[232] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Colors?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sun Mar 15 18:15:29 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: MOKENNON%ALBION.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 92 16:23 EDT
X-Envelope-To: tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us
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Responding to Eric Tentarelli's comments on the color puzzle
Subj: RE: Colors?
> As Richard Kennaway points out, there are human languages which distinguish
>colors differently from in English; a good source on this is Peter Farb's
>_Word Play_ (Knopf, New York: 1974), pp 172-176. In particular, it
>describes a study done by Berlin and Kay on the evolution of color distinction
s
>in language. According to the study (which has not been completely accepted),
>languages begin with only terms for light and dark; next, red is added; either
>yellow or green comes next, followed by whichever of yellow or green remains;
>next a word for blue is added; and finally comes a word for brown. Colors
>beyond these seven are rare. Until a color term is added, that color is
>perceived as being a shade of an adjacent, named color.
> The support for this pattern of evolution comes from the startling fact tha
t
>no known language has, say, a word for blue without having a word for red.
>Languages having all numbers of colors from three to more than seven are known
