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<div>Dear Claude and all:</div><div><br></div><div> Thank you for your message. In Chinese, the coordinate compound word zuo3you4(left-right) developed many lexical meanings. In addition to what you mentioned, we have also meanings such as 1) noun: the assistants serving around the master; 2)verb: to dominate a situation (can let the thing leftwards or rightwards, depending on his own will), etc,.</div><div><br></div><div> I would like to mention one thing that might be one of the factors of why zuo3(left) precedes you4(right) in the compound word.</div><div><br></div><div> Some statistic studies have indicated that coordinate compounds in Chinese have strong tendency to follow a tone rule for morpheme order, that is tone 1 preceding tone 2 preceding tone 3 preceding tone 4. Hence the order zuo3(left) you4(right) (3>4).</div><div><br></div><div> Danny</div><div><br></div>
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On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 12:16:18 AM GMT+8, Claude Hagège <claude-hagege@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
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<div><div id="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567"><div><div class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567WordSection1"><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">Dear Horia, Danny and all,</span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> Coming back to the « left/right » issue (positive vs negative connotations) of early March, it may be useful to stress that standard Chinese (</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">普通</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D;">话</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> <i>pǔtōnghuà</i>) uses </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D;">左右</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> <i>zuǒ-yòu</i> («left-right » : in this order, not the reverse) as an « adverb », mostly with the meaning « approximately », « about », and also with the meaning « anywhere », in expressions like </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D;">左右逢源</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> (<i>zuǒ-yòu féngyuán</i>) « to meet good opportunities everywhere (as by serendipity) ».</span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> Thus, the terms for « right » and « left » may be associated in expressions that transcend their positive/negative connotations by subsuming them in general spatial, or metaphorically spatial, expressions. I think there are comparable expressions in other South-East Asian languages, such as Thai or Vietnamese.</span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">Best</span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">Claude</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"></span></p><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;"> </span></p><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm;"><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">De :</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> Lingtyp [mailto:lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org] <b>De la part de</b> LIU Danqing<br clear="none"><b>Envoyé :</b> vendredi 1 mars 2019 03:12<br clear="none"><b>À :</b> lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org; Horia Calugareanu<br clear="none"><b>Objet :</b> Re: [Lingtyp] Languages with connotations for 'left' and 'right'</span></p></div></div><div class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567yqt3389018144" id="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567yqt02033"><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"> </p><div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>Dear Horia and all:</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> In varieties of Chinese, there is obviously an asymmetry between 'left' and 'right'. The word for 'left ' often has negative connotations while the word for 'right' doesn't have any positive connotations.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> According to the Grand Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese Dialects, which is based on 40 dialects, the word for left (zuo, Tone 3, Chinese characters </span><span>左）</span><span> has negative meanings in 6 dialects, and compound words with this word have negative meanings in other </span><span>several dialects, but none of the dialects has the word for right (you, Tone 4, <span style="color:black;">Chinese characters </span></span><span>右）</span><span>and its compounds </span><span>with positive meanings.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>The word for left denotes:</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Yangzhou in Jiangsu) extreme, radical (not in political sense);</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Wuhan in Hubei) incorrect, wrong;</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Chengdu in Sichuan) out of tune</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Guiyang in Guizhou) incorrect, wrong</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Changsha in Hunan) mistaking, wrong</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>(Fuzhou in FUjian) improper, dishonest</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span>In addition, in some Wu dialects near Shanghai and Suzhou, the word for left, 'tsi', is of the meaning 'against the main trend or inclination'.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> Danny Liu</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span> </span></p></div></div><div id="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567ydp4642173dyahoo_quoted_2361064172"><div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">On Friday, March 1, 2019, 2:11:38 AM GMT+8, Horia Calugareanu <horia.calugareanu@gmail.com> wrote: </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><div id="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567ydp4642173dyiv3547281124"><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Dear all,</span></p><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Thanks so much for all your responses.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">I am sorry for not explaining more of the context of the research topic. I am looking precisely at which means of explanation is more suitable for the left-right connotation phenomenon.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">The effect seems to be indeed statistically more present at the linguistic level in areas of influence of the Abrahamic religions, as Jürgen Bohnemeyer suggested. However, superstitions and traditional religions in most cultures also have some sort of bias against the left hand, with right-handers forming an overwhelming majority in all recorded cultures, and amounting to 90% around the world, as Alec Coupe pointed out. As suggested by most of our colleagues, the distinction is present in many places with no historical links to Christianity or Islam (Northern Australia, the Amazon, Africa, South-East Asia), so I tend to believe the historical/regional explanation must be ruled out in favour of the cognitive and anthropological ones.</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">In studies on handedness across cultures, Hertz (1909) and McManus (2002) have suggested that the right-left binary has also often correlated to other binaries such as life-death, sacred-profane, male-female, healthy-ill, heavens-earth etc. </span></p></div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"><br clear="none">Hertz, Robert, La preeminence de la main droite. 1909; English translation: Needham, Rodney and Claudia. Death and the Right Hand. 1960.</span></p><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">McManus, Chris, Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures. 2002</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Best wishes,</span></p></div><div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">Horia</span></p></div></div></div><p class="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Lingtyp mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a></span></p></div></div></div></div></div><div id="ydpf99cb94yiv5453475567DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br clear="none"> <table style="border-top:1px solid #D3D4DE;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="width:55px;padding-top:18px;"><a shape="rect" href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width:46px;min-height:29px;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true"></a></td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="width:470px;padding-top:17px;color:#41424e;font-size:13px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">Garanti sans virus. <a shape="rect" href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" style="color:#4453ea;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.avast.com</a> </td></tr></tbody></table>
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