Integrating deictic co-speech gestures in demonstrative forms

Abstract Deictic co-speech gestures (DCSGs) are commonly regarded as intimately related to exophoric demonstrative forms; yet, no account is available that formalises this relation. This paper proposes DCSGs spell-out part of the internal structure demonstratives: concretely, they contribute spatial coordinates (direction and distance, syntactically encoded by Demonstrative ‘Dem’ head a Measure Phrase ‘MeasP’ modifies it, respectively) identify location demonstrative’s referent deictic centre. naturally captures intuition demonstratives related, under multi-modal approach forms. Further, proposal compatible with independent facts regarding both grammaticalisation forms their acquisition.