'Proximal' and 'distal' in language and cognition : Evidence from deictic demonstratives in Dutch
By Paul Piwek, Robbert-Jan Beun, Anita H. M. Cremers. 2008
104 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In this paper we examine the differences in use between distal and proximal demonstrative terms (e.g., singular "this" and "that", and plural "these" and "those" in English). The proximal-distal distinction appears to be made in all languages and therefore promises to be an important window on the cognitive mechanisms underlying language production and comprehension. We address the problem of accounting for the distinction through a corpus-based quantitative study of the deictic use of demonstratives in Dutch. Our study suggests that the distal-proximal distinction corresponds with use of the proximal for intensive/strong indicating (i.e., directing of attention) and the distal for neutral indicating. We compare our findings with empirical findings on the use of English demonstratives and argue that, despite some apparent differences, Dutch and English demonstratives behave roughly similarly though not identically. Finally, we put our findings into context by pulling together evidence from a number of converging sources on the relationship between indicating and describing as alternative modes of reference in the use of distal and proximal demonstratives. This will also lead us to a new understanding of the folk-view on distals and proximals as distinguishing between nearby and faraway objects. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Language and Linguistics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bb6e831ade32567d8b08164b6ac2cc68208ddb29
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
In Language and Linguistics
Citations in the corpus
- Computational Generation of Referring Expressions: A Survey (2012, background): “As for demonstratives, it has proven remarkably difficult to decide when these should be used, and even harder to choose between the different types of demonstratives (Piwek 2008).”