identified. In contrast, the referents of indexicals such as I and you (., the speaker and addressee) are necessary components of the discourse circumstances. 2 Indexical pronouns can be further classified into pure indexicals versus demonstratives, 8 depending on how the current discourse circumstances provide their referents. The referent of a pure indexical is fully determined by the semantic rules and a context, which together pick out a unique referent for each use. Thus I refers to the person who utters it (assuming that I is used to refer). A pure indexical cannot refer to alternative entities, nor can.
