Avatar-mediated deixis in social VR: Platform affordances, frame repair, and the virtual deictic field

Abstract

This article examines how social virtual reality (social VR) mediates discourse by reconfiguring access to the person, place, and time coordinates on which deixis depends. The primary framework is mediated discourse analysis, with deictic-field theory, frame and footing analysis, indexicality, multimodal interaction, and affordance research used as supporting concepts. The data comprise 48 headset-based sessions from VRChat and Horizon/Workrooms (approximately 10.9 h) and eight Zepeto post-thread units used as an avatar-centred social virtual-world boundary case (approximately 1.2 h of associated source media; approximately 86,700 words and captions overall), supplemented by researcher fieldnotes on platform operation. Analysis of demonstratives, pronouns, address forms, controller gestures, portals, mute events, and explicit ‘in real life’ (IRL) marking shows how participants establish, contest, and repair an avatar-centred interactional ‘here’. The virtual deictic field names this wider, mediated organisation of reference and participation. Building on blended-origo accounts of co-available physical and virtual coordinates, it brings referential access, identity ratification, participation rights, and repair into one analytic model. Observable orientation in talk and action is treated as interactional evidence, not as a direct measure of psychological presence. The findings show how platform resources support referential coordination, the assignment of participation roles, and identity ratification, shaping how discourse is produced and interpreted.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Discourse Context & Media, 2026 · DOI ↗