Abstract:Deixis is a universal linguistic phenomenon in human languages. According to Bar-Hillel, there are about ninety percent of the words with deixis words in the sentences of our daily communication, and in English, the most typical deictic words are demonstratives this and that. In recent years, researchers at home and abroad have attached great importance to the studies of demonstratives this and that while the study of these two is demonstratives always related to deixis. However, it is difficult to come to a conclusion about the functions of them, because of a lot of reasons, such as the variety of the researchers’ basic point of view, the complexity of the phenomenon of the deixis which involves complicate pragmatic factors, and the analysis of the usage which is related to the speaker’s attitude, intention and other contextual factors.
In previous study, the selection of the usage of the demonstratives this and that is based on relative distance. The traditional description of distinction between demonstratives this and that is based on the difference of a speaker-centric scale of proximity. This dissertation is a study on the functions of the two demonstratives this and that. In order to have a clearer and systemic understanding of the functions of this and that, this paper presents Halliday’s metafunctions of language, namely, interpersonal function, experiential function and textual function, together with the notion of the scale of proximity to analyze this and that.
Key words: this; that; deixis; metafunctions of language; scale of proximity
摘要:指示，是一种普遍存在的语言现象，在任何一种语言中都存在。根据Bar-Hillel的统计，在日常交际中大概有百分之九十的话语是含有指示因素的索引句，而在英语中这些指示词，“this”和“that”的出现频率最多。国内外有很多学者都已对指示词“this”和“that”进行深入研究，而指示词(demonstrative)的研究大多是和指示(deixis)联系在一起的。然而，由于研究者的出发点各异，而且指示现象本身涉及复杂的语用因素，考察使用中的指示结构离不开说话人态度，意图等语境因素的分析，诸多原因造成了指示词“this”和“that”的功能探索一直存在争议，难以形成定论。
在早期的研究中，指示代词“this”和“that”的选用或理解都是以距离或相对距离作为选用或理解的决定性因素。对于“this”和“that”两个词的不同，一般认为在于与说话人的邻近度的不同。为了对“this”和“that”的功能用法有一个更清晰和系统的理解，本文提出了从韩礼德的语言的三个元功能理论，即达意功能、人际功能与语篇功能，并结合邻近度的角度来分析“this”和“that”。
关键词：这；那；指示；语言的元功能；邻近度
