Deictic elements Vs non-deictic elements

[miss irony]

Hi. I would like to know the decisive feature that differentiates the deictic elements from the non-deictic ones.

 

[MikeNewYork]

A deictic element is one that derives its meaning from the context. A good example is a pronoun which has no real meaning without a referent.

I met Jim yesterday. I saw him at Joe's bar.

In those sentences "him" derives its meaning from "Jim".