The first and second persons ʻIʼ and ʻyouʼ naturally retain this deictic sense; their meaning is defined in the act of speaking. The third person forms 'he' 'she' 'it' 'they'can be used deictically; but more often than not, in all languages as we know them, such items are 'anaphoric': that is, they point not ʻoutwardsʼ to the environment but ʻbackwardsʼ to the preceding text.
- Halliday (1985), a pag.291