方向認識の非対称性とことばの意味の拡張 : 「まえ」を中心に

Abstract

A human being uses the body as a reference point to specify space. The front of the body is the side where most of the sensory organs are. The space adjoining to this side of the body is referred to as being in front of him, and it is also the space he walks into. Therefore, the concept of FRONT/FORWARDS is more important for human beings than BACK(WARDS). There is asymmetry in recognizing the two directions. Asymmetry in recognizing directions plays an important role in multiplying word meaning. This study examines Japanese spatial words, such as mae and saki, which also have temporal meaning. In spatial expressions, mae and saki mean 'front/forwards'. However, in temporal expressions, while mae indicates the direction towards the past on the time axis, saki indicates the directions of both the past and the future. This is a very curious phenomenon because human beings seem to understand the concept of time using a spatial metaphor: time is a line on which one stands facing the future. Then, there are the following two problems: 1) Why does mae, which translates into English with words like front/forwards/before, indicate the direction of the past, i.e. that which is behind the man facing the future on the time line? 2) Why does saki indicate both the past and the future directions while indicating only the direction forward of a reference point in spatial expressions? This study proposes an improved model of the spatial metaphor used for understanding the concept of time. It then tries to resolve the two questions using the proposed model and the image-schema theory in cognitive linguistics. Through the study of the use of mae and saki, this study shows how asymmetry in recognizing directions, along with the strong human feeling of continuous movement towards the future, play an important role in multiplying Japanese word meaning.