Deixis and Digital Communication

Abstract

Deixis reflects what can be described as the Gricean principle of brevity, which can be summarized as ‘say only what is necessary’. One common form of reduction is the use of Ø to represent the speaker's ‘here and now’ perspective (i.e., Ø = ‘from here’ or ‘from now’). In interpreting deictically reduced language, vocal and gestural resources are integrated with visual information about the ‘here and now’.

Various aspects of deixis in relation to digital communication are explored:

(1)	Contrasting kinds of deictic imagery used in navigational systems, with particular attention to in-tandem imagery as the default system
(2)	Different kinds of deictic confusion associated with the use of Ø, especially within email communication
(3)	Different kinds of visual icons that parallel deictic resources in that they also reflect the Gricean principle of brevity (although other factors motivate their use such as virtual simulation of real-world experience and the need to communicate across different languages).

Particular attention is focused on PowerPoint-based communication in which vocal and gestural resources are integrated with writing and graphics to form a ‘here and now’ gestalt (staging information in a PowerPoint slide resembles the gestural in that it provides common focus on crucial bits of information).