The Sequence of “East, West, South, North”.doc

The Sequence of “East, West, South, North” Abstract： EAST, WEST, SOUTH, NORTH are the four basic locality words, but few people investigate into the sequence of the four words when they use them. For example, Chinese people always say”东西南北”or”东南西北”,instead of “北西南东” or something else. Now that all the four words are locality words, why there are strict rules for the sequence. In fact, different sequences of speaking the locality words reflect different cultural intensions and regulations of recognizing. Pronunciation, spelling, historical tradition, ethnic custom, religion, etc, all these can be the causes of different sequences. This essay will analyze the causes that Chinese speak the locality words from some aspects, and then it will probe into the culture of different ethics to explain this phenomenon. Key words: cause; implication; recognition; cultural connotation I.The sequence of the four locality words was not fixed, but people usually say them in the way of “east, west, south, north” or “east, south, west, north”. These two ways are the most used by people than other ways. Firstly, the sequence is related to the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The four seasons have different Stars. The Bigger Dipper directs to the east in spring, south in summer, west in autumn, and north in winter. As the sequence of seasonal time is fixed, and people usually connect the four locality words with seasonal Stars. Traditionally, people consider “east, south, west, north” is the natural sequence of the four locality words. Secondly, the sequence is related to the earth going. In the past, people believed the “Earth Center”, which said the sun goes around the earth: on the morning, the sun rises from the east, south to the west and on the night goes from north to east. This thought was accepted by people widely, as a result, people said the four words as the sequence of “east, south, west, north”. Thirdly, the sequence is related t