Spatial deixis: Between indexicality and representation

What is the import of a multimodal approach to the understanding of spatial deixis? Over 400 bimodal/gesfurbl deictic occurrences were collected out of audiovisual data including various types of participants (children and adults) in various types of language behavior. Both formal aspects and use of deictics showed an extended variation that challenges the traditional distinction between context dependent deixis and textual deixis. An alternative view sees indexical reference and symbolic reference as intertwined in three different ways as regards bimodal/gestural deixis, and has theoretical as well as practical implications.