| Abstract [eng] |
Lithuanian spatial deixis in exophoric use has received relatively little attention so far, and experimental studies of spontaneous verbal interaction in Lithuanian linguistics remain limited. Most previous research has focused on the description of deictic systems, the analysis of dialectal data, or written discourse. The aim of this thesis is to experimentally investigate the use of Lithuanian spatial deictic expressions (demonstrative pronouns and locative adverbs) in exophoric contexts and to determine the influence of referent distance, visual salience, and contrast between referents on the choice of deictic expressions. The study employed an experimental method based on the “construction-building game” paradigm. A total of 72 video recordings were analysed, documenting the verbal interaction of 48 native speakers of Lithuanian (24 pairs). During the experiment, one participant verbally instructed another which blocks to select and where to place them in order to reconstruct a construction visible only to the instructor. The tasks were designed to investigate the influence of referent distance, visual salience, and contrast between referents on the choice of deictic expressions. The data were transcribed and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study revealed that: 1. Referent distance is the main factor determining the choice of deictic expressions in Lithuanian exophoric interaction. Near referents were most frequently expressed by the forms “šitas” and “čia”, whereas distant referents were most frequently expressed by the forms “tas” and “ten”. 2. Visual salience is not an independent or decisive factor in the choice of deictic expressions, although it may influence the referential strategies. Visually non-salient referents more often require additional linguistic means for identification. 3. The analysis of the contrast showed that deictic expressions are not the primary means of differentiating referents. Instead, contrast is more frequently expressed through spatial descriptions or descriptions of relations between objects. 4. The use of deictic expressions is inherently multimodal and closely related to pointing gestures, which often perform the main referential function. 5. The study revealed a relatively restricted range of deictic forms. Besides the main forms “šitas”, “tas”, “čia”, and “ten”, occasional variants such as “šis”, “anas”, “čionais”, “tenai”, and “tenais” were occasionally attested. The results of the study are limited by the relatively limited sample size and by the fact that only young adult native speakers of Lithuanian from Vilnius participated in the experiment. Nevertheless, the thesis contributes to the development of Lithuanian deixis research and confirms that the use of deictic expressions in real communication is a multimodal phenomenon influenced by multiple factors. |
