# NSM explication for 'left'? Tags: semantics, natural-semantic-metalanguage - Score: 5 - Views: 332 - Answers: 1 - Answered: yes - Asked by: extremeaxe5 (378 rep) - Asked: 2018-11-03 - Site: linguistics ## Question How would the NSM explicate the word 'left'? As in, 'the table is to my left'. I just cannot think of any way to do it using the current 65 primes. ## Answers ### Answer by curiousdannii (score: 3) Although I've seen several NSM researchers discuss the concepts of "left" and "right" in relation to the semantic prime SIDE, I haven't seen any give a full explication for them. I don't think it's really that complex though, so I'll give it a go. I'll use a few semantic molecules; you can see how "hands" can be defined using primes in "Natural Semantic Metalanguage: The state of the art" by Goddard, page 24. To start, I'll define left and right hands using three prominent actions: right hand = (a) someone can use one hand to write   many people use this hand   a few people use the other hand (b) someone can use one hand to pick up a small thing   many people use this hand   a few people use the other hand (c) someone can use one hand to eat   many people