Proximity in endophoric demonstratives

Abstract

This paper develops some arguments implicit in Roberts (2002) in favor of her proposal that endophoric demonstratives are associated with a demonstration that targets a preceding or following discourse fragment, with the proximity feature of the demonstrative determined by their linear, temporal proximity. It also provides some additional evidence, partly facilitated by peculiarities of the Dutch demonstrative system. Circular and self-referential textual (and discourse) demonstratives, cataphoric demonstratives, and contrastingdemonstrative pairs give rise to obligatory choices for proximal or distal variants, based on thelinear ordering imposed by syntax.