examples show how Papuan Malay’s two demonstratives signal either proximity or distance. The example above, (1), and the following example (2) illustrate how ini/ni is used to indicate spatial closeness, and (3) shows how itu/tu is used to indicate distance between the referent and speaker. By drawing the hearer’s attention to specific objects or individuals in the discourse or surrounding context, the speaker is able to use demonstratives to provide spatial orientation whether the referent is perceived as being spatially close to the speaker, or further away. Long and Short Demonstrative Forms In (2) and (3), the short demonstrative form has been used. The short forms are largely a result of fast-speech phenomena and they serve the same syntactic function as the long forms. In terms of their domains of use, the short forms share all the same domains of use as the long forms except for identificational and placeholder uses where the short forms are not employed. The following examples, (4) and (5), show how demonstratives may be used as placeholders. In these cases, only the long form may be used. Locatives Locatives are a class of words that signal distance, both spatial and non-spatial, and consequently provide orientation for the hearer in a speech situation. Papuan Malay’s three-term locative system consists of the locatives as outlined in Table 4. The functions and uses of locatives include the following: Spatial uses Figurative locational uses Temporal uses Psychological uses Textual uses Spatial Uses of Locatives Spatial locatives have the role of designating the location of an object or individual in terms of its relative position to the speaker, and they focus the attention of the hearer to the specified location. In general, proximal sini indicates a referent’s closeness to the deictic centre and distal sana indicates distance from this reference point. For medial situ, the distance signalled is somewhat mid-range. That is, the referent is further away from the speaker than the referent of sini but not as far as that of sana. In (6), sini is used to indicate the close location of an entity to the speaker, while (7) highlights the semantic distinctions between sini and sana. In context, the distances signalled by these terms are variable considering such distances are relative to the speaker. The use of these spatial deictics are also dependent on the speaker’s perception of how near or far a referent is. The following