What is symbolic usage?

Symbolic usage is the use of a deictic expression in such a way that its interpretation depends only on general knowledge of the extralinguistic situation, rather than on physical (visual, and so forth) monitoring of it.

• This city is really beautiful.
• We can’t afford a holiday this year.

What is gestural usage?

Fillmore 1975 40

Levinson 1983 65

Context for this page:

• Concept module: symbolic usage
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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