Edited by Ida Raffaelli, Daniela Katunar and Barbara Kerovec
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 78] 2019
► pp. 23–44
One of the peculiarities of Hungarian is that two of its “basic color terms” (BCTs), as defined by Berlin and Kay (1969), do not conform to the established criteria used to identify such lexical items. By analyzing etymological data and the lexicalization patterns of [N/Adj + color term] constructions, the chapter challenges Berlin and Kay’s (1969) original definition of “basic color term” by calling into question the rigidity of this category. The chapter proposes instead a radial category structure for “basic color term”, where certain color terms are more typical (central) members than others. Such a flexible approach is able to account for more problematic cases of color terminology, as for example that exhibited by Hungarian.