Zimmerer, Vitor C.Watson, StuartTurkington, DouglasFerrier, I. NicolHinzen, Wolfram2017-08-242017-08-242017Zimmerer VC, Watson S, Turkington D, Ferrier IN, Hinzen W. Deictic and propositional meaning—new perspectives on language in schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. 2017; 8:17. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.000171664-0640http://hdl.handle.net/10230/32688Emerging linguistic evidence points at disordered language behavior as a defining characteristic of schizophrenia. In this article, we review this literature and demonstrate how a framework focusing on two core functions of language—reference and propositional meaning—can conceptualize schizophrenic symptoms, identify important variables for risk assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, and inform cognitive behavioral therapy and other remedial approaches. We introduce the linguistic phenomena of deictic anchoring and propositional complexity, explain how they relate to schizophrenic symptoms, and show how they can be tracked in language behavior.application/pdfeng© 2017 Zimmerer, Watson, Turkington, Ferrier and Hinzen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00017SchizophreniaPositive symptomsLanguageGrammarCognitive behavioral therapyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess