[Lingtyp] Languages with connotations for 'left' and 'right'

Thu Feb 28 15:01:39 UTC 2019

R. Needham, ed., 1973. Right and Left: Essays on Dual Symbolic Classification.
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From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Epps, Patience L <pattieepps at austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2019 9:56 AM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Languages with connotations for 'left' and 'right'

Hi all,

Hup, a Naduhup language of the NW Amazon, is a potentially interesting case; Hup terms for right/left are not exactly positive/negative, but do have relevant connotations. The frame of reference is basically allocentric (waterways, east/west), and I am fairly certain that these terms are unrelated to any Christian influence.

The left hand/side is referred to as sõh, a morpheme that otherwise occurs in a verbal construction meaning ‘to dream’ and also in a noun phrase referring to the flooded forest during the rainy season (exactly what the connection is there is unclear to me, but I suspect it’s not an accidental homonymy). The word for the right hand/side is pɨb, which also means ‘fast, strong’ (pretty obviously relating to the biological preference for right-handedness).

Cheers,
Pattie

On Feb 28, 2019, at 8:44 AM, Bohnemeyer, Juergen <jb77 at buffalo.edu<mailto:jb77 at buffalo.edu>> wrote:

Dear David — The left hand taboo travels with Islam. As such, it has gotten into West Africa, for example.

More generally, regarding Horia’s question, I highly recommend considering the hypothesis that all such associations are due to contact with one of two cultural spheres it which they have been diffused: the Islamic sphere and the Christian sphere, with the latter inheriting the associations from Latin.

I’m not claiming that cultural transmission is the sole explanation, mind you. What I’m suggesting is considering that explanation by way of satisfying Occam’s Razor.

In other words, my point is that if examples could be found of languages that have the association without evidence of contact diffusion through Christianity or Islam, that would greatly strengthen the case for a cognitive explanation.

Best — Juergen

On Feb 28, 2019, at 9:28 AM, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de<mailto:gil at shh.mpg.de>> wrote:

In much of Indonesia, the left hand is associated with bodily functions and thus has negative connotations: you're not supposed to eat with your left hand, or give something to somebody (or take something from them) with your left hand.  Also, in many parts of Indonesia, frames of reference are allocentric (e.g. north/south, seaward/landward, upriver/downriver).  And the two regions intersect in several places, such as — to cite just one example — East Java, which has all the left-hand taboos, and uses cardinal points for directions.  (A few days ago I was in a restaurant there, asking for the loo, and the man said Go through that door and then turn east.)

On 28/02/2019 19:22, Horia Calugareanu wrote:
Dear colleagues,

I am putting together a semantic typology in order to test the following hypothesis:

Across languages, the word for left (side/direction) (or some derivation of it) tends to get a negative connotation, whereas the word for ‘right’ gets a positive one, if the effect exists.

Apart from Indo-European languages, where the effect is widely present, this is a non-exhaustive list of languages which prove the thesis: Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Fula, Golpa, Hungarian, Malay, Turkish.

Do you know of any other (preferably non-Indo-European) languages which help confirm or infirm the generalisation?

Finally, I am also researching whether the effect holds anyhow in languages with allocentric frames of reference (i.e. uphill/downhill, or north/south, instead of left/right). I haven’t been able to find any due to scarce resources, but some examples of languages with non-egocentric FoR are Tseltal, Haillom, Guugu Yimitirr, Kuuk Thaayorre.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,
Horia Călugăreanu
University College London

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