Deixis and subjectivity: the semantics of demonstratives in Old French (9th-12th century)

Several attempts have been made to account for the difference between the CIST and CIL series. We show that none of the previous hypotheses has been totally satisfactory. Our own interpretation is based neither on a spatio-temporal conception of deictics (the traditional interpretation), but on the pragmatic analysis of the use of demonstratives in the texts of this earlier period of French (ninth century-twelfth century), in terms of 'speaker's sphere'. We will argue that this approach alone can account for those uses in Old French which have posed a problem until now.