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Indexical Cues: History
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In linguistic research and analysis, indexical cues are contextual signals or linguistic features whose interpretation depends on their relationship to aspects of the communicative context, including the participants, circumstances, or social conditions of language use [1]. They function as indexical elements because their meaning is not determined solely by their internal linguistic form but also by the contextual information to which they point or with which they are associated [1]. Indexical cues are studied within pragmatics and sociolinguistics as part of the broader phenomenon of indexicality, which concerns the connection between linguistic expressions and contextual variables [2]. They are distinguished from purely symbolic linguistic signs, whose interpretation is based primarily on conventional associations within a linguistic system rather than contextual relations [1].

  • indexicality
  • pragmatics
  • contextual meaning
  • sociolinguistics

Linguistic research and analysis • Language and Linguistics • Arts and Humanities • Social Sciences

References

  1. Silverstein, Michael. Shifters, Verbal Categories, and Cultural Description.” In Meaning in Anthropology; Keith H. Basso, Henry A. Selby, Eds.; University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 1976.
  2. Elinor Ochs. "Indexing gender", In Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon; Alessandro Duranti, Charles Goodwin, Eds.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 1992.
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