Person and Time Deixis In English and Nepali

Abstract

The present study entitled 'Person and Time Deixis in English and Nepali' has been carried out in order to find out the similarities and differences between English and Nepali deictic expressions in terms of person and time.The study also suggests some pedagogical implications which will be useful while teaching deictical expressions of person and time to Nepali learners of English and viceversa. The researcher utilized both primary and secondary data to conduct the study. The primary data was collected from native speakers of Nepali who were selected by judgmental sampling procedure. The interview questions were adopted as a research tool to elicit primary data from both literate and illiterate informants. Then the data were analyzed, interpreted and presented descriptively as well as statistically by using tables, charts and illustrations. Major findings of the study show that Nepali person deictic pronounsare more in number than thoseof English in terms of honorific distinction, number, case,gender and Nepali deictic personal pronounshave suffixation in plural numbe runlike in English. The study also shows that English has some tense specific time deixis which lacks in case of Nepali. Nepali time deixis is richer than that of English in terms of the names of days and year. This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter deals with the introduction of the study which includes general background, literature review,objectives, significance of the study. It also includes the definition of the VII specific terms used in the research. The second chapter deals with themethodological processes of the study which consist of sources of data,sampling procedure, tools for gathering data, processes of data collection and limitations of the study. The third chapter is concerned with the presentation, analysis, interpretation of the collected data along with the comparison of similar and different cases between English and Nepali person and time deixis. The fourth chapter presents findings as well as some pedagogical implications.