Deíxis espacial en el rromané jorajané hablado en Chile: uso de los demostrativos en espacio de escala menor

Abstract

This paper addresses one way of locating entities in static spatial situations: the spatial deixis. Our main purpose is to describe the structure and use of the demonstrative system in small-scale space in the language spoken by Gypsies in Chile: the rromane jorajane . Data collection was performed with “ The 1999 Demonstrative Questionnaire: ‘THIS’ and ‘THAT’ in comparative perspective” (Wilkins, 1999). The analysis results highlight that spatial demonstratives in rromane jorajane are a highly symmetrical group combining a deictic semantic component (the proximal-distal distinction) with grammatical contents (gender and number). It is a binary demonstrative system in terms of the category of distance from the deictic center. Additionally, it is concluded that choice of the suitable demonstrative proceeds according to the following pattern: the proximal demonstrative has its focal area in the speaker ’s zone of proximity , while the distal demonstrative includes both the addressee’s zone of proximity and the speaker’s distal zone within its application field.