Deixis

Deixis encompasses words and phrases which rely on an external context to complete their meaning.

Topicality

Once a topic is introduced in a discourse or narrative, it can be assumed to be the subject until changed.

Pro-forms

The two groups of pro-forms are classified on the basis of their semantic properties.

Personal pro-forms, otherwise known as definite pro-forms, are those that encode case, person, animacy and topicality. Indefinite pro-forms comprise the remaining deictic terms.