Vantage Theory and the use of English demonstrative determinerswith proper nouns

This article discusses some apparently paradoxical behavior of the English demonstratives this/these and that/those as determiners of proper nouns and as metaphorical signals of epistemic and affective stance within the proximal–distal opposition. It is argued that the apparent paradoxes are actually cases of shifting perspectives or points of view on the part of the speaker and that Vantage Theory provides an elegant and motivated account of otherwise perplexing behavior.