方位词“上/下”的文化与民俗考察

Cultural and Customary Research on Azimuthal Words Shang and Xia

摘要: 通过对历史与文化的考察发现，人类对方位的表达方式因地域和文化而异，因民族习俗而异。这些差异，直接或间接地导致人类在时间和空间概念上产生认知上的差异。本文从“方位观”、“等级观”、“实用观”和“语言观”四个方面，分别阐释“上/下”概念的民族文化差异及形成原因，并采用语料对比方法在英语和汉语之间进行直接对比，做出直观的解读。

Abstract: Researches into history and culture found that the way to convey the meaning of directions is var-ious since the cultures and locations are different. The differences differ the temporality and spa-tiality cognitions of people directly or indirectly. From the view of azimuth, grades, pragmatism and linguistics, this assay tries to give a visual explanation on the causes of those differences, basing on the comparisons of English and Chinese.