Social deixis, which corresponds to social relations or roles in the society, is realized through locations in the frontal or horizontal plane of the signing space. Social status of a person is determined by the group of people present in the actual speech context or through social norms, physical requirements and hierarchies of a particular society. One instance of these realizations is the difference between unfamiliar and familiar second person pronoun, marked by backward body lean (for details see [Lexicon 3.7.2.6]).
In its socio-deictic usage, the locus of a referent is produced on a certain height relative to the signer or another locus. In case a person belongs to a socially high status, being an administrator/boss or a head of the state, the locus associated with this referent is articulated on the higher area in the frontal space. On the other hand, if a referent has the same social level as the signer being an adult or a colleague, this referent is articulated at the level of the chest in front of the torso. In case of a lower status (child, inferior), the referents are articulated below the chest level. Examples (a-b) show the usages of upper-lower space in DGS for expression of social deixis. Semantic groups which share the same status (man/woman, hearing/deaf, colleagues/customers) are organized on the same height but on contrastive lateral regions (e. in the horizontal space). This is illustrated in the example (c).
a. every evening adult [ipsi_up]children[ipsi_down] read_aloud
‘Every evening adults read (something) aloud to the children.’
(based on Mehling, 2010: 127)
b. king ixa[ipsi_up] servant ixb[contra_down] be-silent aorderb
‘The king ordered his servant to be quite.’
(based on Mehling, 2010: 126)
c. poss1 company ix(loc)a deaf coworkera hearing coworkerb together work
‘Deaf coworkers are working together with hearing coworkers at my company.’