Deixis in Arabic and English : A Contrastive Approach

In this article, the author will investigate the way of utilizing deictic expressions for social relations as well as diplomacy, which are of great importance to translators, teachers and diplomats. Recognizing the five types of deixis and their implicaions and different connotations, the author will show the similarities and differences between the two languages and how they are used. The consequences of misunderstanding these differences might lead to diplomatic conflict and complete failure of translating the speaker’s intention from the source language to the target language which may lead to world conflict. Thus the author will point out the semantic features and pragmatic functions of personal, spatial and temporal deixis of English, and Arabic pointing out similarities and differences. Thus the writer points out their importance to language teaching which is of great importance. However, the translation is not only for academic purposes but for the international community at large.


Introduction
The word 'deixis' derived from Greek 'deiktiktikos' is used in modern Western linguistics to refer to certain personal, spatial and temporal elements which events on the basis of spatio-temporal dimensions.There are three main types of deixis: person, place and time, and two minor ones in English and other languages including Arabic, discourse deixis and social deixis.The present paper discusses mainly the first three types; it only touches lightly on the other two minor types; it points out the basic similarities and differences in deixis between the two languages.
In philosophy deictic elements are usually called indexical expressions or just indexicals, a term also used by Peirce (1931:58) in the sense of deixis.
As expected, the Arab linguists and grammarians have not discussed the notion of deixis in one comprehensive topic; it occurs in scattered places like pronouns, demonstratives, verbs, adverbs and particles.In discussing these grammatical elements, the Arab grammarian makes casual reference to the notion of deixis.

Deixis and Anaphora
Both deixis and anaphora share the deictic or pointing feature, but in deixis the pointing feature points to the context of utterance or context of situation; whereas in anaphora it points to the antecedent or to its referent.The example below illustrates the difference: The pronouns 'I ' and ' you' refer to the speaker and the addressee, who can be recognized from the context of situation; they are deictic elements.
1.1.1Want to speak to Peter Black.Do you know where he is?
The pronouns 'I, you' refer to the speaker and the addressee, who can be recognized from the context of situation; they are deictic elements.The pronoun ´he' refers to the referent of the expression `Peter Black'; it is therefore anaphoric.Following Bühler (1934, p. 120 ), some linguists distinguish between an anaphoric function of a pronoun as that of 'he' in (1), where it points to the referent of a preceding antecedent, and the cataphoric function of a pronoun, where it points to the referent of a forward antecedent as in ( 2): 1.1.2Because he was angry, Peter resigned.
Assuming that `he' refers to the referent of 'Peter', we say that ´'he 'is used cataphorically Traditionally, anaphora covers both the more usual backward and the less usual forward anaphora.This is the use adopted in this research.
There is another point which needs to be clarified before this section is concluded, namely: What does an anaphoric pronoun refer to?So far it has been stated that it refers to the referent of the antecedent i.e. it is co-referent with its antecedent.Thus in (1) above 'he' refers to the referent of the expression 'Peter Black'.There is, however, an older and traditional view which says that a pronoun refers to the antecedent expression rather than the referent.In this use adopted by Bloomfield and others a pronoun is a substitute of a noun or a nominal expression (a noun phrase); often no distinction was drawn between the two units, which sometimes results in considerable confusion.In the present article IJALEL 4(4):118-124, 2015 119 the more recent view is adopted, where an anaphoric pronoun refers to the referent of the antecedent.This is also the use found in various philosophical schools How do traditional Arab grammarians envisage the antecedent and the referent of a pronoun?The following standard definition of the pronoun in Arabic may shed some light at this point.‫ﻏﺎﺋﺐ‬ ‫او‬ ‫ﻣﺨﺎطﺐ‬ ‫او‬ ‫ﻣﺘﻜﻠﻢ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﯾﺪل‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻣﺪ‬ ‫اﺳﻢ‬ ‫‪(The‬اﻟﻀﻤﯿﺮ‬ pronoun is an indeclinable noun which points to a speaker, an addressee or an absent person (Hassan, 1975, p. 217).It is clear from this definition that the first and the second pronouns are viewed as deictic, and the third person pronoun either anaphoric or deictic pointing to the referent of an expression.This will be confirmed later when the author discusses the antecedent of the pronoun (Hassan, 1975, p., 255).(Pronouns are characterized by being vague or ambiguous -as we have seen -whether they belong to the first person or second person or third person.There must be something to disambiguate them or eliminate their vagueness.As for the first person and the second person, they can be identified by the fact that their referents are present at the time of utterance; one is present and speaking and the other is present and addressed by the speaker directly.As for the third person pronoun, its referent is unknown because he is neither present nor witness.Therefore the third person should have something to identify its referent. It should be noted that the interpretation of the third person is different from that of modern linguistics, where the referent is neither the speaker nor the addressee; he may be present or witness but he is not a participant in the speech event.The Arabic definition is influenced by the designation of the third person pronoun as ‫اﻟﻐﺎﺋﺐ‬ ‫ﺿﻤﯿﺮ‬ (literally the pronoun of the absent).

Person Deixis
Pronoun deixis grammaticalizes the participants' roles of the speaker, the addressee and the one who is neither the speaker nor the addressee.These three roles of the speaker are known as the first person, the second person and the third person.The word 'person' in Western tradition is derived from a 'persona' an actor wearing a mask on the stage.Technically, the third person is not a participant since he/she plays no active role in the speech activity.Morphologically, English pronouns are realized as separate morphemes while Arabic pronouns are realized, in their unmarked form, as affixes attached to verbs, nouns and particles.They are also realized markedly as separate forms indicating emphasis or contrast.In English there are two first person pronouns, 'I' and 'we' showing number but not gender.This is also true of the first and second persons in Arabic: ‫اﻧﺎ‬and ‫.ﻧﺤﻦ‬The plural of the first person in both languages is slightly different from the usual sense of plural; in that 'we' does not mean '1+ 1 + 1' as the plural 'books means 'book + book + book'; the plural 'we' and ‫ﻧﺤﻦ‬ rather means 1 st + 2nd + 3 rd persons' or '1 st + 3 rd persons'; the first is called inclusive plural and the second exclusive, as in the examples below.
2. a We will stay here and you will go there (exclusive 'we'). b.
Let's go, you, John, and I to the zoo (inclusive 'we').
A greater difference is found in the pronouns of the second person in English and Arabic.English has only one form, 'you' which realizes the role of the second person participant or the addressee.Arabic second person pronouns are no fewer than five showing number, gender and case ‫اﻧﺖ‬ (you-sing-masc.),‫(اﻧﺖ‬you-sing-fem), ‫اﻧﺘﻢ‬ ‫-‪(pl‬اﻧﺘﻤﺎ‬ masc.), and ‫اﻧﺘﻦ‬ (pl-fem).To this may be added the forms representing case: o case covering the accusative and the genitive.In practice this means that Arabic refers to the second person pronoun in a more specific way, identifying the referent in terms of number, gender and case, besides the participant role.The Yiddish joke in Levinson (1983, p. 68) (Rosten, 1968, pp., 443-4;cited by Levinson, 1983, p., 68).
Probably in most languages including English and Arabic, the basic function of the third person pronoun is anaphoric rather than deictic.They often point to the referent of their antecedent (a referent of) the expression in the co-text) rather than to a referent in the context of situation...However, a third person pronoun may have a deictic function; in this case the utterance of the pronoun is normally accompanied by a gesture.
4. a He is reading a short story.(The speaker pointing to a man).
Under the same conditions the third person pronoun in ‫اﻧﮫ‬would be deictic.

b ‫ﻗﺼﯿﺮة‬ ‫ﻗﺼﺔ‬ ‫ﯾﻘﺮأ‬ ‫اﻧﮫ‬
Out of context may be in several ways ambiguous.The third person pronoun in (5) reads with a normal stress can have two interpretations.
5. The manager smiled when he left the room.
The pronoun 'he' may be anaphoric co-referential with 'the manager' or anaphoric but co-function is meant (Lyons, 1977, p. 660).The subordinate clause may be placed initially.
6.When he left the room, the manager smiled.
The pronoun has the same two readings as in ( 5).The interpretation of the third person pronoun is more restricted in coordination; its referential function is confined to backward anaphoric use.Thus only (7) has two interpretations, (8) has one interpretation only.7. The manager smiled and he left.8.He left and the manager smiled.
In (7) the pronoun 'he' may be co-referential with 'the manager' or with another expression; in (8) the pronoun 'he' cannot be co-referential with 'the manager', it can only point to the referent of another expression.
The points discussed above also apply to the use of the third person pronoun in Arabic, with one exception: forward anaphora illustrated in (6).Forward anaphora is highly restricted in Arabic; example (6) nearly always occurs with the antecedent preceding the pronoun.9. ‫اﺑﺘﺴﻢ‬ ‫اﻟﻤﺪﯾﺮ‬ ‫ﻏﺎدر‬ ‫ﻟﻤﺎ‬ 10. ‫ﯾﺒﺘﺴﻢ‬ ‫وھﻮ‬ ‫اﻟﻤﺪﯾﺮ‬ ‫ﻏﺎدر‬ In both ( 9) and ( 10) the implied and the explicit pronoun ‫ھﻮ‬may be co-referential with ‫‪or‬اﻟﻤﺪﯾﺮ‬ refers to the referent of another expression.
With a strong stress, the pronoun in (11) can be deictic, anaphoric co-referential or anaphoric non-referential.
Rendered into Arabic, the strong stressed pronoun would be expressed by a separate morpheme.

‫ﯾﻐﺎدر‬ ‫وھﻮ‬ ‫اﻟﻤﺪﯾﺮ‬ ‫اﺑﺘﺴﻢ‬
The Arabic sentence in (12) will have the same deictic and anaphoric readings of the corresponding English sentence in (11).
The third person pronouns are differently realized in English and Arabic.English has four pronouns; 'he, she, it, they' minimally marked for gender, number, and case.The forms he, she, it are singular and show personal and non-personal gender; the plural form of the three pronouns is 'they', which lacks gender.Likewise Arabic third person pronouns are marked for gender , number and case; but Arabic gender is grammatical rather than personal and identifies the referent as either masculine or feminine; there are three numbers: singular, dual, and plural, all of which show gender.(‫ھﻮ‬ ' ‫ھﻲ‬ ' ‫ھﻦ‬ ‫؛‬ ‫ھﻢ‬ ‫)ھﻤﺎ؛‬ except the dual which is the same for masculine and feminine.The distinctions of gender in English 'he', 'she', and 'it' help considerably to identify the referent, but the realization of the plural in one form, 'they/ works unfortunately in the other direction.Arabic gender with its minimal two-way grammatical basis is compensated for by the fact that each of the two genders is relevant for singular and plural ‫ھﻮ‬ ' ‫ھﻲ‬ ' ‫ھﻦ‬ ‫؛‬ ‫ھﻢ‬ ‫ھﻤﺎ؛‬ ).

Place Deixis
Place deixis identifies the referent on the basis of location; the point of reference being proximity from the speaker at the time of utterance.The English place deictic elements are the demonstratives, 'this -that', the adverbs, 'here-there' and the definite article 'the'; besides certain verbs like 'come-go', which show direction or towards the speaker.The spatial deictic elements are egocentrically arranged as follows: Near the speaker away from the speaker This (these) that (those) Here there Come go The definite article 'the' is neutral with regard to the principle of proximity.
The corresponding spatial deictic elements in Arabic are the demonstratives, which etc.), the adverbs ‫ھﺬا‬ and ‫ھﻨﺎك‬ ' ‫ھﻨﺎﻟﻚ‬ and certain verbs showing direction towards the speaker ‫‪or‬ﺟﺎء‬ away from the speaker ‫.ذھﺐ‬ Again these elements may be arranged as follows: Near the speaker away from the speaker The dimension of proximity in the demonstratives, whether in English or in Arabic is complicated by two other factors, the temporal factor which belongs to the next section, and the psychological factor which tends to use the proximal pronoun for favourable objects and situations and the distal pronoun for unfavourable ones.The precise use of these dimensions in English is too complicated to be formulated into rules (Lyons 1977, p. 668) and the problem is more complicated in Arabic.However, here the two languages seem to show some difference in their use of the demonstratives.English uses the distal' 'that' for unfavourable objects and situations, while Arabic, on the other hand, uses the proximal ( ‫ھﺬه‬ ‫‪)as‬ھﺎذا‬ the following examples (taken from (Faulkner's Sound and Fury and its Arabic translation by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra) show: 13.Not that blackguard Caddy (Sound and Fury, p. 94) ‫ﯾﺎﻛﺎدي‬ ‫اﻟﻨﺬل‬ ‫ھﺬا‬ ‫ﻻ‬ (Jabra, p. 158) 14. … Damn that horse damns that horse (Sound and Fury, p. 96) ‫اﻟﺤﺼﺎن‬ ‫ھﺬا‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﷲ‬ ‫ﻟﻌﻨﺔ‬ ‫اﻟﺤﺼﺎن‬ ‫ھﺬا‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﷲ‬ ‫ﻟﻌﻨﺔ‬ (Jabra, p. 158).
15.That that grin at you that thing through them (Sound and Fury, p. 95).
The definite article in Arabic is realized as a prefix ‫ال‬and its use is not based on proximity, but like the English article, on the unique local position and shared between the speaker and the addressee.
Besides the dimension of proximity, the demonstratives also show dimension of nakedness.In English 'this' is marked and 'that' is unmarked (Lyons, 1977, p647), the opposite is true in Arabic, the proximal ‫‪is‬ھﺬا‬ unmarked, the distal form ‫)ذﻟﻚ(‬ ( ‫‪)is‬ذاك‬ marked."Never, never, I am not complaining about that".
There is a positional difference between the English and the Arabic demonstratives.In English a demonstrative, when used as a determiner, precedes the head, in Arabic the 'determiner' and the demonstrative can precede or follow the head.

‫ھﺬا‬ ‫اﻟﻜﺘﺎب‬ ‫ﻗﺮأت‬ ‫أو‬ ‫اﻟﻜﺘﺎب‬ ‫ھﺬا‬ ‫ﻗﺮأت‬
The rules governing the pre-and postposition of Arabic demonstratives had not been fully elaborated.
Infomationally, elements preceding the head have an anticipatory function; those following the head have a trailing function (Leech and Short, 1981, p. 225-226); thus the demonstrative determiner in English points forward because it precedes the head; whereas the Arabic demonstrative can look forward or backward, since it can precede or follow the head.

Time Deixis
The elements realizing time deixis of English are nouns, 'tomorrow', 'yesterday', 'today'; adverbs 'now' and \then\ and tenses.Arabic also uses nouns, and tenses.As in the case of spatial deixis, time deixis may be arranged on the basis of proximity from the speaker as follows: Near the speaker Away from the speaker Today tomorrow now present tense yesterday then past tense ‫اﻻء‬ ‫اوﻻء‬ ‫ھﺎﺗﯿﻦ‬ ‫ھﺎﺗﺎن‬ ‫ھﺬه‬ ‫ھﺬﯾﻦ‬ ‫ھﺬان‬ ‫ھﺬا‬ ‫ﺗﺎ‬ ‫ﺗﻠﻚ‬ ‫اوﻟﺌﻚ‬ ‫ذﻧﯿﻚ‬ ‫ذاﻧﻚ‬ ‫ذاﻟﻚ‬ ‫ذاك‬ ‫اﻻﺋﻚ‬ ‫اوﻻﺋﻚ‬ ‫ﺗﯿﻨﻚ‬ ‫ﺗﺎﻧﻚ‬ ‫ك‬ ‫اﻧﺌﺬن‬ ‫اﻻن‬

Present tense past tense
The demonstrative pronouns in English and Arabic are also used as time deixis, the proximal elements indicating the present; the distal elements pointing to the past, as in the following examples: 22.These are hard times (proximal -temporal).
23.Those were real days (distal -temporal).In English, tense is the most important time deixis; it locates a situation (an event or a state) in the present (including the future) or the past: go-went: Here the point of verb always plays a supplementary role: 26.They arrived here yesterday.
27.She is here now.
Tense in Arabic has a weaker deictic feature; Arabic tenses are usually described as 'relative', which they can take their point of reference either from the speaker-now like English or from any other point in the linguistic context.Thus ‫ﯾﻜﺘﺐ‬ may be deictic if it takes its time from the speaker -now as in ( 28) below in case it is equivalent to the English 'write' or it may derive in time from a point in the co-text as in (29).

‫ﯾﻜﺘﺐ‬ ‫وھﻮ‬ ‫رأﯾﺘﮫ‬
The discussion shows that it is important to distinguish between the two (29) ‫ﯾﻜﺘﺐ‬points to the past 'he was writing' because it relates for its time on the previous verb ‫رأى‬ which are types of tenses: absolute tenses which take their point of reference from the speaker-now, and relative tenses which use other points in the context as focus of deixis.The first type, to which English tenses belong, is an important deictic element; the second type, to which Arabic tenses belong, is an important deictic element.Thus the two English tenses, present and past (go-went) are absolute and locate a situation within the time of speaking or before it.It may be said that the past is a marked tense since it places a speech event in the past, whereas the present tense may be considered unmarked because it indicates a present or future action, i.e. a non-past action.Thus the past tense in ( 26) and the present in ( 27) above are absolute, and hence deictic.Arabic tenses are realized by the two from imperfect ‫ﯾﻜ‬ ‫ﺘﺐ‬ and perfect ‫ﻛﺘﺐ‬can be absolute as in (28) or relative as in (29) above; the first type is deictic while the second type is non-deictic.
Since tense in English is deictic, the adverb of time normally plays a supplementary role, as stated above in connection with ( 26) and ( 27).In Arabic, on the other hand, adverbs of time play an essential role in determining dimension of the verb form (tense).This point is well-illustrated in the following example: 30.
In the direct speech above ‫ﺗﻘﺎﺗﻠﻮن‬ points to the past since it takes its time from the adverb ‫(ﺑﺎﻻﻣﺲ‬yesterday), the second ‫ﺗﻘﺎﺗﻠﻮن‬ refers to the present because it derives its time from the adverb ‫(اﻟﯿﻮم‬today).The first verb may be rendered in English as 'were fighting', the second 'are fighting' Some linguists go as denying that Arabic has any tenses in the European sense of this term; they regard the two forms, imperfect ‫)ﯾﻜﺘﺐ(‬ and perfect ‫)ﻛﺘﺐ(‬ as aspects.This is probably an extreme view which draws no distinction between absolute and relative tenses.

Social Deixis
Social deixis identifies the participants in an exchange on the two dimensions for rank and familiarity An often quoted example of social distinction is the contrast between 'tu' 'du' in French and 'du and 'Sie' ' in German, the former indicates that the addressee is inferior in rank or close to on the scale of familiarity; the latter, on the other hand, shows that the addressee is superior in rank or distant on the horizontal scale.English has only one second person pronoun 'you' and has no way of drawing a social distinction by means of pronouns.However, the use of titles like 'sir', 'lady', 'your honour', etc. is a mark of social distinction.Arabic has two plural forms, one for males ' ‫‪and‬اﻧﺘﻢ‬ the other for females ' ‫اﻧﺘﻦ‬However, the use of Arabic has two plural forms, one for males ‫‪.and‬أﻧﺘﻢ‬ the other for females ‫.أﻧﺘﻦ‬The male form is sometimes used as an honorific term of address, and usually contrasts with ‫أﻧﺖ‬ masculine singular 'you'.The honorific use of ‫أﻧﺘﻢ‬ is much less common than the French 'vou' and .nearly always confines to addressing male persons of a high rank.Arabic also uses titles, ‫ﻣﮭﻨﺪس‬ ' ‫ﺳﯿﺪ‬ ' ‫دﻛﺘﻮر,‬ etc. Kinship terms like ‫اخ‬ (brother), ‫(اﺧﺖ‬sister), ‫(ﻋﻢ‬uncle); and ‫اب‬ (father) and ‫ام‬ (mother) followed by the name of the first born, e.g.‫اﺣﻤﺪ‬ ‫اﺑﻮ‬ (Ahmad's father), ‫اﺣ‬ ‫ام‬ ‫ﻤﺪ‬ (Ahmad's mother) are used to show respect and some familiarity.

Discourse deixis
Discourse deixis refers to certain expressions which point to a part of discourse in which the deictic element occurs (Levinson, 1983).In both English and Arabic, the proximal demonstratives 'this' and ‫;ھﺬا‬ and the distal demonstratives, 'that' and ‫ذاك‬ ' ‫ذﻟﻚ‬ are used as a discourse deixis, whereas the distal demonstrative always points to a preceding part of discourse.The following examples illustrate these points in English and Arabic:

31.
Have you heard this joke?(The joke follows).
32.This is the funniest joke I have heard (referring to the preceding joke).
33.This is the funniest joke I have heard (as in 32).
‫ھﺬه‬ ‫ﻣﻦ‬ ‫أﺣﺴﻦ‬ ‫ﻗﻂ‬ ‫اﺳﻤﻊ‬ ‫ﻟﻢ‬ ‫اﻟﻨﻜﺘﺔ‬ based on the identity of 'you' for masculine and feminine cannot be rendered into Arabic, which uses two different forms for the two genders: 'Yold!' if I wrote 'my' slippers, she wouldread 'my' slippers and would send her slippers.What could I do with her slippers?So I wrote 'your' slippers, she will read 'your' slippers and send me mine'

Zuqaq al-Midaq, p. 119)
The following examples illustrate this point."Godforgive you!All right, so I'm lunatic and so were my parents.Let's forget about that.Just ask him what is on his mind"