A Study on the Chinese Preposition "xiang" and the Japanese Compound Case Particles "-nimukatte" "-nimukete" <Article>

This paper discusses the differences between the Chinese preposition "xiang" and the Japanese compound case particles "-nimukatte" "-nimukete" .The paper divides the usage of "xiang" "-nimukatte" "-nimukete" into five categories, namely direction of moving, direction of act, target of act, direction of change, and direction of positioning in space. It applies principles of cognitive linguistics to analyze the image scheme of them. Their semantic features could be generalized as follows: "Xiang" only serves to indicate direction. In contrast, "-nimukatte" places emphasis on the move or the situation where two things facing each other, and "-nimukete" highlights the clear target, while both indicate direction