Wednesday 10 June 2020

Locative And Temporal Demonstratives

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 631):
The locative demonstratives here and there are also used as reference items; here may be cataphoric, as in (g), or anaphoric and ‘near’ as in (h); there is anaphoric but not ‘near’, as in (j), where it means ‘in what you said’:
(g) ||| “So here’s a question for you. ||| How old did you say you were?” ||| … 
(h) ||| “I think you ought to tell me || who you are, first.” |||
“Why?” || said the Caterpillar. |||
Here was another puzzling question; ... ||| 
(j) “Suppose he never commits the crime?” || said Alice. |||
“That would be all the better, wouldn’t it?” || the Queen said, ... |||
Alice felt there was no denying that. ||| “Of course it would be all the better,” || she said: || “but it wouldn’t be all the better [[ his being punished]] .” |||
“You’re wrong there, at any rate,” || said the Queen. |||
The temporal demonstratives now and then also function as cohesive items, but conjunctively rather than referentially.