Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:20:34.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Synchronic variability and diachronic change in basic color terms1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Paul Kay
Paul Kay
Affiliation:
University of Calofornia, Berkeley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to relate recent findings regarding the evolution of basic color term systems to current research in linguistic variation and language change. More specifically it is to provide in the area of lexical semantics a demonstration of the hypothesis that all linguistic change has its roots in synchronic heterogeneity of the speech community (cf. Weinreich, Labov & Herzog (1968: 188) for a general statement of this position, also many empirical demonstrations already reported, such as those by Labov (1972) and Wang (1969) in phonology and by Bickerton (1973) in syntax). Before taking up this topic, I summarize some recent revisions in the basic color term theory itself. (Ethnographic semantics, color terms, language variation, evolutionary universals in linguistic change.)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , December 1975 , pp. 257 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berlin, B. & Berlin, E. A. (1974). Aguaruna color categories. Paper presented to American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Mexico, D.F. To appear in American Ethnologist.Google Scholar
Berlin, B. & Kay, P. (1969). Basic color terms: their universality and evolution. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Berlin, B., Kay, P. & McDaniel, C. (forthcoming). The psychological significance of basic color terms.Google Scholar
Bickerton, D. (1973). The nature of a Creole continuum. Language 49. 640–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broch, H. B. (1974). A note on the Hare Indian color terms based on Brent Berlin and Paul Kay: Basic color terms, their universality and evolution. Anthropogical Linguistics 16. 192–6.Google Scholar
Buck, C. D. (1949). A dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal Indo-European languages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Conklin, H. D. (1955). Hanunóo color categories. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology II. 339–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dempwolff, O. (1971) (1937). Comparative phonology of Austronesian word lists. Anonymous translation from the German. Copyright by Ateneo de Manila University.Google Scholar
Dougherty, J. (1974). Color categorization in West Futuna: variation and change. Paper presented to American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Mexico, D.F.Google Scholar
Dubin, M. (1974). Athabaskan color terms. Paper presented to American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Mexico, D.F.Google Scholar
Hage, P. & Hawkes, K. (n.d.). Binumarien color categories. (Mimeo.) 32 pp.Google Scholar
Heider, E. R. (1972 a). Universals in color naming and memory. Journal of experimental psychology 93. 10–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heider, E. R. (1972 b). Probabilities, sampling and ethnographic method: The case of Dani colour names. Man 7. 448–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heider, K. G. (1965). The Dugum Dani: A Papuan culture in the West New Guinea highlands. (Ph.D. Thesis. Harvard.)Google Scholar
Heinrich, A. C. (1973). Systematics of Canadian Eskimo colour terminology. (Ms.) 381 pp.Google Scholar
Hill, J. H. & Hill, K. C. (1970). A note on Uto-Aztecan color terminologies. Anthropological Linguistics 12. 231–70.Google Scholar
Hoppman, M. (n.d.). Acquisition of basic color terms. (Mimeo.) 20 pp.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (ed.) (1964 a). Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (1964 b). Directions in (Ethno-)Linguistic theory. American anthropologist 66. 6–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Istomina, Z. G. (1963). Perception and naming of color in early childhood. Soviet psychology and psychiatry I. 37–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). On the mechanism of linguistic change. In Gumperz, J. J. & Hymes, D. (eds), Directions in sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
McDaniel, C. (1974). Basic color terms: their neurophysiological basis. Paper read to American Anthropological Association Meeting. Mexico, D.F.Google Scholar
Nichols, M. P. (1974). Northern Paiute historical grammar. (Ph.D. thesis. Berkeley: University of California.)Google Scholar
Shuy, R. W. & Bailey, C.-J. N. (eds) (1974). Towards tomorrow's linguistics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Snow, D. L. (1971). Samoan color terminology: A note on the universality and evolutionary ordering of color terms. Anthropological linguistics 13. 385–90.Google Scholar
Stampe, D. (1972). A dissertation on natural phonology. (Ph.D. thesis. Chicago: University of Chicago.)Google Scholar
Vogt, H. (1954). Contact of languages. Word 10. 365–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, W. S.-Y. (1969). Competing changes as a cause of residue. Language 45. 9–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinreich, U., Labov, W. & Herzog, M. I. (1968). Empirical foundations for a theory of language change. In Lehman, E. W. & Malkiel, Y. (eds), Directions for historical linguistics. Austin: University of Texas.Google Scholar