Cover not available
Part of
Multilingual Cognition and Language Use: Processing and typological perspectives
Edited by Luna Filipović and Martin Pütz
[Human Cognitive Processing 44] 2014
► pp. 73–96

A contrastive study of colour terms in French and German causal constructions

This contrastive study explores the conceptualization of colours in different speech communities as they are realized in causal constructions, e.g. Je suis rouge de colère (‘I am red with rage’) or Er ist grün vor Neid (‘He is green with jealousy’). The theoretical framework is based on Goldberg’s model of Construction Grammar (1995, 2006) and on the theory of conceptual metaphor and metonymy. Colour terms in causal constructions are associated with specific emotions, but also with positive or negative values dependent on the speech community. The investigation includes corpus frequency, meaning and use contrasts in French and German, and elicited data, which allows us to highlight the typological and conceptualization differences between both languages.

Keywords: conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy, Construction Grammar, contrastive typology
Published online: 10 June 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.44.03kno
References (66)
Aaronson, Bernard
1970 Some affective stereotypes of color. International Journal of Symbology 2(1): 15–27.Google Scholar
Adams, Frances M. & Charles E. Osgood
1973 A cross-cultural study of affective meanings of color. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 4: 135–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Thomas J. A
1988  Aspects of English Colour Collocations and Idioms . Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.Google Scholar
Berlin, Brent & Paul Kay
1969  Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution . Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Biggam, Carole P., Carole A. Hough, Christian J. Kay, & David R. Simmons
eds 2011  New Directions in Colour Studies . Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bochnakowa, Anna
1990 L’adjectif de couleur dans les syntagmes nominaux en français et en polonais. In A. M. Lewicki & M. Kesik, eds., Syntagmes nominaux dans les langues romanes et slaves, Actes du Colloque International de linguistique organisé par l’Université Marie-­Curie-Skłodowska, Lublin , 7–24. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej.Google Scholar
Bretones, Carmen
2012 Different construals within language, thought and culture: The case of abstract expressions for color in Spanish vs. English. Unpublished manuscript presented at the 35th International LAUD Symposium in Landau, March26–29.
Brusatin, Manlio
2009  Histoire des Couleurs . Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar
Burger, Harald, Annelies Buhofer, & Ambros Sialm
eds 1982  Handbuch der Phraseologie . ­Berlin & New York: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caivano, José Luis & Paulina Becerra
2007  Chronological Bibliography on Color Theory . [URL].
Camac, Mary K. & Sam Glucksberg
1984 Metaphors do not use associations between concepts, they are used to create them. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 13(6): 443–455. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Choungourian, A
1968 Color preferences and cultural variation. Perceptual and Motor Skills 26: 1203–1206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Danesi, Marcel
2008 Conceptual errors in second-language learning. In S. De Knop & T. De Rycker, eds., Cognitive Approaches to Pedagogical Grammar: A Volume in Honour of René Dirven , 231–256. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
De Knop, Sabine
2013 Eine Beschreibung von Konstruktionen mit Farbbezeichnungen im Rahmen der Konstruktionsgrammatik. In S. De Knop, F. Mollica, & J. Kuhn, eds., Konstruktionsgrammatik und romanische Sprachen, 211-236. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag.Google Scholar
De Knop, Sabine & Françoise Gallez
2012 Manner of motion: A privileged dimension of German expressions. International Journal of Cognitive Linguistics 2(1): 25–40.Google Scholar
Derrig, Sandra
1978 Metaphor in the Color Lexicon. In D. Farkas, W%. M. Jacobsen, & K. W. Todrys, eds., Papers from the Parasession on the Lexicon , 85–96. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Dirven, René
2004  Major strands in Cognitive Linguistics . Essen: LAUD, Series A, Nr. 634.Google Scholar
Dirven, René & Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
2010 Looking back at 30 years of Cognitive Linguistics. In E. Tabakowska, M. Choinski, & L. Wiraszka, eds., Cognitive Linguistics in Action: From Theory to Application and Back , 11–70. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Dirven, René & Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez
n prep. Cognitive Linguistics three decades later: Looking back to look forward. In J. Luchjenboers & M. Aldridge-Waddon eds. Grammar, Metaphor and Blends. Conceptual Structure and Cognitive Linguistics Research Amsterdam & Philadelphia Benjamins
Fan, Yanqian
1996  Farbnomenklatur im Deutschen und Chinesischen: Eine kontrastive Analyse unter psycholinguistischen, semantischen und kulturellen Aspekten . Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Filipović, Luna
2011 Speaking and remembering in one or two languages: Bilingual vs. monolingual lexicalization and memory for motion events. International Journal of Bilingualism 15 (4): 466–485. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fleischer, Wolfgang
1997  Phraseologie der Deutschen Gegenwartssprache . Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Girdenienė, Skaidra
2006 Zum Ausdruck der inneren Ursache durch Präpositionalphrasen im Deutschen und Litauischen. Kalbotyra 56(3): 48–55. ([URL])Google Scholar
Glanemann, Claudia
2003  Farbe zwischen Universalismus und Relativismus. Gebrauch und Bedeutung der Farbbezeichnungen im heutigen Französischen, mit Berücksichtigung des Italienischen und Deutschen . Ph. D. thesis, Münster: Fachbereich Philologie, Universität Münster.Google Scholar
2006 Konvergenz und Divergenz in der Bedeutungsstruktur von Farbwörtern im Französischen, Italienischen und Deutschen. In W. Dietrich, U. Hoinkes, 
B. Roviro, & M. Warnecke, eds., Lexikalische Semantik und Korpuslinguistik , 367–391. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Gläser, Rosemarie
1990  Phraseologie der englischen Sprache . Leipzig & Wien: Langenscheidt.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele
1995  Constructions. A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
2006  Constructions at Work: The Nature of Generalization in Language . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hang, Brigitte
1994 Phraseologismen mit Farbwörtern im Französischen und Deutschen. ­Terminologie et Traduction 2: 69–122.Google Scholar
Hardin, C. L. & Maffi, Luisa
eds. 1997  Color Categories in Thought and Language . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hausmann, Franz Josef
1989 Le dictionnaire de collocations. In F. J. Hausmann, O. Reichmann, H%. E. Wiegand, & L. Zgusta, eds., Wörterbücher. Ein Internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie , 1010–1019. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hill, Peter
1972  Die Farbwörter der Russischen und Bulgarischen Schriftsprache der Gegenwart . Amsterdam: A. M.Hakkert.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson
1980  Metaphors We Live By . Chicago: The University of ­Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lohde, Michael
2006  Wortbildung des modernen Deutschen. Ein Lehr- und Übungsbuch . ­Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Lucy, John A
1992  Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mollard-Desfour, Annie
1998  Le Bleu – Le Dictionnaire des Mots et Expressions de Couleur du XXe siècle (DMEC) . Paris: CNRS Éditions.Google Scholar
2000  Le Rouge – Le Dictionnaire des Mots et Expressions de Couleur du XXe siècle (DMEC) . Paris: CNRS Éditions.Google Scholar
2002  Le Rose – Le Dictionnaire des Mots et Expressions de Couleur du XXe siècle (DMEC) . Paris: CNRS Éditions.Google Scholar
Niemeier, Susanne
1998 Colourless green ideas metonymize furiously. Rostocker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 5: 119–146.Google Scholar
2007 From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English. In M. Plümacher & P. Holz, eds., Speaking of Colors and Odors , 141–154. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Osgood, Charles E., William H. May, & Murray Miron
1975  Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning . Urbana/Chicago/London: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Palm, Christine
1994 Habent sua fata idiomata. Beobachtungen zur Polysemie von Phraseologismen. In B. Sandig, ed., EUROPHRAS 92: Tendenzen der Phraseologieforschung , 431–460. Bochum: Brockmeyer.Google Scholar
Pastoureau, Michel
2002  Bleu – Histoire d’une couleur . Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Plümacher, Martina & Peter Holz
eds 2007  Speaking of Colors and Odors . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Sydney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, & Jan Svartvik
1972  A Grammar of Contemporary English . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Radden, Günter & René Dirven
2008  Cognitive English Grammar . Amsterdam & Philadephia: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Regier, Terry & Paul Kay
2009 Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 30(10): 1–8.Google Scholar
Roberson, Debi, Jules Davidoff, Ian R. L. Davies, & Laura R. Shapiro
2005 Color categories: Evidence for the cultural relativity hypothesis. Cognitive Psychology 50(4): 378–411. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rosch, Eleanor
1972 Universals in color naming and memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology 93: 10–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sandford, Jodi L
2011 Warm, cool, light, dark, or afterimage: Dimensions and connotations of conceptual color metaphor/metonymy. In C. P. Biggam, C%. A. Hough, C%. J. Kay, & D. R. Simmons, eds., New Directions in Colour Studies , 205–218. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schaie, K. Warner
1961 Scaling the association between colors and mood-tones. The American Journal of Psychology 74: 266–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmidhauser, Beda
1995  Kausalität als linguistische Kategorie . Tübingen : Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simmons, David
2011 Colour and emotion. In C. P. Biggam, C%. A. Hough, C%. J. Kay, & D. R. Simmons, eds., New Directions in Colour Studies , 395–414. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soriano, Cristina & Javier Valenzuela
2009 Emotion and colour across languages: Implicit associations in Spanish colour terms. Social Science Information 48(3): 421–445. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stefanescu–Goanga, Florian
1912 Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Gefühlsbetonung der Farben. Psychologische Studien 7: 284–335.Google Scholar
Sweetser, Eve
1990  From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Talmy, Leonard
2000  Toward a Cognitive Semantics , vol. 2. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Trim, Richard
2007  Metaphor Networks: The Comparative Evolution of Figurative Language . New York: Palgrave.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Uusküla, Mari
2012 Variability of colour prototypes: Evidence from twelve related and non-related languages. Unpublished manuscript presented at the 35th International LAUD Symposium in Landau, March26–29.
Van Leeuwen, Theo
2010  The Language of Colour: An Introduction . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna
1990 The meaning of color terms: Semantic, culture and cognition. Cognitive Linguistics 1: 99–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, John E., Kenneth Morland, & Walter L. Underwood
1970 Connotations of color names in the United States, Europe and Asia. The Journal of Social Psychology 82: 3–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wyler, Siegfried
1992  Colour and Language – Colour Terms in English . Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Zimmer, Dieter
1996  Redensarten: Über Trends und Tollheiten im neudeutschen Sprach­gebrauch . München: Wilhelm Heyne.Google Scholar
SketchEngine
[URL]
Kernkorpus des Digitalen Wörterbuchs der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS)
[URL]
Cited by (2)

Cited by 2 other publications

Zaikauskaite, Laura, Phoebe French, Mina Stojanovic & Dimitrios Tsivrikos
2023. The effects of moral context on the colours of guilt and pride. The Social Science Journal 60:4 ► pp. 802 ff. DOI logo
Kalda, Anu & Mari Uusküla
2019. The Role of Context in Translating Colour Metaphors: An Experiment on English into Estonian Translation. Open Linguistics 5:1 ► pp. 690 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. 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.