expression. The existence of non-prototypical transfers should not keep us from categorizing hier a pure indexical. Therefore, hier differs from da and dort with respect to the observation that its general meaning does not appear to standardly depend on speaker demonstrations and that the referential act does not standardly fail if the speaker demonstration is taken away. Hier refers, prototypically, to the place of utterance, i.e. the coordinates of the speaker.
To summarize, hier, not being standardly dependent on speaker demonstrations in its situative use, will not be considered a demonstrative in this thesis. (For more details with respect to the discussion see Vision 1985; Salmon 1991; Predelli 1998a, 1998b; Corazza et al. 2002; Romdenh-Romluc 2002; and Atkin 2006 for an in depth discussion of the status of here.)
Table 14: Test results for hier, da and dort Form Disquotation
test
Speaker
demonstration test
Classification of expression
hier ✓ ✘ Pure indexical
da, dort ✓ ✓ Locative demonstrative
expressions indicating proximity, the adverb here and demonstrative this and of the two distal expressions, the local adverb there and demonstrative that. A lot of languages are claimed to have a two-term system, whereas three-term systems are not claimed to be rare either. Diessel, in the World Atlas of Language Structures Online lists seven languages only which exhibit no distance contrast between their demonstratives (German being one of them, see discussion about dieser vs. jener in Section 3.2.2), 127 languages with a two-way contrast, 88 languages with a three-way contrast, eight languages with a four-way-contrast and four with a five- or more-way-contrast in his sample of 234 languages (Diessel 2013). These descriptions only apply to the distance-marking feature which is usually present in the basic situational use. This use is in most languages expressed through two different roots, as in English with this and that. An example for a three-term system is Spanish, where este corresponds to this, ese to that and the forms of aquel to that one over there. There are more complex systems than three-term systems, these more complex systems, however are assumed to result, for example, due to choosing the speaker or the addressee as reference points, i.e. via reference described as “close to the speaker” vs. “close to the addressee”.
Furthermore, more complex systems may be based on a systematic differentiation between visibility and non-visibility of the proximal, medial or distal referent.
The situation in German appears to be a bit more complicated, as its demonstratives do not exhibit exhibit a distance contrast (any more). In the section on jener I provided examples, repeated below as (150) and (151), how dieser and jener were, in traditional grammars, assumed to carry the distance marking features [+proximal] and [+distal], respectively:
(150) Diese „kleine Weltreise“ lohne sich durchaus, meint er: „In Braunschweig gibt es nur wenige Skateplätze, und dieser hier ist der Beste.“
(Cosmas, BRZ07/SEP.08993 Braunschweiger Zeitung, 15.09.2007;
Jugendliche von „neuem“ Westpark begeistert)
(151) Die meisten der Äpfel konnte Dahlem bereits nach einer ersten Inaugenscheinnahme zuordnen. „Das ist der Rheinische Bohnapfel, und jener dort ist der Rote Bellefleur“, sagte er.
(Cosmas, RHZ08/NOV.12731 Rhein-Zeitung, 15.11.2008; Seltenen Obstsorten auf der Spur)
Interestingly, das is used in (151) in order to refer deictically to a proximal referent, whereas jener dort then marks the contrast with respect to distance and refers to the distal referent.
I further suggested that jener is not considered a demonstrative in this work, since it is hardly used in its situative use any more and can therefore be assumed to have lost its deictic and thus its potential distance-marking qualities.
Furthermore, I showed that jener, also in its non-deictic uses, is generally very infrequent in the German language. With respect to nominal demonstratives, I
argued that German is left with dieser and pronominal DER. Himmelmann (1997:
49), amongst others, discusses the question if these German nominal demonstratives are marked for distance, or if the German demonstrative system is one rare case representing a one-term system, which is unmarked for distance.
First he notes that potential one-term systems do mostly exist with respect to nominal demonstratives, whereas local adverbials are, mostly, marked for distance contrast. In standard German, he says, we find the local adverbials neutral da ‘there’ as opposed to proximal hier ‘here’ and distal dort ‘there’, which can be used to modify the neutral nominal demonstratives. With respect to the nominal demonstratives dieser and stressed DER Himmelmann (1997: 50) states, that there is a consensus in the literature, that they do not differ from each other with respect to distance-marking. It is widely acknowledged that, at least in informal, spoken German, if a contrast with respect to distance is to be indicated, the local adverbials like hier, da or dort are used in combination with dieser or
DER. Since both demonstratives dieser and DER are generally interchangeable in their most basic and straight-forward use, they can be treated on a par while investigating if the German demonstrative system is really neutral when it comes to distance marking. So, are dieser (and DER) really distance-neutral nominal demonstratives, which would mean that German has a one-term demonstrative system without oppositions? Himmelmann (1997: 53) claims, that dieser in modern German does not find itself in an opposition to other, clearly distance marked demonstratives and thus appears to be completely neutral with respect to distance marking. This results in the fact that dieser (and also DER) is combinable with all local adverbs: dieses / DER hier ‘here’, dieses / DER dort ‘there-distal’, dieses / DER da ‘there-neutral’. Corpus examples for each of the combinations with dieser are given below:
(152) Einige gingen sogar so weit und sahen sich schon nach einem zu beziehenden Zimmer um. „Ich nehme dieses hier“, meinte lachend ein Mann zu seiner Gattin.
‘Some went so far and even looked around for a potential room they might move in. “I take this one here”, said a man laughing to his wife.’
(Cosmas)
(153) „Ich kann nicht mehr sagen, als ich weiß…“ murmelte das Mädchen verlegen und sah zu Sakura. Diese stand auf. „Ich will dieses dort.“ Sie zeigte auf ein schwarzes Kleid.
‘”I can’t say more than I know”, murmured the girl in embarrassment and looked at Sakura. “I want this [that one] there-distal.” She pointed towards a black dress.’
(Cosmas)
(154) „Ah, hier ist das Buch!“ Er zog es hervor. „Und wenn ich schon dabei bin, kann ich auch gleich dieses da herausnehmen.“
‘”Ah, here is the book!” He pulled it out. “And while I am doing it, I can pull out this one there-neutral, too.”’
(Cosmas)
Dieser truly appears to be neutral with respect to the distance feature, other than distance-marked-demonstratives in other languages, which can only be combined with local adverbs which are in “harmony” with respect to their distance parameter. In German we do not encounter a feature conflict, whereas in English, for example *this book there and *that book here are impossible combinations. Himmelmann concludes (1997: 53) saying that he does not see any reason to assume that dieser (and der) in modern (spoken) German carry any distance-marking feature.