Suppose you like Italian cold cuts and cheeses, but you are not en rapport with the names: prosciutto, mortadella, capicola, salami, provolone, ricotta. So you are reduced to pointing when you belly up to the deli counter: 'I would like a pound of this, finely sliced.'
Your use of 'this' must be accompanied by a gesture, a demonstration; your use of 'I,' however, need not be. There is no need to point to oneself when one utters the first-person singular pronoun. One can, of course, but I don't advise it. (And if you point, point to your chest, not to your groin -- though it stands to reason that if the chest or the shirt on one's chest can go proxy for the self, why not the groin or the codpiece?) 'This' and 'that' are demonstratives; 'I,' 'here,' and 'now' are pure indexicals. They are pure in that there is no need for demonstration or ostension. This much I learned from David Kaplan.
But now I notice a difference between the pure indexicals 'I' and 'now.' One can point to oneself -- or at least to one's body -- when uttering 'I' but one cannot point to a time or an occupant of a time (an event) when one utters 'now.' Something pointable, ostensible, can go proxy for a self, but nothing pointable can go proxy for a time. Time, you are an elusive bitch; would that I could seize you and stop you. (Verweile doch, du bist so schön.) 'Here' appears midway between 'I' and 'now': one can point to a place by pointing to its occupant. 'I am here' he said, with his right index finger pointing to his chest and his left index finger pointing to his feet.
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