Historical Context and Deixis in Literature (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering historical context, local color, deixis, deictic words, and narration perspectives from the notes.

Historical context

The social, religious, economic, and political conditions that existed during a specific time and place, shaping memories, stories, and characters.

Local color

The depiction of regional features—customs, speech, and scenery—that reflect a culture or locality within a literary work.

Deixis

A linguistic device where meaning depends on context, pointing to people, places, or times relative to the speaker or narrator.

Deictic words

Words and phrases that require context to be understood, such as pronouns and time/place markers (I, you, here, now, today).

Spatial deixis

Deictic references to location (here, there, this place, that place) indicating where events occur.

Temporal deixis

Deictic references to time (now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow, years later) indicating when events occur.

Person deixis

Deictic references to participants in discourse (I, you, he, she, we, they).

Place deixis

Deictic references to location space (here, there, in this place), indicating where the action occurs.

Narrator

The voice or perspective through which a story is told.

Anonymous narrator (third-person narrator)

A third-person narrator who is not identified with a specific character, acting as an unnamed voice in the narration.

First-person narrator

A narration told from the perspective of 'I', where the narrator is a character in the story.

Third-person narrator

A narration outside the events, using he/she/they to refer to characters; the narrator may be omniscient or limited.

Point of view (POV)

The perspective from which a story is told, shaping how events are interpreted (narrator's time and place).

Here

Spatial deixis referring to the location of the speaker or narrative; indicates 'this place' in context.

Now

Temporal deixis referring to the present moment of narration or discussion; indicates 'the present' in context.

That morning

A temporal deictic referring to a specific past morning, highlighting a past time in relation to the narrative.

Back then

Temporal deixis indicating a past period or era relative to the present narration.

I

First-person pronoun used in person deixis to refer to the speaker within a text.

You

Second-person pronoun used in person deixis to refer to the listener or reader; within a text, it addresses the audience.