Demonstrative - Distal and Proximal Demonstratives

Distal and Proximal Demonstratives

Many languages, such as English and Chinese, make a two-way distinction between demonstratives. Typically, one set of demonstratives is proximal, indicating objects close to the speaker (English this), and the other series is distal, indicating objects further removed from the speaker (English that).

Other languages, like Portuguese, Armenian, Serbo-Croatian, and Georgian, make a three-way distinction. Typically there is a distinction between proximal or first person (objects near to the speaker), medial or second person (objects near to the addressee), and distal or third person (objects far from both). Italian also provided for a medial (codesto/codesta for things, costui/costei for people), but it fell out of use in the 19th century (though it's still commonly used in Tuscany). So for example, in Portuguese:

Esta maçã

"this apple"

Essa maçã

"that apple (near you)"

Aquela maçã

"that apple (over there, away from both of us)"

in Armenian (based on the proximal "s", medial "d/t", and distal "n"):

այս խնձորը

"this apple"

այդ խնձորը

"that apple (near you)"

այն խնձորը

"that apple (over there, away from both of us)"

and, in Georgian:

amisi mama

"this one's father"

imisi coli

"that one's wife"

magisi saxli

"that (by you) one's house"

and, in Ukrainian (note that Ukrainian has not only number, but also three grammatical genders in singular):

цей чоловік, ця жінка, це яблуко, ці яблука

"this man", "this woman", "this apple", "these apples"

той чоловік, та жінка, те яблуко, ті яблука

"that man", "that woman", "that apple", "those apples"

он той чоловік, он та жінка, он те яблуко, он ті яблука

"that man (over there, away from both of us)", "that woman(over there, away from both of us)", "that apple (over there, away from both of us)", "those apples (over there, away from both of us)"

.

Japanese, Spanish, Tamil and Seri also make this distinction. French has a two-way distinction, with the use of postpositions "-ci" (proximal) and "-là" (distal) as in cet homme-ci and cet homme-là, as well as the pronouns ce and cela/ça. English has an archaic but occasionally used three-way distinction of this, that, and yonder.

Arabic makes the same two-way distinction as English. For example هذه البنت (haðihi l-bint) 'this girl' versus تلك البنت (tilka l-bint) 'that girl'.

In Modern German (and the Scandinavian languages), the demonstrative is generally distance-neutral, and the deictic value may be defined more precisely by means of adverbs:

dieses Mädchen hier ~ dieses Mädchen dort/da

"this girl " ~ "that girl "

A distal demonstrative exists in German, cognate to the English yonder, but it is used only in formal registers.

jenes Mädchen

"yonder girl"

There are languages which make a four-way distinction, such as Northern Sami:

Dát biila

"this car"

Diet biila

"that car (near you)"

Duot biila

"that car (over there, away from both of us but rather near)"

Dot biila

"that car (over there, far away)"

These four-way distinctions are often termed proximal, mesioproximal, mesiodistal, and distal.

Many non-European languages make further distinctions; for example, whether the object referred to is uphill or downhill from the speaker, whether the object is visible or not (as in Malagasy), and whether the object can be pointed to as a whole or only in part. The Eskimo–Aleut languages, and the Kiranti branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family are particularly well known for their many contrasts.

The demonstratives in Seri are compound forms based on the definite articles (themselves derived from verbs) and therefore incorporate the positional information of the articles (standing, sitting, lying, coming, going) in addition to the three-way spatial distinction. This results in a quite elaborated set of demonstratives.