Open AccessDiscourse disctance and the swahili demonstratives
Author(s) -
Timothy Wilt
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
studies in african linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.178
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2154-428X
pISSN - 0039-3533
DOI - 10.32473/sal.v18i1.107482
Subject(s) - swahili , demonstrative , referent , linguistics , narrative , key (lock) , deixis , computer science , sociology , philosophy , computer security
Proximity is the key concept for understanding a speaker's choice of Swahili demonstrative forms. The alternative approach in Leonard [1985] that proposes a speaker's concentration of attention as the key concept overlooks significant aspects of text structure. Proximity must not be conceived of, as does Leonard, only in terms of spatial distance between the speaker and a referent. Temporal, narrative, and anaphoric distance must also be considered.