Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/62975

It has been said that Japanese directional expressions MIGI (right) and HIDARI (left), and demonstratives (KORE, SORE, ARE, etc.) are deictic, because their use is based on the speaker's viewpoint. But according to my research in cooperation with Japanese students, MIGI and HIDARI have not only deictic but also contextual use. Here the contextual use means that one expression is based on a reference point in order to be understood appropriately. In this ar ticle I claim that to analyze the Japanese demonstratives the two viewpoints are necessary: deictic and contextual ones. KORE and ARE expressions are deictic and SORE expressions are contextual. For SORE expressions to be used the following three types of viewpoints are indispensable. 1) Action of pointing to object referred to by SORE 2) Presence of hearer or hearer's supposition in conversation 3) Anaphora in discourse