Demonstrative

{{Short description|Words indicating which object is being referred to}}

'''Demonstratives''' (abbreviated '''{{sc|dem}}''') are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish these entities from others. They are typically deictic, their meaning depending on a particular frame of reference, and cannot be understood without context.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Girard | first1 = Steve | date = Spring 2026 | title = Reconstructing the Pre-Basque Demonstrative System: Morphological Structure, Deictic Typology, and Pronominal Convergence | journal = Zenodo | pages = 7–30 |url=https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19904212 | doi = 10.2307/3529001| url-access = subscription }}</ref> Demonstratives are often used in spatial deixis (where the speaker or sometimes the listener is to provide context), but also in intra-discourse reference (including abstract concepts) or anaphora, where the meaning is dependent on something other than the relative physical location of the speaker. An example is whether something is currently being said or was said earlier.

Demonstrative constructions include demonstrative adjectives or demonstrative determiners, which specify nouns (as in ''Put '''that''' coat on''), and demonstrative pronouns, which stand independently (as in ''Put '''that''' on''). The demonstratives in English are ''this'', ''that'', ''these'', ''those'', and the archaic ''yon'' and ''yonder'', along with ''this one, these ones,'' ''that one'' and ''those ones'' as substitutes for the pronouns.

==Contrasts in demonstrative systems== ===Distal and proximal demonstratives=== {{anchor|distal|proximal}} Many languages, such as English and Standard Chinese, make a two-way distinction between demonstratives. Typically, one set of demonstratives is '''proximal''', indicating objects close to the speaker (English ''this''), and the other series is '''distal''', indicating objects further removed from the speaker (English ''that'').

Other languages, like Finnish, Nandi, Hawaiian, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian (in some formal writing), Armenian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Georgian, Basque, Korean, Japanese, Ukrainian, Bengali, and Sri Lankan Tamil make a three-way distinction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |editor1-last=Symanzik |editor1-first=Bernhard |editor2-last=Birkfellner |editor2-first=Gerhard |editor3-last=Sproede |editor3-first=Alfred |title=Die Übersetzung als Problem sprach- und literaturwissenschaftlicher Forschung in Slavistik und Baltistik: Beiträge zu einem Symposium in Münster 10./11. Mai 2001 |series=Studien zur Slavistik; vol. 1 |publisher=Dr. Kovač |pages=89–91 |language=de |chapter=Demonstrativpronomina in den slavischen Sprachen |trans-chapter=Demonstrative pronouns in the Slavic languages |chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/447083.DEMONSTRATIVPRONOMINA.PDF |location=Hamburg |year=2002 |isbn=3-8300-0714-0 |oclc=55730212 |s2cid=224110091 |ssrn=3434530 |id={{CROSBI|447083}} |archive-date=24 August 2012 | archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6A9uAwAWF?url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/447083.DEMONSTRATIVPRONOMINA.PDF |url-status=live |access-date=6 April 2021}}</ref> Typically there is a distinction between '''proximal''' or first person (objects near to the speaker), '''medial''' or second person (objects near to the addressee), and '''distal''' or third person<ref>{{cite web|last=Manosso|first=Radamés|title=Demonstrativos|url=http://www.radames.manosso.nom.br/gramatica/demonstrativos.htm|work=Gramática Descritiva|access-date=27 May 2011|language=pt}}</ref> (objects far from both). So for example, in Portuguese: :* ''Esta maçã'' : "this apple" :* ''Essa maçã'' : "that apple (near you)" :* ''Aquela maçã'' : "that apple (over there, away from both of us)"<ref group="note">In Brazilian Portuguese "este" (this) is sometimes reduced to "es'e", making it sound like "esse" (that).</ref>

Further oppositions are created with place adverbs. :* ''Essa maçã aqui'' : "this apple (next to me or next to you-and-me)" :* ''Essa maçã aí'' : "that apple (next to you)" :* ''Aquela maçã ali'' : "that apple (close to you-and-me)" :* ''Aquela maçã lá'' : "that apple (which is far from you-and-me or is in another distant place from you-and-me)"

in Italian (medial pronouns, in most of Italy, only survive in historical texts and bureaucratic texts. However, they're of wide and very common usage in some Regions, like Tuscany): :* ''Questa mela'' : "this apple" :* ''Codesta mela'' : "that apple (near you)" :* ''Quella mela'' : "yon apple (over there, away from both of us)"

in Hawaiian: :* ''Kēia ʻukulele'' : "this ukulele" :* ''kēnā ʻukulele'' : "that ukulele (near you)" :* ''kēlā ʻukulele'' : "yon ukulele (over there, away from both of us)"

in Armenian (based on the proximal "s", medial "d/t", and distal "n"): {{fs interlinear|indent=3|այս խնձորը|ays khndzorë|"this apple"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|այդ խնձորը|ayd khndzorë|"that apple (near you)"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|այն խնձորը|ayn khndzorë|"yon apple (over there, away from both of us)"}}

and, in Georgian: {{fs interlinear|indent=3|ამისი მამა|amisi mama|"this one's father"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|იმისი ცოლი|imisi coli|"that one's wife"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|მაგისი სახლი|magisi saxli|"that (by you) one's house"}}

and, in Ukrainian (note that Ukrainian has not only number, but also three grammatical genders in singular): :* цей чоловік, ця жінка, це яблуко, ці яблука : "this man", "this woman", "this apple", "these apples" :* той чоловік, та жінка, те яблуко, ті яблука : "that man", "that woman", "that apple", "those apples" :* он той чоловік, он та жінка, он те яблуко, он ті яблука : "yon man (over there, away from both of us)", "that woman (over there, away from both of us)", "yon apple (over there, away from both of us)", "yons apples (over there, away from both of us)"

and, in Japanese: {{fs interlinear|indent=3|この リンゴ|kono ringo|"this apple"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|その リンゴ|sono ringo|"that apple"}} {{fs interlinear|indent=3|あの リンゴ|ano ringo|"that apple (over there)"}}

In Nandi (Kalenjin of Kenya, Uganda and Eastern Congo):

''Chego chu, Chego choo, Chego chuun''

"this milk", "that milk" (near the second person) and "that milk" (away from the first and second person, near a third person or even further away).

Ancient Greek has a three-way distinction between ὅδε (''hóde'' "this here"), οὗτος (''hoûtos'' "this"), and ἐκεῖνος (''ekeînos'' "that").

Spanish, Tamil and Seri also make this distinction. French has a two-way distinction, with the use of postpositions "-ci" (proximal) and "-là" (distal) as in ''cet homme-ci'' and ''cet homme-là'', as well as the pronouns ''ce'' and ''cela''/''ça''. English has an archaic but occasionally used three-way distinction of ''this'', ''that'', and ''yonder''.

Arabic has also a three-way distinction in its formal Classical and Modern Standard varieties. Arabic demonstrative pronouns primarily inflect for number and gender. They only inflect for case in the dual. Their plural forms are invariable (i.e., inflecting for neither gender nor case). They inflect for gender but not case in the singular. The proximal-medial-distal distinction is as follows: :* {{lang|ar|هذا الرجل}} (''haːðaː arrajul'') 'this man'. :* {{lang|ar|ذاك الرجل}} (''ðaːka arrajul'') 'that man'. :* {{lang|ar|ذلك الرجل}} (''ðaːlika arrajul'') 'that man' (over there).

In Modern German (and the Scandinavian languages), the non-selective deictic '''''das''' Kind'', '''''der''' Kleine'', '''''die''' Kleine'' and the selective one '''''das''' Kind'', '''''der''' Kleine'', '''''die''' Kleine'' are homographs, but they are spoken differently. The non-selective deictics are unstressed whereas the selective ones (demonstratives) are stressed. There is a second selective deictic, namely '''''dieses''' Kind'', '''''dieser''' Kleine'', '''''diese''' Kleine''. Distance either from the speaker or from the addressee is either marked by the opposition between these two deictics or by the addition of a place deictic.

Distance-marking Thing Demonstrative : ''dieses Mädchen'' ~ ''das Mädchen'' : "this girl" ~ "that girl"

Thing Demonstrative plus Distance-marking Place Demonstrative : ''das Mädchen hier'' ~ ''das Mädchen da'' : ''dieses Mädchen hier'' ~ ''dieses Mädchen da'' : "this girl here" ~ "that girl over there"

A distal demonstrative exists in German, cognate to the English ''yonder'', but it is used mainly in formal registers.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hopkins | first1 = Edwin A. | last2 = Jones | first2 = Randall L. | date = Spring 1972 | title = "Jener" in Modern Standard German | journal = Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 15–27 | jstor = 3529001 | publisher = American Association of Teachers of German | doi = 10.2307/3529001}}</ref> : ''jenes Mädchen'' : "yonder girl"

Cognates of "yonder" still exist in some Northern English and Scots dialects;

:"This shop here"

:"That shop across the street"

:"Yon shop down the street" :(that shop that is/used to be down the street)

There are languages which make a four-way distinction, such as Northern Sami: :* ''Dát biila'' : "this car" :* ''Diet biila'' : "that car (near you)" :* ''Duot biila'' : "that car (over there, away from both of us but rather near)" :* ''Dot biila'' : "that car (over there, far away)" : These four-way distinctions are often termed proximal, '''mesioproximal''', '''mesiodistal''', and distal.

=== Non-distal contrasts === Many non-European languages make further distinctions; for example, whether the object referred to is uphill or downhill from the speaker (Akhvakh), whether the object is visible or not (as in Malagasy), and whether the object can be pointed to as a whole or only in part. The Eskimo–Aleut languages,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alaskool.org/LANGUAGE/central_yupik/yupik.html |title=Central Yup'ik and the Schools |author=Steven A. Jacobson |year=1984 |access-date=2007-05-24 |publisher=University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research}}</ref> and the Kiranti branch<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~bickel/research/projects/belhare/ |title=A short introduction to Belhare and its speakers |author=Balthasar Bickel |year=1998 |access-date=2009-03-16}}</ref> of the Sino-Tibetan language family are particularly well known for their many contrasts.

The demonstratives in Seri are compound forms based on the definite articles (themselves derived from verbs) and therefore incorporate the positional information of the articles (standing, sitting, lying, coming, going) in addition to the three-way spatial distinction. This results in a quite elaborated set of demonstratives.

==Demonstrative series in other languages== Latin had several sets of demonstratives, including ''hic'', ''haec'', ''hoc'' ("this near me"); ''iste'', ''ista'', ''istud'' ("that near you"); and ''ille'', ''illa'', ''illud'' ("that over there") – note that Latin has not only number, but also three grammatical genders. The third set of Latin demonstratives (''ille'', etc.), developed into the definite articles in most Romance languages, such as ''el'', ''la'', ''los'', ''las'' in Spanish, and ''le'', ''la'', ''les'' in French.

With the exception of Romanian, and some varieties of Spanish and Portuguese, the neuter gender has been lost in the Romance languages. Spanish and Portuguese have kept neuter demonstratives: :{| ! Spanish{{quad}} !! Portuguese{{quad}} !! gender |- | {{quad}}''este'' || {{quad}}''este'' || masculine |- | {{quad}}''esta'' || {{quad}}''esta'' || feminine |- | |- | {{quad}}''esto'' || {{quad}}''isto'' || neuter |}

Some forms of Spanish (Caribbean Spanish, Andalusian Spanish, etc.) also occasionally employ ''ello'', which is an archaic survival of the neuter pronoun from Latin ''illud''.{{Citation needed|reason=There seems to be no such word as ''elo'' in Formal Brazilian Portuguese|date=January 2014}}

Neuter demonstratives refer to ideas of indeterminate gender, such as abstractions and groups of heterogeneous objects, and has a limited agreement in Portuguese, for example, "all of that" can be translated as "todo aquele" (m), "toda aquela" (f) or "tudo aquilo" (n) in Portuguese, although the neuter forms require a masculine adjective agreement: "Tudo (n) aquilo (n) está quebrado (m)" (''All of that is broken'').

Classical Chinese had three main demonstrative pronouns: proximal {{lang|zh|{{linktext|此}}}} (this), distal {{lang|zh|{{linktext|彼}}}} (that), and distance-neutral {{lang|zh|{{linktext|是}}}} (this or that).<ref name="Pulleyblank">{{cite book|last=Pulleyblank|first=Edwin G.|author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank|title=Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar|publisher=UBC Press|year=1995|location=Vancouver|isbn=0-7748-0541-2}}</ref> The frequent use of {{lang|zh|是}} as a resumptive demonstrative pronoun that reasserted the subject before a noun predicate caused it to develop into its colloquial use as a copula by the Han period and subsequently its standard use as a copula in Modern Standard Chinese.<ref name="Pulleyblank"/> Modern Mandarin has two main demonstratives, proximal {{lang|zh-Hant|{{linktext|這}}}}/{{lang|zh-Hans|这}} and distal {{lang|zh-Hani|{{linktext|那}}}}; its use of the three Classical demonstratives has become mostly idiomatic,<ref>{{cite book|last=Yip|first=Po-Ching|author2=Rimmington, Don|title=Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|location=London|isbn=0-415-15032-9}}</ref> although {{lang|zh|此}} continues to be used with some frequency in modern written Chinese. Cantonese uses proximal {{lang|yue-Hant|{{linktext|呢}}}} and distal {{lang|yue-Hant|{{linktext|嗰}}}} instead of {{lang|zh|這}} and {{lang|zh|那}}, respectively.

Similarly, Northern Wu languages tend to also have a distance-neutral demonstrative {{lang|wuu-Hant|{{linktext|搿}}}}, which is etymologically a checked-tone derivation of {{lang|wuu-Hant|{{linktext|個}}}}. In lects such as Shanghainese, distance-based demonstratives exist, but are only used constrastively. Suzhounese, on the other hand, has several demonstratives that form a two-way contrast, but also have {{lang|wuu-Hant|搿}}, which is neutral.<ref>{{cite book|last=Qian|first=Nairong|title={{lang|zh-Hans|上海话大词典}}|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pan|first=Wuyun|title={{lang|zh-Hans|吴语指示（代）词}}}}</ref>

Hungarian has two spatial demonstratives: ''ez'' (this) and ''az'' (that). These inflect for number and case even in attributive position (attributes usually remain uninflected in Hungarian) with possible orthographic changes; e.g., ''ezzel'' (with this), ''abban'' (in that). A third degree of deixis is also possible in Hungarian, with the help of the ''am-'' prefix: ''amaz'' (that there). The use of this, however, is emphatic (when the speaker wishes to emphasize the distance) and not mandatory.

The Cree language has a special demonstrative for "things just gone out of sight," and Ilocano, a language of the Philippines, has three words for ''this'' referring to a visible object, a fourth for things not in view and a fifth for things that no longer exist."<ref>{{harvtxt|Bryson|1990|page=64}}, citing {{cite book |last=Pell |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Pei |title=The Story of Language |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |date=1949}}</ref> The Tiriyó language has a demonstrative for "things audible but non-visible"<ref>{{cite web|title=A Grammar of Trio: A Cariban Language of Suriname |last=Carlin |first=Eithne B. |website=eithnecarlin.nl |url=https://www.eithnecarlin.nl/sites/www.eithnecarlin.nl/files/publications/2004-grammar-trio-cariban-language-suriname.pdf}}</ref>

While most languages and language families have demonstrative systems, some have systems highly divergent from or more complex than the relatively simple systems employed in Indo-European languages. In Yupik languages, notably in the Chevak Cup’ik language, there exists a 29-way distinction in demonstratives, with demonstrative indicators distinguished according to placement in a three-dimensional field around the interlocutor(s), as well as by visibility and whether or not the object is in motion.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Morphological Orthodoxy in Yupik-Inuit |date=February 2004 |last=Woodbury |first=Anthony C. |journal=Proceedings of the Berkeley Language Society 30: Special Session on the Morphology of Native American Languages |volume=30 |issue=2 |doi=10.3765/bls.v30i2.906 |issn=2377-1666 |pages=151–171|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=January 2023}}

==Demonstrative determiners and pronouns== It is relatively common for a language to distinguish between '''demonstrative determiners''' or '''demonstrative adjectives''' (sometimes also called ''determinative demonstratives'', ''adjectival demonstratives'' or ''adjectival demonstrative pronouns'') and '''demonstrative pronouns''' (sometimes called ''independent demonstratives'', ''substantival demonstratives'', ''independent demonstrative pronouns'' or ''substantival demonstrative pronouns'').

A demonstrative determiner specifies a noun as definite, singular or plural, and proximal or distal:

:''This apple is good.'' :''I like those houses.''

A demonstrative pronoun stands on its own, replacing rather than modifying a noun:

:''This is good.'' :''I like those.''

There are four common demonstrative pronouns in English: ''this'', ''that'', ''these'', ''those.''<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aarts |first1=Bas |title=The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar |last2=Chalker |first2=Sylvia |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-965823-7 |edition=2nd |pages=113}}</ref>

In formal contexts, ''such'' is sometimes used as a demonstrative determiner to indicate something described by the preceding statement(s) (e.g. "It was a scandal, but we don't usually discuss such things."). However, the use of ''such'' as a demonstrative pronoun has become archaic outside of certain fossilized expressions (e.g. "such is life").<ref>{{Cite OED|such|4195345364}}</ref> Historically, ''so'' was sometimes used in place of ''such'' when used as a demonstrative pronoun, and this has gone through a similar process of fossilization (e.g. "you should have said so").<ref>{{Cite OED|so|1889545529}}</ref>

Some dialects, such as Southern American English, also use ''yon'' and ''yonder'', where the latter is usually employed as a demonstrative determiner.<ref name=Bryson>{{cite book |last=Bryson |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Bryson |year=1990 |title=The Mother Tongue: English & How it Got that Way |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow |isbn=0-688-07895-8 |pages=63–64 }}</ref> Author Bill Bryson laments the "losses along the way" of ''yon'' and ''yonder'':<ref name="Bryson" />

{{blockquote|Today we have two demonstrative pronouns, ''this'' and ''that'', but in Shakespeare's day there was a third, ''yon'' (as in the Milton line "Him that yon soars on golden wing"), which suggested a further distance than ''that''. You could talk about this hat, that hat, and yon hat. Today the word survives as a colloquial adjective, ''yonder'', but our speech is fractionally impoverished for its loss.}}

==Demonstrative adverbs== Many languages have sets of '''demonstrative adverbs''' that are closely related to the demonstrative pronouns in a language. For example, corresponding to the demonstrative pronoun ''that'' are the adverbs such as ''then'' (= "at that time"), ''there'' (= "at that place"), ''thither'' (= "to that place"), ''thence'' (= "from that place"); equivalent adverbs corresponding to the demonstrative pronoun ''this'' are ''now'', ''here'', ''hither'', ''hence''. A similar relationship exists between the interrogative pronoun ''what'' and the interrogative adverbs ''when'', ''where'', ''whither'', ''whence''. See pro-form for a full table.

==Discourse deixis== {{main|Deixis}} As mentioned above, while the primary function of demonstratives is to provide spatial references of concrete objects (''that (building)'', ''this (table)''), there is a secondary function: referring to items of discourse.<ref name="Næss">{{Cite book| veditors=Næss Å, Margetts A, Treis Y| title = Demonstratives in discourse| place = Berlin| publisher = Language Science Press| date = 2020| format = pdf| url = http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/282| doi = 10.5281/zenodo.4054814 | doi-access=free| isbn = 978-3-96110-287-7| last1 = Næss| first1 = Åshild| last2 = Treis| first2 = Yvonne| last3 = Margetts| first3 = Anna}}</ref> For example:

:''This sentence is short.'' :''This is what I mean: I am happy with him.'' :''That way of looking at it is wrong.'' :''I said her dress looked hideous. She didn't like that.''

In the above, ''this sentence'' refers to the sentence being spoken, and the pronoun ''this'' refers to what is about to be spoken; ''that way'' refers to "the previously mentioned way", and the pronoun ''that'' refers to the content of the previous statement. These are abstract entities of discourse, not concrete objects. Each language may have subtly different rules on how to use demonstratives to refer to things previously spoken, currently being spoken, or about to be spoken. In English, ''that'' (or occasionally ''those'') refers to something previously spoken, while ''this'' (or occasionally ''these'') refers to something about to be spoken (or, occasionally, something being simultaneously spoken).{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}

==See also== *Deixis *Pro-form

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{wiktionary|demonstrative|this|that|yon}} *[http://www.iep.utm.edu/dem-indx/ Demonstratives & Indexicals] at Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

{{lexical categories|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Parts of speech