Distance Adjusting in Verbal Communication-starting from the Substitution of Person Deixis

ZHANG Mengjie

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-2928.2015.05.020

Abstract：With psychological distance as the reference point, the present study focuses on the cross-over sub?stitution of three kinds of person deixis, playing an important role in the adjustment of psychological distance and the achievement of pragmatic effects, in Chinese daily verbal communication within the framework of pragmatic empathy and de-empathy. When the first person deixis is substituted with the second or the third one, the psycho?logical distance between the speaker and the listener is shortened and the utterances are more acceptable in the former case, while the psychological distance between the speaker and the third party is shortened, making it eas?ier for the listener to feel the speaker's emotion, in the latter one. When the second person deixis is replaced by the first or the third one, the listener is moved to the position of the speaker, which tends to melt the psychologi?cal distance and arouse the emotional resonance between the two, in the former circumstance, however the psy?chological distance between the speaker and the listener is shortened, strengthening the dissatisfaction and criti?cism of the speaker toward the third party, in the latter one. When the third person deixis is replaced by the first and the second one, the psychological distance is lengthened in the two situations, but the speaker weakens self-consciousness to promote objectivity in the former one, and obscures the listener’s identity to enhance the degree of politeness in the latter one.