The Deictic Particle -í

Abstract

We are intending to describe how the particle -ί worked in demonstratives, specifying the conditions that ruled its use beyond the stereotypical ‘reinforcing of the deixis’ label. As forms of the colloquial Attic, demonstratives with particle -ί always pointed to elements of the visual or acoustic environment of the audience, whose attention was required this way. This paper detects and tries to explain why the particle -ί was incompatible with some pragmatic uses of the demonstrative pronouns. We have listed both Greek authors who use it in order to determine its chronological limits, dialect and linguistic register, and forms focusing two of them: ἐκεινοσί and the expression νυνὶ δέ.