Demonstratives can train spatial perspective taking: The case of Spanish

Abstract

Demonstratives are used in all the world’s languages to establish joint attention between interlocutors. I have recently proposed that demonstratives further train speakers of different languages in spatial perspective taking by automatizing the computation of different relational values (e.g., the distance, familiarity or altitude of a referent) from different perspectives (the speaker’s, the listener’s or both) depending on the language. The present study starts by pointing out a common mis-analysis of the form ‘este’ in Spanish as a proximal demonstrative, when it is in fact used as a filler. I then report an online study (N=51) testing two alternative views of the Spanish demonstrative system: the distance-oriented view (according to which all Spanish demonstratives indicate relative distance from the speaker) vs the person-oriented view (according to which the proximal forms indicate proximity to the speaker, the medial forms indicate proximity to the listener and the distal forms indicate distance from both speaker and listener). The results of the study confirmed the person- oriented account, supporting the view that there is a fundamental distinction between near and far space in demonstrative use, with interactive factors (such as listener position) playing a role in far space.

Grammatical Perspective-Taking in Comprehension and Production

“…Bergen and Grodner ( 2012 ) show that listeners consider the speaker’s likely knowledge state in processing scalar implicatures even in contexts where the speaker is not present or known. There is also work on spatial deixis in dyadic communication, though most prior work has focused on understanding the semantics of deictic terms (Rubio-Fernández, 2021 ; Shin et al, 2020 ; Skilton & Peeters, 2021 ).…”