A Study Of The Symmetry Of "left/right"

"Left/Right" is a couple of basic opposite nouns of locality in Chinese, compared with other elementary nouns of locality , the study about "left" and "right" is not enough. In this paper, baseded on the markedness theory, relying on CCL the corpus of Peking University, we will research from the meanings, word-formation, phrase syntax and culture etc , in order to implement the preliminary combination of chinese ontology and Chinese culture.In the first chapter , through the conclusion of the reference books about"Left/Right" we will make a comparison, divide them into driection, status, attitude,specific reference, interchangeability according to the meaning . And by analyzeing the corpus from pre-Qin to the Ming and Qing dynasties , find out that meanings development cycle of "Left" is longer,"Right" is shorter . At the same time,the meanings of "Left/Right" also be influenced by cultural contacts. In the second chapter through the exhaustive analysis to the "Modern Chinese dictionary" and "Ci Yuan",it is concluded that the word formation ability of "Left" is stronger than"Right",and the use frequency of "Left" is higher than "Right" .And this conclusion is correspond to the "Modern Chinese frequency dictionary". In the third chapter through the analysis of modern Chinese corpus, to research the grammatical functions symmetry of "Left/Right",find that "Left/Right" grammatical function is basically symmetrical, only in the combination of the preposition structure "with …" and the use of negative adverbs with are asymmetry. The fourth chapter studies the use of"Left/Right" about political, social usage which belong to cultural aspects. Through the analysis of the full text it can be concluded that "Left/Right" is not totally symmetric, but the presence of marked item is difficult to distinguish. The reasons of this phenomenon are both the linguistic and cultural. And the respect of "left" in Chinese culture phenomenon also reflects the unique philosophy thinking of the Chinese nation and the traditional spirit of modest hospitality, respect other people's good moral character.