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<p>Dear Ian (and all),</p>
<p>In the Middle East, forward/backwards maps on to the cardinal
points at a 90º rotation to what you describe for NE Asia. In
(poetic) Hebrew, E is 'forward', while in Arabic, N is 'left',
while 'Yemen' is, etymologically, 'right' — in all three cases,
you're facing east.</p>
<p>One might speculate that both systems are sun-oriented, the
Middle-Eastern system towards the highly-valued rising sun, and
the NE Asian system towards the location of the sun at midday.</p>
<p>David</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 25/12/2020 08:29, JOO, Ian [Student]
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:4a31b6c1-9b19-4f6a-a92c-89effbed48a4@Spark">
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<div dir="auto">Dear typologists,<br>
<br>
I am currently working on a doctoral project focusing on the
areality of Mainland Northeast Asia (Korea, Mongolia,
Northeast China, but <strong>not</strong> Japan, Russian Far
East, or Sout<span
style="color:var(--textColor);background-color:var(--backgroundColor)">hern/Western
China).</span><br>
One of the interesting possible areal features of MNEA
languages (Tuvan, Manchu, Korean, Mandarin, and Mongolian)
that I’ve found is that these five languages, except Mandarin,
can express “North” with the word meaning “rear; back;
behind”. Please see the map:<br>
<img src="cid:82A3F024701F4B0692CCA7C2CAE5EA7F"
moz-do-not-send="true" height="auto"><br>
<br>
(Note that, in Mandarin, <em>bei</em> 北 `North’ and <em>bei </em>背
`back; backside’ differ only in tone, and are etymologically
related)<br>
I’m curious if this polysemy exists in other areas as well,
and if so, what would be the motivation? (Historical?
Cultural? Religious? Cognitive? Climatic?)</div>
</div>
<div name="messageSignatureSection"><br>
Regards,
<div dir="auto">Ian</div>
</div>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-556825895
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091</pre>
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