Abstract

Summary: demonstrative and determiner systems in the Pacific Northwest show areal similarities. The categories include two or three way deictic distinctions, visibility, modality (existent - non existent), and temporal contrasts. There are formal characteristics that are shared as well. The presentation will give a preliminary survey of the features across some languages of the area, with emphasis on Northern Wakashan. Then we will look at two especially interesting categories: `just gone' in Upper North Wakashan, which combines spatial and temporal (or: spatiotemporal) concepts, `visible-invisible', which seems to be basically evidential and modal in some languages.