Pragmatic Analysis of Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

孙欣怡

Abstract：Person deixis，as many scholars have paid increasingly close attention to this subject，has  great impact on daily life，political speech，second language writing，etc.However，it has barely been analyzed in classic literary works of English-speaking country，say Pride and Prejudice，where lies the distinctiveness of this paper.It is not only crucially important but also valuable to analyze the person deixis in conversations in Pride and Prejudice，as a rich linguistic corpus.This paper tends to find how characters’ personalities，social relations and communicative intentions are reflected by different uses of the person deixis.

Key Words： person deixis，Pride and Prejudice

The distinctiveness of this study firstly lies in its distinct perspective.Many scholars have paid close attention to the person deixis and their researches have already extended to daily life，political speech，second language writing，etc.，but barely to classic literary works of English-speaking country，say Pride and Prejudice.It is not only crucially important but also valuable to analyze the person deixis in conversations in Pride and Prejudice.With the analysis of person deixis in Pride and Prejudice，the characters’ personalities，their communicative intention，as well as their social relations will also be discussed.

1 The First Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

1.1 Conventional Use of the First Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

There are 2068 “I” in the conversations of Pride and Prejudice，and all of them refer to the speaker himself or herself，which is strictly rule-governed.In the meantime，there are two kinds of use，which is universally accepted，of the plural first person.One is including the hearer，and the other is excluding the hearer.Here are some examples.

1.2 Unconventional Use of the First Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

“we” used as “I”

The speaker who usually uses singular form of first person deixis “I” to refer to himself or herself in his or her utterance，but in some particular context，consciously or unconsciously，the speaker uses plural form of first person deixis “we” to achieve some aims.

“we” used as “you”

In normal cases，when people use the plural of the first person instead of the singular or plural of second person deixis，which are both “you”，they usually intend to reduce the distance，making it closer to the hearer psychologically.However，Pride and Prejudice is a novel also famous for its ironic art;therefore，there are many examples of “we” used as “you” and they will be analyzed one by one.

2  The Second Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

2.1 Conventional Use of the Second Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

Normally，only by reading between the lines and based on the context can readers figure out whether “you” is the singular or plural form.There is a typical example containing both singular and plural second person deixis “you”：

2.2 Unconventional Use of the Second Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

However，besides the conventional use of “you”，there is also the existence of the unconventional use of the second person deixis，which is neither the hearer in the context nor anyone in the discourse，but a special usage，nondirective.In Pride and Prejudice，there are two kinds of “you”-- one is in a saying，and the other kind is nondirective “you” used to express a deferential meaning.

3 The Third Person Deixis in Pride and Prejudice

3.1 Used as the First Person Deixis

In this novel，the third person deixis basically refers to neither the speaker nor the hearer，but in some contexts，it used as the first person deixis to bypass the intense topic and have an emphasis on another one.The following will give us a specific explanation.

3.2 Used as the Second Person Deixis

When the third person is used as the second person deixis，the speaker often wants to avoid or lessen the direct conflict between the speaker and the hearer.In a novel，there are always conflicts between characters，and Pride and Prejudice is no exception.

3.3 Used as the General Reference

The third kind of use of the third person deixis is not pointing any specific one but the general reference out of the context or discourse，especially when the speaker wants to give a lecture from wherever he or she learns，or when the speaker wants to share the experience but in an indirect way.By using the general third person deixis，the speaker always carries a certain intention.

4 Conclusion

It is a matter of fact that the person deixis in this novel has much potential value more than the author has analyzed due to its flexible pragmatic use and meaning.With the author’s limited knowledge，she have spared no efforts to analyze the person deixis in Pride and Prejudice and sum up her findings on English culture，characters’ personality and their attitudes towards love and marriage.

Bibliography

[1]Andersson，Katarina.The Pride and Prejudice of the Characters in Jane Austen’s Novel[DB/OL].

[2]D.N.Shankara Bhat.Pronouns[M].Oxford：Oxford University Press，2004.

[3]Stephen C，Levinson.Pragmatics[M].Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1983.