‘Blue’ is one of the 11 basic colour terms (BCTs) in languages with a developed colour term inventory (Berlin & Kay, 1969). In a challenge to the Berlin-Kay model, Italian appears to require more than one BCT to name the blue area: blu ‘dark blue’, azzurro ‘light (or medium) blue’ and celeste ‘light blue’. We addressed the proposition of multiple Italian ‘blue’ BCTs in a psycholinguistic study. Eight Munsell charts embracing the BLUE area of colour space (7.5BG–5PB, Value 2–9, Chroma 2–12) were employed to explore colour name mapping in Italian speakers compared to English speakers. Participants were Italian monolinguals (N=13, Alghero; N=15, Verona) and English monolinguals (N=16; Liverpool). An unconstrained colour naming method was used; this was followed by indicating the best example (focal colour) of blu, azzurro and celeste (Italian) or blue and light blue (English). Here focal colours, in Munsell notation, are reported for each of the terms. The dominant focal English blue and Italian blu, each with high consensus, appeared to concur in Hue (2.5PB, 5PB), but not in lightness (blue: Value 5; blu: Value 2–3). Italian speakers required, in addition, the azzurro term, used with high consensus within each Italian sample. Notably for the Algherese, azzurro indicates the ‘medium blue’ meaning; it is complemented by celeste for denoting light blue shades, similar to English light blue. In contrast, the Veronese use azzurro in the ‘light-and-medium blue’ meaning; celeste was named conspicuously less frequently, with hardly any consensus about focals whose range overlapped with the azzurro focals. The present study adds psycholinguistic evidence that, for differentiating ‘blues’ along the lightness dimension, Italian possesses two BCTs, blu and azzurro, with celeste being a contender for a third BCT. The cognitive representation of azzurro as well as the status of celeste appear to vary markedly across Italian dialects for historico-linguistic reasons that are discussed.
Italian Blues: A challenge to the universal inventory of basic colour terms
MENEGAZ, Gloria
2014-01-01
Abstract
‘Blue’ is one of the 11 basic colour terms (BCTs) in languages with a developed colour term inventory (Berlin & Kay, 1969). In a challenge to the Berlin-Kay model, Italian appears to require more than one BCT to name the blue area: blu ‘dark blue’, azzurro ‘light (or medium) blue’ and celeste ‘light blue’. We addressed the proposition of multiple Italian ‘blue’ BCTs in a psycholinguistic study. Eight Munsell charts embracing the BLUE area of colour space (7.5BG–5PB, Value 2–9, Chroma 2–12) were employed to explore colour name mapping in Italian speakers compared to English speakers. Participants were Italian monolinguals (N=13, Alghero; N=15, Verona) and English monolinguals (N=16; Liverpool). An unconstrained colour naming method was used; this was followed by indicating the best example (focal colour) of blu, azzurro and celeste (Italian) or blue and light blue (English). Here focal colours, in Munsell notation, are reported for each of the terms. The dominant focal English blue and Italian blu, each with high consensus, appeared to concur in Hue (2.5PB, 5PB), but not in lightness (blue: Value 5; blu: Value 2–3). Italian speakers required, in addition, the azzurro term, used with high consensus within each Italian sample. Notably for the Algherese, azzurro indicates the ‘medium blue’ meaning; it is complemented by celeste for denoting light blue shades, similar to English light blue. In contrast, the Veronese use azzurro in the ‘light-and-medium blue’ meaning; celeste was named conspicuously less frequently, with hardly any consensus about focals whose range overlapped with the azzurro focals. The present study adds psycholinguistic evidence that, for differentiating ‘blues’ along the lightness dimension, Italian possesses two BCTs, blu and azzurro, with celeste being a contender for a third BCT. The cognitive representation of azzurro as well as the status of celeste appear to vary markedly across Italian dialects for historico-linguistic reasons that are discussed.
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