Colour and colour terminology外文.pdfVIP

Colour and Colour Terminology Author(s): N. B. McNeill Source: Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Feb., 1972), pp. 21-33 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: /stable/4175133 . Accessed: 10/08/2011 16:58 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms Conditions of Use, available at . /page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Linguistics. JL8 (1972) i-i99 Printedin GreatBritain Colour and colour terminology N. B. McNEILL The PsycholinguisticLaboratories, Universityof Chicago (Received30 May I97I) The continuous gradationof colour which exists in nature is representedin languageby a series of discretecategories.1Athough there is no such thing as a naturaldivision of the spectrum,every languagehas colourwords by which its speakerscategorizeand structurethe colour continuum.The numberof colour wordsandthe mannerin which differentlanguagesclassifythe colourcontinuum differ. Bassa, a languageof Liberia, has only two terms for classifyingcolours; hui and ziza (Gleason, I955: 5). Hui correspondsroughlyto the cool end of ziza to the warm the spectrum(black,violet, blue, and green) and corresponds end of the spectrum (white, yellow, orange and red); in Bambara,one of the languagesof t