The Dissymmetry Relationship Of The Reverse Orientation Vocabulary In Modern Chinese

In Modern Chinese, the four pairs of reverse orientation words, i.e. on/under, in front of/ behind, in/out, left/ right, always occur in their regular and symmetrical forms, which leads to our neglecting their irregularity and dissymmetry. But their irregularity and dissymmetry sometimes bring forth perplexity into our teaching and research on the orientation vocabulary. To solve the problem, this thesis probes into the phenomena of being irregular and dissymmetrical which is revealed in the four pairs of orientation words. The thesis cites quite a number of examples to exemplify the various kinds of irregular and dissymmetrical phenomena via comparison. Explanations on these phenomena are also provided.The thesis consists of six chapters:Chapter One briefly introduces the scope of the study and the corpus.Chapter Two discusses the dissymmetrical relationship between the orientation words within the same category. Such a relationship is mainly manifested in three aspects. Firstly, the form is dissymmetrical, and the meaning is lost or embodied in some other words. Secondly, the form is symmetrical, but the meaning is not completely symmetrical in the strict sense. Thirdly, the form is symmetrical, yet the meaning is not symmetrical at all. This chapter elucidates both the interior causes and the exterior causes.Chapter Three dissertates the phenomena of crossover usages between the eight orientation words,"on/under, in front of/behind, in/out, left/right". On the basis of the examples, this chapter expounds on their crossover usages...