DEIXIS AS A STRATEGY FOR EXCLUSION IN INFORMAL INTERACTIONS

Abstract

Deictic expressions are those linguistic forms employed to realize 'pointing' via language. They depend for their interpretation on the speaker and hearer sharing the same context. They have their most basic uses in face to face inter- actions where utterances are more easily understood by the people present. In language use there are issues that are private to people and so in the course of verbal interactions between individuals, other people could eavesdrop and share information not intended for them. The need therefore arises for a means of maintaining secrecy in informal interactions apart from whispering or speaking in low tones. To carry out this research, an unobtrusive participant observation method was adopted using the tape recorder. Findings revealed that apart from performing the functions of pointing, deictic forms were used by participants in the discourse in the various informal situations as a means of exclusion to persons who were not party to the discourse. Most expressions used to maintain secrecy in the informal interactions therefore were deictic in nature.