Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

Quoting "Karapcik, Mike" <KarapcM@...>:

> | Also, aren't those called "deictics"?
>
>         My linguistics professor used the term "dactyls" last week. He said
> they are "pointing" words, sort of "verbal fingers" to indicate what you're
> "verbally pointing to".
Well, in linguistic theory, they are generally called _deictics_,
and are instantiations of _deixis_.

(_Dactyl_ AFAIK comes up in linguistics only during discussion of
poetics and prosodic theories of phonology.)

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637