Which term refers to words whose referent depends on the context?

• A. Deictics
• B. Denotation
• C. Homophones
• D. Connotation

Answer: (A)

Deictics are words whose reference shifts with who is speaking, where the speaker is, and when the utterance occurs. These indexical terms rely on context to pin down what they point to: pronouns like I, you, he; demonstratives like this, that; and time/place adverbs like here, there, now, then. For instance, “this” can point to a different object depending on who says it and what they are referring to, and “here” depends on the speaker’s location. Because their meaning isn’t fixed in the dictionary but anchored to the situational context, deictics are inherently context-dependent.

Denotation is the fixed, dictionary-like meaning a word has in a general sense, not tied to a specific moment or speaker. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings or spellings. Connotation is the shade of meaning or emotional associations a word carries beyond its literal sense.