| "Xin" and "jiu" are two common antonyms in modern Chinese. There are some phenomenons of symmetrical and asymmetrical between these two words,from their semantic range, frequency of utilization to syntactic level. In this paper,the writer try to use"ThreePlaneTheory", combined with the specific corpus to analyze "xin" and "jiu". Firstly, "xin" and "jiu"have some asymmetries in word formation, the "xin" word formation was significantly higher than the "jiu",and the utilization frequency of "xin" is higher than the "jiu";the word order of "xin" and "jiu" in word formation is also asymmetric. Secondly, when "xin "and "jiu" are used as syntactic elements,there are also some asymmetric phenomenons, even when they are used as the same syntactic elements, the"xin"frequency is higher than "jiu"; when adverbial, in some cases only use "xin",in some cases only use "jiu". And when "jiu" is used as an attributive elements, it can overlap, but "xin"can not;In addition, "xin" can not be used as after "wear","use"and so on,but "jiu" can. Thirdly, this paper also did research on the evolution of "xin" and "jiu" and found that the meanings of "xin"is more than "jiu";semantic range extended more widely than "jiu". On the semantic emotional,"xin" comes out of commendatory senses, while "jiu" has come out of pejorative meanings. Finally, we analyzed the reasons of these phenomenons from both internal and external sides.One the one hand,"xin" and "jiu" constitute an antonym system, but "xin" has not only one antonym, it also has other antonyms, for example:"lao" "gu," "chen" and so on.Therefore, this makes "xin" and "jiu" exhibit asymmetric phenomenons;Language external reasons mainly related to cognitive factors, psychological factors, economic principles, politeness and so on. In general, people are more willing to accept positive things,also tend to use the most simple language to express their thoughts. So it makes people tend to use "xin", and "xin"has a higher frequency than "jiu". |
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