A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Deictic elements are expressions that directly refer to entities present in the context of conversation. Deictic elements can also be temporal (tomorrow) or locative (here), in which case they refer to the time and place of utterance. Consider as an example the sentence below.

         ix₁₊₂ meet tomorrow

         ‘See you tomorrow.’

The correct interpretation of this sentence is not possible because we lack the contextual information about where and when it was signed and about who was present. Therefore, we are not able to interpret who corresponds to the indication ix_1+2, and we are not able to understand if the sign tomorrow refers to our future, or to a future in the past.

         Leaving beside the spatio-temporal information, deictic expressions which refer to physical entities generally consist of an index handshape directed toward these entities. Such a pointing is realised in a specific signing space location previously established and associated to the discourse referent, as shown in the repeated example below.

         Context: At the post office, someone asks for information indicating a letter.

                                  wh

         ix₃ mail where   

         ‘Where can I mail it (indicating the letter)?’

The pointing sign may show some variation due to phonological processes, like assimilation (PHONOLOGY 3.1.1). In this case, the pointing sign may assimilate a parameter of neighbouring signs. This is exemplified in the example below, where the deictic pointing sign referring to a contextual object and the sign pointing to the interlocutor are realised with the same orientation (palm up) displayed by the nearby verb want.Indeed, such a position is more comfortable for the wrist, which does not need to turn twice to produce the pronominal signs.

         ix₃ want ix₂

         ‘Do you want it?’