location gesturally indicated symbolic

the pragmatically given space that includes the location of the speaker at CT

o(i)kʰan-e

gestural

the pragmatically given space, distal to the

speaker’s location at CT and visible to the speaker at CT, that includes the point or location gesturally indicated

symbolic

the pragmatically given space, distal to the speaker’s location at CT, proximal to the

addressee at RT and necessarily visible to the addressee at RT.

ʃe(i)kʰan-e can only be used in anaphoric constructions (Bagchi 1994, Dasgupta

2003) - it is anaphoric in nature in that it needs an overt antecedent NP (Bagchi 1994).

However, it also involves a visibility feature which is deictic in nature - the place that the

adverb refers to is beyond the fields of vision of the speaker(s) and the addressee(s). If, in a correlative construction, the place to be referred to by a correlative place adverbial (i.e.,

either o(i)kʰan-e or ʃe(i)kʰan-e) is visible to either the speaker or the addressee (or both), the speaker would use the form o(i)kʰan-e.

The demonstrative determiners combined the singular classifier –ta/-ti and the

plural classifier –gulo/-guli form demonstrative pronouns in Bangla (as seen in section 2.1.1)

Table 15. Bangla demonstrative pronouns

Pronoun e(i)-ta / e(i)-gulo o(i)-ta / o(i)-gulo

Gloss the object(s) in a pragmatically given area close to

the speaker’s location at CT

the object(s) beyond the pragmatically given area close to the speaker’s location at CT

2.3.2 Motion Verbs Bangla has two motion verbs that have built-in deictic components - /aʃa/ ‘to come’, and /ʤawa/ ‘to go’. Use of the verb /aʃa/ signals ‘motion towards the speaker’s location, or addressee’s location, at either CT or reference time, or motion towards the

home-base maintained at CT by either speaker or addressee’. Similarly, the verb /ʤawa/ can be glossed as ‘motion away from the speaker’s location, or addressee’s location, at either CT or reference time, or motion away from the home-base maintained at CT by either speaker or addressee’. Either of these two motion verbs can participate as a vector verb in a compound

verb, in which the primary verb is an action verb. The use of a motion verb in such

compound verbs imparts a sense of motion (towards or away from speaker or addressee) to the meaning of the compound verb: (8)

a.

mit̪a ʧʰat̪a-ta ni:e gæʧʰe Mita umbrella-TA carry gone

‘Mita has taken the umbrella’ b.

mit̪a ʧʰat̪a-ta ni:e eʃeʧʰe Mita umbrella-TA carry come

‘Mita has brought the umbrella’ (10)

a.

ʃĩri d̪i:e utʰe ae

stairs by climb come

‘Come up the stairs’ b.

ʃĩri d̪i:e utʰe ʤa stairs by climb go

‘Go up the stairs’

3.0 Conclusion Deictic reference plays a particularly important role in language – it is the most

obvious way in which the relationship between language and context is reflected in the structures of language itself. The pervasiveness of deixis in natural languages can be

explained on the assumption that they have been developed for communication in face-toface interaction, which involves all the participants present in the same actual situation when the utterance is delivered.

In the analysis of deixis in Bangla (indeed in all languages), it is difficult to separate

the five categories of deixis from one another – all instances of deixis in the language involve, to some extent, an overlapping of these categories. For example, personal

pronouns involve person, space and social deixis, demonstratives involve person and space, motion verbs involve space and time, etc.

Some deictic expressions in Bangla can be used both deictically and anaphorically,

but non-deictic usages of deictic expressions are very rare. Bangla has three sets of thirdperson pronouns/determiners (demonstrative determiners), only two of which can be used in correlative constructions (i.e., anaphorically). This distinction is not present in most

other Indo-Aryan languages. For example, Modern Standard Hindi uses its demonstratives

both deictically and anaphorically. The selection of Bangla demonstrative determiners by a speaker to signal their intended referent has been investigated in this paper only in terms of spatial and time deixis – the Givenness Hierarchy (Gundel, Hedberg, Zacharski, 1993) has not been taken into account for the description of the uses of the demonstratives.

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