The Deictic provides the key to the textual status of the particular referent presented by the nominal group. For example, his dog, that dog, the dog are all shown to be identifiable or recoverable by the hearer, whereas a dog, some dogs are shown to be non-recoverable. The Deictic thus ‘contextualises’ the nominal group (compare the way a Theme ‘contextualises’ a clause). The choices associated with the Deictic all concern particular referents at a given point in the discourse – their recoverability status, their location relative to the speaker, etc. At the same time, the Deictic also embodies the interpersonal orientation of the group: it indicates whether the group gives information (e.g. this dog, a dog) or demands information (e.g. which dog?).
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[1] To be clear, this misrepresents the function of the Deictic as an element of nominal group structure. As Halliday (1985: 160; 1994: 181) explains:
The Deictic element indicates whether or not some specific subset of the Thing is intended; and if so, which. It is either (i) specific or (ii) non-specific.
[2] Here again the authors mistake nominal groups that either feature a reference item (his, that, the), or don't, for referents. To be clear, the referent is that which is referred to by his, that, the. And again, the authors mistake the recoverable identity signalled by the reference item (e.g. the person signalled by his) for the identifiability (of the Thing) of nominal group featuring the reference item (his dog).
Importantly, reference is not a system of the nominal group (or any other grammatical unit) because it is not a relation that is realised through nominal group structure. The recoverable identity of a reference item lies outside the nominal group featuring the reference item.
So there is a progression in the nominal group from the kind of element that has the greatest specifying potential to that which has the least; and this is the principle of ordering that we have already recognised in the clause. In the clause, the Theme comes first. We begin by establishing relevance: stating what it is that we are using to introduce this clause into the discourse, as ‘this is where I’m starting from’ – typically, though by no means necessarily, something that is already ‘given’ in the context. In the nominal group, we begin with the Deictic: ‘first I’ll tell you which I mean’, your, these, any, a, etc. So the principle that puts the Theme first in the clause is the same as that which puts the Deictic first in the nominal group: start by locating the Thing in relation to the here-&-now – in the space-time context of the ongoing speech event.
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