INDEXICALITY

In the philosophy of language, an 'indexical' behavior or utterance symbolically ''points'' to some state of affairs. ''I'' refers to whomever is speaking. ''Now'' refers to the time at which it is uttered. Indexicality is often treated as part of the study of language called pragmatics, in contrast to phonology, syntax, and semantics, in that it concerns the use and effects of language. Indexicality is sometimes seen as an alternative way of understanding reference (a concept of semantics) since it allows for an expansion of the way we understand language, and communication in general, to work. Scholars in linguistic anthropology, Elinor Ochs for example, note how gender can be indexed by the stances one adopts, whether physical or lingustic. This can be accomplished by the way one stands (e.g., the conventionally feminine: "hand on hip with body bent"; in contrast to the conventionally masculine: "thumb in pocket, standing straight with legs apart"). Gender can also be indexed by the language styles one uses (e.g., the conventionally feminine: "large variable range in speaking tones, favoring higher pitches" or "lisping, soft tones"; in contrast to the conventionally masculine: "deep tones within a narrow range of low pitches"). Indexicality is sometimes erroneously identified with the related phenomenon of deixis, which denotes behavior or an utterance whose meaning varies according to certain features of the context in which it is uttered. ''Now'', ''here'', and ''I'' are also typical examples of deictic terms, as well as examples of indexical terms.
The term "index" comes from Charles Peirce's trichotomy of signs: icon, index and symbol.^[1]
Indexicals are closely related to demonstratives (''this'', ''that''), in that both vary in meaning depending on context. Indexes are superordinate to the subset of demonstratives and the latter are often accompanied, in ordinary usage, by pointing gestures or other non-verbal expressions of their sense. Many if not all indexicals are also egocentric, which means that in order to successfully interpret them the hearer must know the respective speaker, time, and place of utterance.

Contents

Example

Further reading

See also

References

Example

An episode of the Simpsons plays off of the popular character Smokey the Bear, whose motto is "Only ''you'' can prevent forest fires":
:Robotic Smokey the Bear: Only ''who'' can prevent forest fires?
: (Bart has the choice between the buttons "me" and "you," so he presses "you.")
:Robotic Smokey the Bear: You pressed ''you'', referring to ''me.'' That is incorrect. The correct answer is ''you''.
Bart selected the ''word'' which correctly completes Smokey's usual line. But the word "you" as uttered by Bart refers to a different person than when it is uttered by Smokey, and Smokey interprets Bart's answer as attempting to refer to the same person Smokey would refer to. Bart should use ''me'' to refer to that person, so (he says) Bart is wrong.

Further reading

David Kaplan's essay, ''Demonstratives'', is an influential philosophical and logical discussion of indexical terms.
Aron Gurwitsch's essay, 'Outlines of a Theory of "Essentially Occasional Expressions"', appearing in Gurwitsch's posthumous work, Marginal Consciousness (1985), provides the classic statement on "Indexicality" from a phenomenological standpoint. This paper was utilized by Harold Garfinkel in his formulation of the term, and is a cornerstone of the Ethnomethodological enterprise.
Gurwitsch's formulation is a development of the concept as it appears in Edmund Husserl's Logical Investigations (1900/1901).

See also

★ Semeiotic

★ Semiotics

References

1. Peirce, C.S., "Division of Signs" in Collected Papers, 1932 [1897].