summary names days dear linguists december 15 issue linguist posted request examples deictic expressions names days either side today summary obtained response overwhelming total 70 linguist subscribers sent replies many many thanks contributed quite number respondents supplied information two languages duplication languages namely japanese mandarin chinese danish french german russian hindi examples 48 languages anejom vanuatu fee fee solomon azerbaijani turkish basque bauan standard fijian brazilian portuguese bulgarian czech danish dutch english erromagan vanuatu estonian finnish french german hausa hawai ian hindustani ipili png italian japanese kamhmu vietnam ki swahili kope png korean lao phasa iisaan lenakel vanuatu madarin chinese malay mauritian seychelles creole modern greek modern hebrew norwegian polish quechua rumanian russian samoan serbo croatian slovene sulka png swedish taiwanese thai welsh original interest collecting deictic expressions stems general interest symmetry language language systems languages exhibit symmetry number deictic expressions diurnal units either side today however exhibit asymmetry c levinson pragmatics 1983 75 reports amerindian language chinantec four named days either side today japanese three days back today two ahead hindi word yesterday tomorrow levinson gleaned information fillmore c j 1975 santa cruz lectures deixis 1971 mimeo indiana university linguistics club personally able get hold fillmore reference living academically isolated south seas drawbacks copy publication would interested obtaining photocopies section time deixis course reimburse cost postage photocopying anyway symmetrical deictic system diurnal units spans seems logical though sure verbalise reasons reported asymmetry japanese system seemed bit odd especially asymmetry lopsided towards past see reasons upon examination discovered japanese deictic system diurnal units seem symmetrical 3 3 either side present diurnal span expression siasatte yanoasatte meaning 3 days today known quite number native speakers japanese appear used infrequently yanoasatte yaneasatte considered dialectal least relation tokyo dialect indeed lecturer japanese department native speaker japanese aware expressions looked dictionary another interesting consideration question number diurnal units today languages recognise maximum minimum number units also average number units popular system answers questions based small sample one respondent asked following interesting question reach level let say 5 days present diurnal span also nonspecific reading point notto faraway future languages language small corpus 5 5 diurnal units system erromangan vanuatu ask source erromangan answer question inherent problem determining number expressions diurnal units determining whether expressions lexemes phrases many languages seem lexicalised want better term prepositional nominal phrases languages like example english expression day yesterday retained phrase structure one respondent supplied lengthy discussion lexeme phrase issue cites case bulgarian hope wont mind including discussion begin quote bulgarian presents interesting situation regard phrase lexeme issue nt real nominal case paradigm onzi den 2 lit yonder day vchera 1 dnes 0 present diurnal span utre 1 vdrugi den 2 lit day form pozavchera bulgarian stress penultimate syllable russian pozavchera stress final syllable perhaps nt look strange one would nt expect po require particular case ending however looks like preposition adverb exist phrase bulgarian tomorrow utre day tomorrow vdrugiden e phrase v drugi den lit day written without spaces individual words considered word simply orthographic grounds though prepositional phrase adverb course boundary prepositional phrases adverbs fuzzy begin bulgarian day yesterday contrast looks like noun phrase onja den day preposition v considered np prepositional phrase onja den used way vdrugiden vidjax go onja den saw day yesterday seems written noun phrase really adverb like vdrugiden like russian pozavchera poslezavtra difference three adverbs formed prepositional phrases onja den preposition would sound strange call prepositional phrase unlike vdrugiden contains preposition would call adverbial phrase time expressions slavic languages commonly accusative may origin onja den since modern bulgarian lost nominal case paradigm part makes harder determine status phrases like one cf russian kazhduju nedelju acc week acc means every week adverbial sense bulgarian nt specific words day day yesterday would think v denja predi onja den day day yesterday course speakers would avoid would say predi dva dena two days ago lit two days would true vdrugiden v denja sled vdrugiden conceivably possible day theday aftertomorrow speakers would say led dva dena two days think may difficult draw demarcation line grammatical categories words vs phrases end quote quite number languages especially slavonic germanic languages allow recursion prepositions prefixes add already existing deictic expressions extent recursion practiced limited pragmatic constraints nice examples rumanian rasras rasalaltaieri 5 rasras alaltaieri 4 rasalaltaieri 3 alaltaieri 2 ieri 1 azi astazi 0 present diurnal span miine 1 poimiine 2 raspoimiine 3 rasras poimiine 4 rasras raspoimiine 5 etc dutch eereergisteren 3 eergisteren 2 gisteren 1 vandaag 0 present diurnal span morgen 1 overmorgen 2 overovermorgen 3 danish forforgars 3 forgars 2 gar 1 dag 0 present diurnal span morgen 1 overmorgen 2 overovermorgen 3 3 3 forms rather colloquial nevertheless perfectly idiomatic recursions prefixes prepositions used jocular ways predominantly children finally read far rewarded summary data point number diurnal units either side today symmetrical deictic systems 1 0 1 examples 2 1 0 1 2 23 examples 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 14 examples 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 3 examples 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 example erromangan vanuatu asymmetrical deictic systems 2 1 0 1 2 3 3 examples 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 1 example malay 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 example hausa 3 2 1 0 1 2 1 example colloquial spanish southern spain interesting note language sample employs 1 0 1 system majority asymmetrical systems lopsided towards side present diurnal span nt know however sample small perhaps larger sample would show lopsidedness towards today side languages show lopsidedness state change languages symmetrical vowel system e g number front vowels back vowels however quite number languages asymmetrical vowel systems lies behind asymmetry answer question may lie following scenario crowley 1992 introduction historical linguistics oup pp 200201 suppose language nice symmetrical five vowel system u e vowel e beocomes raised towards ultimately merges merges resulting asymmetrical system u put structural pressure system time would surprising see merging u system becomes asymmetrical uneven create sort gap change likely take place way plugging gap thereby reestablishing even symmetrical system indeed natural process phonological systems perhaps analogous processes occur systems like temporal deictic systems language asymmetrical temporal deictic system may process historical change gap plugged due time japanese may language process losing 3 deictic term indeed case would interesting see whether due course imbalance balanced loss 3 deictic term nt know valid speculating anyway back symmetry symmetrical system found hindi tarso 4 narso 3 parso 2 kal 1 aaj 0 present diurnal span kal bihaan 1 parso 2 narso 3 tarso 4 equal number expressions diurnal units either side today expressions either side distinction today today made use past future tense verb looking language temporal deictic system guess must fail take account number important linguistic cultural aspects among would culture view time linear view cyclical view language tense aspect systems historical development deictic expressions short cant study deictics isolation must look meshes grammatically language would interested views reasons symmetry asymmetry find area deixis also interested adding list languages grateful receive contribution thanks generous people sent much interesting data opinions today tomorrow jan tent department literature language school humanities university south pacific p box 1168 suva fiji tel 679 313900 ext 2263 fax 679 305053 e mail tent _ j usp ac fj 09