Article published in:
Sensory Perceptions in Language and Cognition
Edited by Rosario Caballero and Carita Paradis
[Functions of Language 22:1] 2015
► pp. 20–43

Usage-related variation in the referential range of blue in marketing context

| University of Antwerp
| University of Leuven

The paper explores language-internal variation in the referential meaning of the lexical form blue. Taking a usage-based cognitive approach, we analyze the referential range of blue in several marketing contexts from a semasiological and an onomasiological perspective. The study develops an interdisciplinary method that combines frequency analysis with mapping of the referent distributions in the three-dimensional CIELab color space. It is argued that the observed referential variation in blue is influenced by usage-related factors such as availability of the referents, diversity of color naming strategies and onomasiological competition between lexical forms in the individual product categories.

Published online: 01 May 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.22.1.02ani
References

References

Allan, Keith
2009 The connotations of English colour terms: Colour-based X-phemisms. Journal of Pragmatics 41(3). 626–637. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Anishchanka, Alena
2010 Vantage construal in the attributive use of basic color terms: The AcN and N of Nc constructions. Language Sciences 32(2). 170–183. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, Panos
2009 Cognitive representation of colour in bilinguals: The case of Greek blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12(01). 83–95. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Athanasopoulos, Panos, Ljubica Damjanovic, Andrea Krajciova & Miho Sasaki
2010 Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: The case of Japanese blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14. 9–17. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barber, C. Bradford, David P. Dobkin & Hannu Huhdanpaa
1996 The Quickhull algorithm for convex hulls. ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software 22. 469–483. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bergh, Gunnar
2007 The semiosis of Swedish car color names: Descriptive and amplifying functions. In Robert E. MacLaury, Galina V. Paramei & Don Dedrick (eds.), Anthropology of color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling, 337–345. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Berlin, Brent & Paul Kay
1999/1969 Basic color terms. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Bernhart, Toni
2001 Farbe und Text — quantitative Sondierungen am beispiel von Hans Henny Jahnn. In Proceedings Der GLDV-Frühjahrstagung 2001, 181–190. Gießen: Henning Lobin.Google Scholar
Bimler, David, John Kirkland & Kimberley Jameson
2004 Quantifying variations in personal color spaces: Are there sex differences in color vision? Color Research & Application 29(2). 128–134. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dedrick, Don
1998 Naming the rainbow: Colour language, colour science, and culture. Dordrecht: Kluwer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dubois, Danièle
2007 From psychophysics to semiophysics: Categories as acts of meaning. In Martina Plümacher & Peter Holz (eds.), Speaking of colors and odors, 167–184. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fairchild, Mark D.
1998 Color appearance models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Gärdenfors, Peter
2004 Conceptual spaces as a framework for knowledge representation. Mind and Matter 2(2). 9–27.Google Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk
2005 Lectal variation and empirical data in Cognitive Linguistics. In Francisco J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez & Sandra Peña Cervel (eds.), Cognitive Linguistics. Internal dynamics and interdisciplinary interactions, 163–189. Berlin: Mouton.Google Scholar
2006 Words and other wonders. Papers on lexical and semantic topics. Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk, Stefan Grondelaers & Peter Bakema
1994 The structure of lexical variation. Meaning, naming, and context. Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Robert W.G. & Michael R. Pointer
2011 Measuring colour, 4th edn. New York, NY: Wiley. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jameson, Kimberly A. & Nancy Alvarado
2003 The relational correspondence between category exemplars and names. Philosophical Psychology 16(1). 25–49. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jameson, Kimberly A. & Roy G. D’Andrade
1997 It’s not really red, green, yellow, blue: An inquiry into perceptual color space. In Clyde L. Hardin & Luisa Maffi (eds.), Color categories in thought and language, 295–319. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jameson, Kimberly A. & Natalia L. Komarova
2009 Evolutionary models of color categorization. I. Population categorization systems based on normal and dichromat observers. Journal of the Optical Society of America 26(6). 1414–1423. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kay, Paul
1975 Synchronic variability and diachronic change in basic color terms. Language in Society 4(3). 257–270. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Klaus, Hilde
1989 Beobachtungen zu den Modefarbenwörtern in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik 17. 22–57. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
MacLaury, Robert E.
1997 Color and cognition in Mesoamerica: Constructing categories as vantages. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
MacLaury, Robert E., Galina V. Paramei & Don Dedrick
(eds.) 2007 Anthropology of color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling. Amsterdam: Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
① ② ③ ④
Majid, Asifa & Stephen C. Levinson
2011 The senses in language and culture. Senses & Society 6(1). 5–18. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paramei, Galina. V.
2007 Russian ‘blues’: Controversies of basicness. In Robert E MacLaury, Galina V. Paramei & Don Dedrick (eds.), Anthropology of color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling, 75–105. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Plümacher, Martina
2007 Color perception, color description and metaphor. In Martina Plümacher & Peter Holz (eds.), Speaking of colors and odors, 61–84. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Plümacher, Martina & Peter Holz
(eds.) 2007 Speaking of colors and odors. Amsterdam: Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
① ② ③
Rakhilina, Ekaterina V.
2007 Linguistic construal of colors: The case of Russian. In Robert E. MacLaury, Galina. V. Paramei & Don Dedrick (eds.), Anthropology of color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling, 363–378. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Roberson, Debi, Jules Davidoff, Ian Davies & Laura Shapiro
2005 Color categories: Evidence for the cultural relativity hypothesis. Cognitive Psychology 50(4). 378–411. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Roberson, Debi, Ian R.L. Davies & Jules Davidoff
2000 Color categories are not universal: Replications and new evidence from a stone-age culture. Journal of Experimental Psychology General 129(3). 369–398. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Steinvall, Anders
2002 English colour terms in context. Umeå: Umeå University Ph.D thesis.Google Scholar
2011 The power of colour term precision. In Carole P. Biggam, Carole A. Hough, Christian J. Kay & David R. Simmons (eds.), New directions in colour studies, 219–231. Amsterdam: Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stoeva-Holm, Dessislava
2007 Color terms in fashion. In Robert E. MacLaury, Galina. V. Paramei & Don Dedrick (eds.), Anthropology of color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling, 421–440. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Thierry, Guillaume, Panos Athanasopoulos, Alison Wiggett, Benjamin Dering & Jan-Rouke Kuipers
2009 Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106(11). 4567–4570. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, Marjolijn H. & Ágnes De Bie-Kerékjártó
2006 Colorful bits of experience: From bluestocking to blue movie. English Studies 87(1). 78–98. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Webster, Michael A., Shernaaz M Webster, Shrikant Bharadwaj, Richa Verma, Jaikishan Jaikumar, Gitanjali Madan & E. Vaithilingham
2002 Variations in normal color vision. III. Unique hues in Indian and United States observers. Journal of the Optical Society of America. 19(10). 1951–1962. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wyler, Siegfried
2007 Color terms between elegance and beauty: The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics. In Martina Plümacher & Peter Holz (eds.), Speaking of colors and odors, 113–128. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yendrikhovskij, Sergej N.
2001 A computational model of color categorization. Color Research and Application 26. 235–238. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by other publications

No author info given
2019.  In Representing Wine – Sensory Perceptions, Communication and Cultures [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 21], Crossref logo
Griber, Yulia A., Dimitris Mylonas & Galina V. Paramei
2018. Objects as culture‐specific referents of color terms in Russian. Color Research & Application 43:6 ► pp. 958 ff. Crossref logo
Verheyen, Steven & Paul Égré
2018. Typicality and Graded Membership in Dimensional Adjectives. Cognitive Science 42:7 ► pp. 2250 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 august 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.