Abstract
M.A.
This study is concerned with deixis as a subcategory of semantics and/or pragmatics
which has not been dealt with thoroughly in the African languages. A number of English
scholars indicate that the subcategories of deixis which may be identified are: person
deixis, spatial deixis and temporal deixis. They also indicate how these subcategories
are grammaticalized in English. This, then, led to the question: is deixis grammaticalized
in the same way in Zulu? This study attempts to answer that question.
The research method used is the inductive method, where facts and findings which
come from other scholars' publications were taken into consideration. A general survey
of the available published sources on deixis has shown that very little research has been
done on whether Zulu deixis belongs to semantics and/or to pragmatics, hence the
discussion of this categorization in this mini-dissertation. The framework employed in
this study to investigate deixis in Zulu is the synchronic functional approach.
This study is aimed at investigating deixis in Zulu, with special reference to the
subcategories and the relationship between them. Though only three of the
subcategories, namely person, spatial and social deixis, are discussed in detail, this
work encompasses all five of the subcategories found in Zulu. The other two
subcategories of deixis, namely temporal (time) and discourse (text) deixis, which are
also identified in Zulu, are briefly discussed.
Person deixis refers to all deictic words which are related to person. Person is then
identified in discourse as either the first person (speaker), the second person
(addressee) or third person. The first and second person are necessarily deictic,
whereas the third person may or may not be deictic. In Zulu, the subjectival and
objectival morphemes and/or emphatic pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interjective
demonstratives and the possessive pronouns are used to express person deixis.
Spatial deixis refers to the location of discourse participants in space. Traditionally, this
referred to the three-way referential system indicating the three types of spaces:
proximal, medial and distal, i.e. being proximal to the speaker, medial or distal from the
speaker. Traditionalists explained the referential meaning of the demonstrative
pronouns and the copulative demonstratives of the African languages in terms of this
hypothesis. Modem researchers, however, take the view that spatial deixis, in the case
of the African languages, realises in terms of a three-way relationship in discourse: the
relationship between the speaker, the addressee and the object of reference.
Social deixis is realized when social distinctions which hold between the speaker(s), the
addressee(s) and the referent are grammaticalized. In Zulu this includes examples such
as hionipha language, taboo expressions and language used to indicate respect and/or
politeness.
The findings in this mini-dissertation show that deixis in Zulu is grammaticalized and
realized in five subcategories, namely person, spatial, social, discourse/text and time
deixis. Each subcategory of deixis is identified and exemplified by its meaning.
The relationship between the five subcategories of deixis is indicated.