Deixis in Bangla

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DEIXIS

IN

BANGLA

SABARNI DUTTA


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1.0

Introduction

Deixisis reference by means of an expression whose interpretation requires

information about the context of utteranceor 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 wordor an indexicalis 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 discourseand 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 personis the grammaticalisation of the

speakers reference to himself, second personis the encoding of the speakers reference to

one or more addressees, and third personis the encoding of reference to persons and

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

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

Place deixisconcerns 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 speakers location at CT

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

of his utterance


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v) the social centre is the speakers 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. Thisis termed deictic projectionby Lyons (1977).

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

deixisin 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 Bhasais 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

2.1Person Deixis

Person deixis in Bangla is expressed in its pronominal system, verb morphology

and kinship terms.

2.1.1Pronominal 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 pronounsencode reference to the speaker(s).


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Table 1. First-person pronouns

Number

Case

Singular Plural

Nom ami amra

Acc/Dat amake/amae amader

Gen amar amader

Second-person pronounsencode 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

NumberCase Formality

Singular Plural

Nom Int tui tora

Neut tumi tomra

For apni apnara

Acc/Dat Int toke toder

Neut tomake tomader

For apnake apnader

Gen Int tor toderNeut tomar tomader

For apnar apnader

Third-person pronounsencode 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: 278-

281) 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 andare 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.


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Table 3. Third-person [+human] pronouns

Deictic

Proximal DistalAnaphoric

Case Formality

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nom Neut e era o ora e tara

For ini era

inara

uni ra

unara

tini tra

tinara

Acc/Dat Neut eke eder oke oder take tader

For eke

inake

eder

inader

ke

unake

der

unader

tke

tinake

tder

tinader

Gen Neut er eder or oder tar tader

For er

inar

eder

inader

r

unar

der

unader

tr tder

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

ta/-tiand the plural classifier gulo -gulito the third-person [+human] pronominal

roots.

/

Table 4. Third-person [-human] pronouns

Deictic

Proximal Distal

AnaphoricCase

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nom eta egulo ota ogulo eta egulo

Acc/Dat eta egulo ota ogulo eta egulo

Gen etar egulor otar ogulor etar egulor

Loc etate egulote otate ogulote etate egulote

2.1.2Verb 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 /bla/ to say inflects in the Simple Present as shown in

Table 5.


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

2

nd

Person 2

nd

/3

rd

Person 3

rd

Person

1

st

Person

Intimate Neutral Formal Neutral

boli boli

blo blen ble

2.1.2Kinship 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 3rdperson 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 u ed in both add ess and refe ences r r

Term Gloss

ma mother

baba father

takurda paternal grandfather

thakurma

thakumatamma

paternal grandmother

dadu maternal grandfather

dida maternal grandmother

dada / didi elder brother/sister

bor da/di eldest brother/sister

meda/di 2nd eldest brother/sister

eda/di 3rd eldest brother/sister

nda/di 4th eldest brother/sister

raa da/di 5th eldest brother/sister

pul da/di 6th eldest brother/sister

or da/di youngest eldest brother/sister

natbou grandsons wife

bouma sons wife

younger brothers wife

natamai granddaughters husband

ta/etima

etu/etimuni

fathers elder brother/his wife

kaka/kakima fathers younger brother/his wife

pii/pio fathers sister/her husband


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Term Gloss

mama/mamima mothers brother/his wife

mai/meo mothers sister/her husband

boro ta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers eldest brother/his wife

fathers oldest younger brother/his wifefathers oldest sister/her husband

mothers oldest brother/his wife

mothers oldest sister/her husband

meo ta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers 2ndeldest brother/his wife

fathers 2ndoldest younger brother/his wife

fathers 2ndoldest sister/her husband

mothers 2ndoldest brother/his wife

mothers 2ndoldest sister/her husband

eo ta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers 3rdeldest brother/his wife

fathers 3rdoldest younger brother/his wife

fathers 3rdoldest sister/her husband

mothers 3rdoldest brother/his wife

mothers 3rdoldest sister/her husband

nta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers 4theldest brother/his wife

fathers 4tholdest younger brother/his wife

fathers 4tholdest sister/her husband

mothers 4tholdest brother/his wife

mothers 4tholdest sister/her husband

raa ta/etima" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers 5theldest brother/his wifefathers 5tholdest younger brother/his wife




pul ta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers 6theldest brother/his wife

fathers 6tholdest younger brother/his wife




oto ta/etima

" kaka/kakima

" pii/pio

" mama/mamima

" mai/meo

fathers youngest elder brother/his wife

fathers youngest younger brother/his wife

fathers youngest sister/her husband

mothers youngest brother/his wife

mothers youngest sister/her husband

boudi elder brothers wife

amaibabu elder sisters husband

younger sisters husband


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Table7. Kinship terms used only in reference

Term Gloss

ele son

me daughterbai younger brother

bon younger sister

amai daughters husband

nati grandson

natni granddaughter

puti great grandson

putni great granddaughter

ttuto bai/bon fathers elder brothers son/daughter

kurtuto bai/bon fathers younger brothers son/daughter

pistuto bai/bon fathers sisters son/daughter

mamato bai/bon mothers brothers son/daughter

mastuto bai/bon mothers sisters son/daughter

baipo/baii brothers son/daughter

bagne/bagni sisters 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 speakers spouse (exception /br/,/bou/

: see below)

Table 8. Kinship terms for relatives by marriage

Term Gloss

br husband

bou wife

our spouses father

auri spouses mother

kurour spouses fathers younger brother

tour spouses fathers elder brother

piauri/our spouses fathers sister/her husband

maauri/our spouses mothers siter/her husband

baur husbands elder brother

dor husbands younger brother

a husbands brothers wife

nnod husbands sister

nndai husbands sisters husbandala/ali wifes brother/sister

baera wifes sisters husband


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

(1) ai, tumi ki apel kabe?Spouse, will you eat (an) apple?

This term /ai/ is a call or summons, but not an address:

(2) * amar me nei, ai.I dont have time, spouse.

2.1.3Deictic 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 persons father to say to him/her:

(3) ma baare geMa has gone to the market.

Here, /ma/ refers to the addressees mother, and not to the speakers mother.

2.2Time 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.

2.2.1Pure time deictic expressions

Pure time deixis is expressed in time adverbials and distinctions in tense in Bangla.

Table 9. Time adverbials

Term Gloss

kon the pragmatically given span including CT

tkon the pragmatically given span removed from CT

koni instant of time following CT

ek:uni instant of time including CT

tok:uni instant of time removed from CT

idani span of time preceding and inclusive of CTpre span of time following and not inclusive of CT


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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 Gloss

Present 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

2.2.2Interaction 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

a the diurnal span(DS) including CT

kal the DS adjacent to the DS that includes CT

poru the DS that is one DS removed from the DS that

includes CT

toru the DS that is two DSs removed from the DS thatincludes 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) tomarge mogolbar dka hbeIll see you on Tuesday


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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 theweek 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 ofthe same order that includes CT

ager Y the unit Y which precedes the unit of the same

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

bor dawn to sunrise

kal sunrise to noondupur noon to 3PM

bikel 3PM to sunset

ond e sunset to 9PM

rat/ratri 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) eikal-e ami kla ke:i

this morning-LOC I banana eat-1p.-Pres.Perf.I have eaten a banana this morning

CT = in the morning


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The expressions a X-eand Xbla-e are used to refer to the span X when CT is

not included in X.

(6) a kal-e ami kla ke:i

today morning-LOC I banana eat-1p.-Pres.Perf.I have eaten a banana this morning

CT = not in the morning

(7) kalbla-e ami kla ke:imorningtime-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.

2.3.1Demonstrative Determiners

Bangla has three demonstrative determiners:i) /e(i)/

ii) /o(i)/

iii) /e(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 /kan-e/ in place form place

adverbsin Bangla:

i) Proximal:

e(i)kan-ethis place-LOC

in this place

ii) Distal:

o(i)kan-ethat(deictic) place-LOC

in that place


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ii) Sequent:

e(i)kan-ethat(anaphoric) place-LOC

in that place

The Proximal and Distal adverbs are deictic, and the Sequent is anaphoric. Thedistal-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 Usage Gloss

gestural the pragmatically given space, proximal to

the speakers location at CT and visible to

the speaker at CT, that includes the point or

location gesturally indicated

e(i)kan-e

symbolic the pragmatically given space that includes

the location of the speaker at CT

gestural the pragmatically given space, distal to the

speakers location at CT and visible to the

speaker at CT, that includes the point or

location gesturally indicated

o(i)kan-e

symbolic the pragmatically given space, distal to the

speakers location at CT, proximal to the

addressee at RT and necessarily visible to

the addressee at RT.

e i)k

an-ecan 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 theadverb 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)kan-e or e(i)kan-e) is visible to either the speaker or the addressee (or both),

the speaker would use the form o(i)kan-e.

The demonstrative determiners combined the singular classifier ta/-tiand the

plural classifier gulo/-guliform demonstrative pronounsin Bangla (as seen in section

2.1.1)


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Table 15. Bangla demonstrative pronouns

Pronoun Gloss

e(i)-ta / e(i)-gulo the object(s) in a pragmatically given area close to

the speakers location at CT

o(i)-ta / o(i)-gulo the object(s) beyond the pragmatically given area

close to the speakers location at CT

2.3.2Motion Verbs

Bangla has two motion verbsthat have built-in deictic components - /aa/ to

come, and /awa/ to go. Use of the verb /aa/ signals motion towards the speakerslocation, or addressees location, at either CT or reference time, or motion towards the

home-base maintained at CT by either speaker or addressee. Similarly, the verb /awa/can be glossed as motion away from the speakers location, or addressees 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. mita ata-ta ni:e geMita umbrella-TA carry gone

Mita has taken the umbrella

b. mita ata-ta ni:e eeeMita umbrella-TA carry come

Mita has brought the umbrella

(10) a.

ri d

i:e ut

e ae

stairs by climb come

Come up the stairs

b. ri di:e ute astairs by climb go

Go up the stairs


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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-to-

face 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 third-

person 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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4.0

References

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Publications.

2. Chacn, Dustin 2008. Bangla Referring Expressions.

http://ohhai.mn/cornell.pdf

3.

Chatterjee, Suniti 1945. Bangla Byakaran. Calcutta: Calcutta University

Press.

4. Dasgupta, Probal 2003. Bangla. In G. Cardona & D. Jain (eds.), The Indo-

Aryan Languages(pp. 351-390). London: Routledge.5.

Hudson, Donald 1965. Teach Yourself Bengali. London: The English

Universities Press.

6. Levinson, Stephen 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge

7.

Levinson, Stephen 2004.Deixis. In L. Horn & G. Ward (eds.),The handbook

of Pragmatics (pp. 97-121). Blackwell Publishing.

8. Sengupta, Gautam 2000. Lexical Anaphors and Pronouns in Bangla. In B.

Lust (ed.), Lexical anaphors and pronouns in selected South Asianlanguages: a principled typology (pp. 277-332). New York: Mouton de

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