Abstract This paper adopts a cognitive linguistic framework to explore the influence of spatial and social factors on the use of Spanish demonstratives esta ‘this’ and esa ‘that’. Twenty adult Spanish speakers in Monterrey, Mexico, were asked questions prompting the selection of puzzle pieces for placement in a 25-piece puzzle located in the shared space between the participant and an addressee. Although participants were not explicitly instructed to produce demonstratives, the need to identify specific puzzle pieces naturally elicited a total of 523 tokens of esta and esa. Analyses of the distribution of esta versus esa show that demonstratives are not used in a categorical manner to mark differences in physical space. Although participants tended to produce proximal esta for referents near the speaker, both esta and esa were used for referents further from the speaker and closer to the addressee. Participants’ demonstrative selection was also influenced by interaction type: intersubjective misalignment between speakers promoted the use of proximal esta, whereas intersubjective alignment promoted the use of distal esa. These results support the view that nominal grounding is an intersubjective activity. Physical and social factors jointly shape speakers’ construal of the developing co-constructed communicative event as a whole, leading to increasingly variable usage of demonstratives as the referent is more distant both spatially and intersubjectively from the speaker.

中文翻译：

---

指示性作为互动焦点的指示：西班牙的esta和esa的空间和社会维度

摘要本文采用认知语言学框架，探讨空间和社会因素对西班牙语指示词esta“ this”和esa“ that”的使用的影响。在墨西哥蒙特雷，二十位成年西班牙裔讲者被问到问题，促使他们选择拼图块放置在参与者和收件人之间共享空间中的25件拼图中。尽管未明确指示参与者制作示范，但识别特定拼图的需求自然会引起总共523个esta和esa标记。对esta与esa分布的分析表明，没有以分类方式使用指示词来标记物理空间的差异。尽管参与者倾向于为说话者附近的参考对象产生近端esta，esta和esa都被用作离演讲者更远，更靠近收件人的对象。参与者的说明性选择还受到交互类型的影响：说话者之间的主观主体间错位促进了近端esta的使用，而主体间主体间的错位则促进了远端esa的使用。这些结果支持这样的观点，即名义接地是主体间的活动。身体和社会因素共同影响说话者对共同发展的交流活动的整体理解，导致指示语的用法越来越多，因为被指对象与说话者在空间和主体间的距离都越来越远。说话者之间的主体间错位促进了近端esta的使用，而主体间的错位则促进了远端esa的使用。这些结果支持这样的观点，即名义接地是主体间的活动。身体和社会因素共同影响说话者对共同发展的交流活动的整体理解，导致指示语的用法越来越多，因为被指对象与说话者在空间和主体间的距离都越来越远。说话者之间的主体间错位促进了近端esta的使用，而主体间的错位则促进了远端esa的使用。这些结果支持这样的观点，即名义接地是主体间的活动。身体和社会因素共同影响说话者对共同发展的交流活动的整体理解，导致指示语的用法越来越多，因为被指对象与说话者在空间和主体间的距离都越来越远。