[841] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: additions to Klingon? (color terms)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu May 13 00:00:11 1993
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Wed, 12 May 1993 15:05:03 PDT
In-Reply-To: "(Syntax Error)::'s message of Wed, 12 May 1993 13:05:33 PDT"
Mark Mandel:
>>it's worth checking
out the book _Basic Color Terms_ (I believe that's the title) by Berlin and
Kay<<
>>The book is largely based on a study of native speakers of (I believe)
fourteen
languages, and how they delineated color areas when presented with a color
chart.<<
I found it most interesting that even when presented with a natural spectrum of
light, as through a prism, speakers of various languages "saw" different
"lines" dividing the spectrum into bands of color. Of course, there are no
bands or lines in a spectrum; the light frequency varies smoothly from one end
of the spectrum to the other. Human and their cultures/languages impose these
divisions on the continuous spectrum.
Interculturally, and especially intergalactically, it might be necessary to
define color terms with language such as "the Klingon color foo ranges
approximately from frequency X to frequency Y" or perhaps less formally "the
Klingon color fi covers approximately the range of the English blue and green."
Color-term translation among human languages can be tricky. Scottish Gaelic
has a basic color term, I believe it is gorm, that does roughly cover the range
of English blue and green. A Scottish-Gaelic farmer with imperfect English is
reputed to have said "You canna harvest that wheat yet; it's too blue." The
ancient Greeks are also reputed to have used a color term (can anyone identify
it?) that is often translatable as English "green" but is also used to describe
pale human complexions and other things where "green" seems totally
implausible. Some commentators, not realizing that color terms are
linguistically and culturally relative, have even suggested that the ancient
Greeks were colorblind.
Ken B.
