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How is one to understand such a presence of the speaker in his or her enunciation, or such an inner reference? At this point, Benveniste stresses the role of the deictic (“indicating”) terms, which had long been neglected by linguistics; especially of personal pronouns such as “I” and “you,” but also of words such as “this,” “here,” “now,” etc. The meaning of the word “I” cannot be determined lexicographically (one will find in lexicons at most a linguistic or meta-linguistic reflection on this word); it is strictly bound to the singular center of expression that utters this word at a specific point in time. Through the word “I,” then, the “presence of the speaker at his enunciation” becomes manifest by virtue of which an “inner reference” is provided for, that is to say, the relation between the linguistic given and that “non-linguistic” “center of speech”—to be precise: a center not reducible to a linguistic given, and instead referring to a linguistic capability—which in the enunciation is not just expressed but expresses itself. “You,” “this,” “here,” “there,” “now,” “tomorrow,” etc. furthermore show the centers of expression to be dialogical and situated in a world, and at the same time open up possibilities of “co-reference” (Benveniste) that are at play in any communication.
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