Deictic centre

The word deictic comes from the Ancient Greek word δεικτικός (deiktikós, “capable of proof”), from δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “I show”).

Deictic centre definition

When someone says 'I am standing here' they are using a deictic centre to indicate their current location, from this utterance alone we cannot know where 'here' is, only the speaker and the person addressed will know this from context.

This location may change ten or more times in the next hour or so, but the speaker can still, at any point during that hour, indicate his location in the same way: 'I am here'.

Deictic centre diagram:

A deictic center indicates the speaker's current location.

As with deixis, we cannot know the physical location of 'here' in this situation without context.

The deictic centre will shift according to other factors - the choice of verb, for instance, and context - most often in conversation.

Let's imagine two people (A & B) text each other about holiday plans: A is in Italy, B is in Crete.

A messages: 'I am going to Crete next week' - this makes Italy A's deictic centre, as that is where A is based. A could also say: 'I am coming to Crete next week', in which case the deictic centre would shift to Crete.

NOTE: The deictic centre is also referred to as 'origo' (origin); it can tell us the origins of time, place and person of the utterance itself.

Now take the earlier example of 'I am here.' This is a simple statement of fact, made up of coordinates. The coordinates originate at the deictic centre (where the speaker is).

So here we have the 'origin' of a person ('I') and of place ('here'). If we wanted to add the origin of time, we could add 'now', as in: 'I am here now.'

'Come' and 'go', 'now' and 'then', and 'I' and 'you', are deictic terms that can tell us origins of time, place and person depending on the context.

Let's say A is in a field or a square, talking on the phone to B, who is on their way to join A.

A tells B 'I am here,' and B responds with 'I am coming there now.'

The meaning of deictic terms varies according to the situation

The meaning of these deictic terms varies according to the situation. In the case of B: 'there' (origin of place) becomes the Deictic Centre, 'I' the origin of Person, and 'now' the origin of 'when'.

The expressions we use relating to deictic centre form part of the deictic field (see below). In cases where context and situation change, the deictic centre moves, or shifts, thereby changing our focus. This can happen more especially in a narrative (see below: Deictic Shift Theory and The Deictic Centre in Narrative).

What is Deictic Shift Theory?

Deictic shift theory (DST) is about the change of focus we experience when following a story in any media.

Think of Scheherazade, who must tell the king a new story every night or suffer beheading come dawn. She manages to hold the king's attention through a series of tales, like Aladdin's lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sinbad the Sailor.

In the story of Aladdin, the hero discovers a magical lamp containing a genie who offers him three wishes.

As readers, we switch our focus (or have it switched for us by the narrator) a few times - first we are with Sheherazade and the king, then we are with a new character called Aladdin; after that, when the genie appears and decides to tell his life story, we would have yet another change of focus - and this is an example of what is meant by deictic shift.

This shift also occurs because we have a story within a story; also known as a nested story, or an embedded narrative.

The nested story is a popular device and can be found in both classics and contemporary writing: Chaucer's Tales, Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's Hamlet , Peter Ackroyd's The Fall of Troy , and Ragnarok by AS Byatt - all use this technique, as does the Netflix series Russian Doll by Poehler and Lyonne.

In all these examples, the story reveals another story within it (and sometimes more than one), thus shifting the narrative focus; the narrator may speak in the first person, and their use of deictics, such as 'here' 'there' and 'then', are recognizable in the narrative context to the reader.

Once the reader is 'in' the story, they automatically make connections, and process imaginative deictic centres throughout. This process forms the basis of the deictic shift theory (DST). The reader can experience deictic shifting in several ways.

The first basic shift is the reader, who engages with the world of the story: the deictic centre shifts from the 'here and now' of the reader's environment to the 'here-and-now' of the story.

There can be further deictic shifts; for instance, when the deictic centre moves from one narrator to another. This can be found in novels such as Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, where the narrator changes eleven times, or Nabokov's Pale Fire which involves three shifts. The reader switches from one narrator to the next narrator, much as one does when meeting new people at a party.

Another form of deictic shift happens when (part of) the story is narrated through letters or diary entries, email, texts and / or video journal entries. We switch accordingly, to follow the narrative of the letter-writer or diarist.

Deictic centre analysis: the where, when and who.

The Where:

As the story progresses, its narrative will also change location; the Where will shift.

'Here' functions as a deictic in much the same way in narrative as in everyday conversation, yet may become implicit through narrative.

In this case, the 'here' is implicit: we are with Dave in his tent in the forest at night; this all becomes the 'here' of the narrative world.

The When

In most narratives, the simple past is used, as in the example above. We can infer a sequence of events and establish the When, even without time references. We automatically use a mechanism to establish the time sequence of events.

As readers we shift again, this time taking on the perspective of the moment in time that corresponds to what we are reading about in the narrative.

'Night came .... Dave sat up .... The forest was alive ': none of these 'moments' is occurring now in the real world; instead they are occurring in the 'now' of the fictional narrative. By entering that world, we take on the time sequence of that world. 'Everything which comes before the now-point is in the past (in the world of the story) and everything that comes after the now-point is in the future from the perspective of that moment of the story' (Almeida & Shapiro, 1983 ).

The Who

There is a focal Who in narrative, and a non-focal Who; for instance, Dave would be the focal Who in the text above, whereas the fox and badger would be non-focal. Dave captures the deictic centre of the narrative; we may or may not know how he is feeling, (although we can guess), but the deictic centre remains where he is. The badger and the fox are non-focal in that we do not shift to them; we as readers are not given access to their world.

Let's add a bit more to the text:

'Night came, and with it all the terrors of the wild - a distant fox squealed, a nearby badger tramped its way home. Dave sat up in his tent, listening intently. The forest, far from being a haven of quiet, was now alive with nocturnal traffic. The others slept on; one of them snoring lightly. '

The others, including the snorer, would also be non-focal. As with the animals, the reader is not invited to enter their world; the deictic centre remains with Dave.

Examples of the deictic centre in narrative

There are two roles for deictic centre in narrative:

• To connect the dots or 'fill in the gaps'

• To establish scope of knowledge about ongoing events

This is done directly or through inference.

Having read the above, imagine the reader then comes across the following paragraph:

There is no distinct reference made to Jeff here. Yet we the reader can infer that Jeff is either experiencing the party or is aware of it. And we can also infer that the beer in or beside the fridge is the beer ordered by Jeff for Cody's birthday party, which is now in progress.

Because Jeff was already introduced to us by name in 'Jeff remembered it was Cody's birthday and ordered extra beer', we know two things already: Cody is having a birthday, and, Jeff has ordered extra beer. From this we can understand (although we are not told) that a birthday party is planned. This is confirmed later on by the paragraph opening with 'There was beer in the fridge…' etc. We also learn that Cody's brother is a DJ who is looking after the music at the party.

We can make further inferences about the party itself (there was music, now there to sit because of so many people and so on). Lastly, we imagine Jeff is there, as we began with him as our focal 'who' and continue to follow from his perspective (until told otherwise).

What is the difference between Deictic Centre and Deictic Shift Theory?

The deictic centre always refers to the speaker. As we saw earlier, when the speaker says 'I am here', 'I' and 'here' refer to the speaker. If the speaker changes location, he can still always say 'I am here,' and the deictic centre will continue to apply. The deictic centre can shift according to factors including the choice of verb, and context - most often in conversation.