Deixis Analysis in “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen Stefani Ekky Puspa Dewi (
[email protected]) Faculty of Humanities Dian Nuswantoro University of Semarang
Abstract
Language is more than a symbol because it can function as a communication tool for human. Therefore language can be learned by human. One of the subjects that study the language is pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning, so there must be a relationship between language and the context. However, that relationship can be seen through deixis. According to Levinson, deixis is divided into five types; they are person, time, place, discourse, and social deixis. This research is aimed to analyze the types of deixis found in the story of “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen. This research uses descriptive qualitative method, because it analyzes the types of deixis found in this story. The method of collecting the data is the documentation one. The data were taken from the internet website of www.andersen.sdu.dk dated on October 8th 2013. The steps to analyze the data are reading the story, finding the deixis, and classifying the types of deixis. The result shows that the type of deixis mostly used in this story is the pronoun deixis because there are found about 257 (84.8%) pronoun deixis. The other types of deixis used in this story are time, place, discourse, and social deixis. Keywords:
deixis, Hans Christian Andersen, pragmatics, Levinson, The Child in the Grave.
INTRODUCTION Language is a part of human’s life because it functions as an instrument for communication with each other. Language is more than a symbol. By using language, people can communicate with each other for many purposes. The existence of language in a human community is a natural phenomenon. It can be used either written or spoken. One of the subjects that learn about language that can help human in using it is pragmatics. In linguistics field, Laurence R. Horn and Gregory Ward stated that pragmatics is 1
the study of those context-dependent aspects of meaning which are systematically abstracted away from in the construction of content or logical form. In the other words pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning. Therefore there must be a relationship between language and the context. The most obvious way to reflect the relationship between language and context is through deixis. Deixis is derived from the Greek word means pointing. In this research the writer would like to analyze five types of deixis of Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Child in the Grave”. Those types of deixis are person, time, place, discourse, and social deixis. The writer chooses to analyze a story because in a story there must be a context that surrounds the language. Moreover, in the context and the language there must be deixis between them. Therefore, a story is a good material to be analyzed in finding the deixis. In this research, the writer chooses the story of “The Child in the Grave” by Hans Christian Andersen because this story is famous among students. It is taken from the internet website that provides only the works of Hans Christian Andersen.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
1. The Definition of Deixis The most obvious way to reflect the relationship between the structure of languages and contexts is through deixis. Deixis cannot be fully understood without the additional contextual information. The term deixis refers to a class of linguistic expressions that are used to indicate elements of the situational context, including the speech participants, the time and location of the current speech event (cf. Bühler 1934; Frei 1944; Lyons 1977, 1979; Fillmore 1982, 1997; Levinson 1983, 2004). In English, there are many linguistic expressions that are usually called as deictics. Purwo (1984:1) stated that deictic refers to a word which the referent is inconsistent, depending on who the speaker is, where and when it is uttered. The theory of this research is based on the theory of Levinson that divides 5 types of deixis.
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2. Types of Deixis Levinson divides five types of deixis as follows: 1. Person Deixis Person deixis belongs to the semantic categories and refers to the encoding of the participants’ role in the speech event such as speaker, addressee, and others, in which the utterance in question is delivered. It can be seen as follows: Pronoun
Singular
Plural
First
I
We
Second
You
You
Third
She/He/It
They
From the table above, we know that “I” is the speaker, “You” is the addressee, and “She, He, It, We, and They” are the others. Person deixis can be functioned well if the participants know the role of the speakers, the situation, and the target of the utterance. The use of person deixis can be seen from the illustration like this. Joshua finds a paper on the street that says, “Do not meet her, okay!” After opening the paper, Joshua certainly does not know who to meet. Therefore, in the other words, a person deixis need to be done if the participants have known the role of the speakers, the situation, and the target of the utterance. However, the examples of the person deixis can be seen as follows: -
Aslan says: “I am the king of Narnia”
-
Landon says to Jammie: “You are beautiful”
2. Time Deixis Levinson stated that time deixis deals with the encoding at temporal points of the spoken or written message. It is usually grammaticalized in deictic adverbs of time, such as now, then, this week, this afternoon, yesterday, today, and many more. In other words, time deixis refers to an expression that point to certain period when the utterances produced by the speaker. The examples of the time deixis can be seen as follows: -
This year will be a great year.
-
Yesterday, they came to my house.
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3. Place Deixis Place deixis deals with the encoding of special locations relative to the interlocutors in speech event. It depends on where the words uttered. It is grammaticalized in adverbs of place such as “this (Plural: these) and here” for something near or close to the speaker, and “that (plural: those) and there” for something distal or close to the addressee. In the other words, place deixis is an expression used to show the location relative to the location of a participant in the speech event. The examples of place deixis can be seen as follows: -
Josh is there.
-
This place is beautiful.
4. Discourse Deixis Discourse deixis encodes reference to portions of the unfolding discourse in which the utterance is located (Levinson, 1983, p.62). In other words, discourse deixis is an expression used to refer to certain discourse that contains the utterance or as a signal and its relations to surrounding text. The deictic terms used by this deixis are “this” that refers to a forthcoming portion and “that” to a preceding portion. The examples of Discourse Deixis can be seen as follows: -
I know you’ve already known that.
-
This is important, remember it!
5. Social Deixis Social deixis differs from the other 4 deixis. It does not refer to the time, place, or person, but it more refers to the social ranking between the speaker and the addressee in the society using language. Levinson stated that social deixis deals with the encoding of social distinctions between speaker and addressee or speaker and some referents. In the other words, social deixis is an expression used to distinct social status. Levinson adds that there are two basic kinds of social deixis, they are: Relational social deixis and Absolute social deixis. Relational social deixis refers to some social characteristic of referent apart from deictic reference to a social relationship between the speaker and addressee. For example are lexical items (e.g. my husband, teacher, cousin, etc) and pronouns (you, her). Absolute social deixis refers to a deictic reference including no comparison of the ranking of the speaker and addressee. For examples: your highness, Mr. President, your majesty, etc. 4
The examples of social deixis can be seen as follows: -
Good day, Mommy
-
Thank you, Sir
RESEARCH METHOD This research uses descriptive qualitative method, because it analyzes the types of deixis found in this story. The unit of analysis of this research is every sentence in the story of “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen. The method of collecting the data is the documentation one. The data were taken from the internet website of www.andersen.sdu.dk dated on October 8th 2013. The steps to analyze the data are reading the story, finding the deixis, and classifying the types of deixis.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION Deixis Used in “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen The types of Deixis used in “The Child in the Grave” can be seen in table 1. Table 1. Deixis used in “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen Types of Deixis
Number of words
Percentage (%)
Pronoun
257
84.8
Time
16
5.2
Place
12
3.9
Discourse
10
3.3
Social
8
2.6
Total
303
100
Table 1 reveals that the total number of deixis found in the story of “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen is 303. The deixis that mostly used in this story is the pronoun deixis with the frequency of 257 (84.8%). The following deixis is time deixis that appears 16 times (5.2%). The place deixis appears with the frequency of 9 (3.9%) while the discourse deixis appears with the frequency of 13 (3.3%). The final deixis that appears is social deixis with the frequency of 8 (2.6%).
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Pronoun Deixis Pronoun Deixis that found in this story can be seen in table 2 as follows: Table 2. Pronoun Deixis found in “The Child in the Grave” Types of Pronoun Deixis
Number of Words
His
9
Him
6
Himself
1
He
7
They
11
Their
5
Them
7
Themselves
1
You
16
Your
1
I
6
My
8
Me
10
It
23
Its
1
She
65
Her
74
Herself
5
We
1
Total
257
Table 2 reveals that the total number of pronoun deixis found in the story is 257. The dominant pronoun deixis type that is used is “her” (74). The other types of pronoun deixis are his (9), him (6), himself (1), he (7), they (11), their (5), them (7), themselves (1), you (16), your (1), I (6), my (8), me (10), it (23), its (1), she (65), herself (5), and we (1).
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The examples of pronoun deixis can be seen as follows: 1. And during her sleep the coffin was carried into a distant room and there the lid was nailed down, so that she would not hear the sound of the hammering. The word “her” in this sentence refers to the mother whose son was dead. 2. "I am Death!" The word “I” in this sentence refers to the figure.
Time Deixis Time Deixis that found in this story can be seen in table 3 as follows: Table 3. Time Deixis found in “The Child in the Grave” Types of Pronoun Deixis
Number of Words
Day
3
Year
1
Several Nights
1
Night
2
One Night
1
Now
7
Several Days
1
Total
16
Table 3 reveals that total number of time deixis found in this story is 16. The dominant time deixis that used in this story is “now” with the frequency of 7. The other types of time deixis are day (3), year (1), several nights (1), night (2), one night (1), and several days (1).
The examples of time deixis can be seen as follows: 1. The day of the funeral came. For several nights she had not closed her eyes; but early in the morning of this day, overcome at last by weariness, she fell asleep. The word “The day” refers to a period of time of the funeral of the child. 2. And as then she sat beside his bed, now she sat beside his grave, but here her tears flowed freely and fell upon the grave. The word “now” refers to the time when the woman sat beside her child’s grave.
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Place Deixis Place Deixis that found in this story can be seen in table 4 as follows: Table 4. Place Deixis found in “The Child in the Grave” Types of Place Deixis
Number of Words
There
4
Here
4
Those
1
That
3
Total
12
Table 4 reveals that total number of place deixis found in this story is 12. Those place deixis are there (4), here (4), those (1), and that (3).
The examples of place deixis can be seen as follows: 1. She looked up, and there standing beside her was a figure shrouded in a heavy black mourning cloak. The word “there” refers to the place that is far from the speaker. 2. He has heartless servants here upon earth; they do as they like and pay no heed to the prayers of a mother!" The word “here” refers to the place that is near to the speaker.
Discourse Deixis Discourse deixis that found in this story can be seen in table 5 as follows: Table 5. Discourse Deixis found in “The Child in the Grave” Types of Place Deixis
Number of Words
That
3
This
7
Total
10
8
Table 5 reveals that total number of discourse deixis found in this story is 10. Those discourse deixis are that (3) and this (7).
The examples of discourse deixis can be seen as follows: 1. Oh, I love that, but when you cry as you are crying now it calls me back, and I can no longer fly, and I want so much to. The word “that” refers to the preceding portion: Fly, with all the other happy children, straight into God's paradise! 2. "Look, Mother! There is nothing as beautiful as this on earth! Do you see, Mother? Do you see them all? This is happiness!" The word “this” refers to the forthcoming portion.
Social Deixis Discourse deixis that found in this story can be seen in table 6 as follows: Table 6. Discourse Deixis found in “The Child in the Grave Types of Social Deixis
Number of Words
Mother
8
Total
8
Table 6 reveals that total number of social deixis found in this story is 8. That discourse deixis is mother (8).
The example of social deixis can be seen as follows: 1. "Oh, Mother, surely you have not forgotten them!" The word “Mother” shows the degree of relationship between the speaker and the addressee.
CONCLUSION Deixis reflects the relationship between the structure of language and the context. Therefore it helps users to understand the structure of the language and the context surrounds it. The term deixis refers to a class of linguistic expressions that are used to indicate elements
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of the situational context, including the speech participants, the time and location of the current speech event. Based on the data analysis, the writer found five kinds of deixis in the story of “The Child in the Grave” written by Hans Christian Andersen. The total number of deixis in this story is 303. The deixis that mostly used by the writer is the pronoun deixis with the frequency of 257 (84.8%). The other deixis are time deixis (5.2%), place deixis (3.9%), discourse deixis (3.3%), and social deixis (2.6%). Through the findings of deixis above, it is concluded that deixis reflects the relationship between the structure of language and the context which cannot be separated and it must be communicated contextually and pragmatically.
REFERENCES Andersen. 2013. The Child in the Grave Hans Christian Andersen. [Online]. Available: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheChildInTheGrave_e.html.
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external-text.html . [January 1st 2014]. Bühler, Karl 1934. Sprachtheorie: Die Darstellungsfunktion der Sprache . Jena: Fischer. Fillmore, Charles J. 1982. Towards a descriptive framework for spatial deixis. In: R. J. Jarvella & W. Klein (eds.). Speech, Place, and Action. Chichester: John Wiley, 31–59. Fillmore, Charles J. 1997. Lectures on Deixis. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Frei, Henri 1944. Systèmes de déictiques. Acta Linguistica 4, 111–129. Horn, Laurence R. and Gregory Ward (eds). 2006. The Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Levinson, Stephen C. 2004. Deixis and pragmatic. In: L. Horn & G. Ward (eds.). The Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, 97–121. Lyons, John 1977. Semantics, vol. 1–2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lyons, John 1979. Deixis and anaphora. In: T. Myers (ed.). The Development of Conversation and Discourse. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 88–103. Maienborn, von Heusinger and Portner (eds.). 2012. Deixis and demonstratives. Germany. Purwo, Bambang Kaswanti. 1984. Deiksis dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka. 10
