<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear Ian, dear all,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in the Finnic languages, ‘north’ (Modern Standard Finnish pohjoinen etc.) is etymologically connected with ‘bottom’ (Finnish pohja etc.), while ‘south’ is ‘front’ (Finnish etelä ‘south’, Estonian edel ‘southwest’ etc. from ete- ‘front’). This is usually explained with the fact that the houses or huts normally had their doors towards the south, to get as much light and warmth as possible. And then you can go on speculating with whether and how the prehistoric people of the North, living in teepee-like huts, saw the world as a giant dwelling, with the sky as its ceiling.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best</div><div class="">Johanna<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">JOO, Ian [Student] <<a href="mailto:ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk" class="">ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk</a>> kirjoitti 25.12.2020 kello 7.29:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div name="messageBodySection" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><div dir="auto" class="">Dear typologists,<br class=""><br class="">I am currently working on a doctoral project focusing on the areality of Mainland Northeast Asia (Korea, Mongolia, Northeast China, but <strong class="">not</strong> Japan, Russian Far East, or Sout<span style="color: var(--textColor); background-color: var(--backgroundColor);" class="">hern/Western China).</span><br class="">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 class=""><span id="cid:82A3F024701F4B0692CCA7C2CAE5EA7F"><Attachment.tiff></span><br class=""><br class="">(Note that, in Mandarin, <em class="">bei</em> 北 `North’ and <em class="">bei </em>背 `back; backside’ differ only in tone, and are etymologically related)<br class="">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" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">Regards,<div dir="auto" class="">Ian</div></div><img alt="" src="https://www.polyu.edu.hk/emaildisclaimer/PolyU_Email_Signature.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""><em class=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" class="">Disclaimer:</font></em></p><div style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin-left: 0.5in;" class=""><i class=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" class=""><span class="">This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose. 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<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">--</div><div class="">Univ.Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso</div><div class="">Universität Wien, Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL)</div><div class="">Abteilung Finno-Ugristik</div><div class="">Campus AAKH Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7</div><div class="">A-1090 Wien</div><div class=""><a href="mailto:johanna.laakso@univie.ac.at" class="">johanna.laakso@univie.ac.at</a> • <a href="http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/" class="">http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/</a></div><div class="">Project ELDIA: <a href="http://www.eldia-project.org/" class="">http://www.eldia-project.org/</a> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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