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Lexicalization patterns in color naming: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Ida Raffaelli, Daniela Katunar and Barbara Kerovec
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 78] 2019
► pp. 191–212

Lexicalization patterns in color naming

The case of Modern Hindī

| Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
| Ca’ Foscari University, Venice

The aim of this chapter is to draw attention to the various lexicalization patterns which are used in Modern Hindī to define colors, starting from basic color terms and including the lexicalization strategies which are employed to describe different shades. The following analysis, grounded in a corpus-based research, as well as in the most authoritative grammars and dictionaries, will outline both the “metonymy”-type of Hindī color lexicalization patterns and the “approximation”-type mechanisms. We will show that in the first case, Hindī color terms are usually created by means of the suffix ‑ī [Nentity + suffix], while the “approximation” is conveyed by (1) the suffix -sā, and (2) the reduplication of the color term, meant as the juxtaposition of the same repeated color adjective.

Keywords: lexicalization, color, Hindī, suffixes, reduplication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The “metonymy”-type of Hindī colors lexicalization patterns
  • 3.The “approximation”-type of Hindī color lexicalization patterns
    • 3.1The use of the comparative suffix -sā
    • 3.2Reduplication in south Asian languages: The case of modern Hindī
      • 3.2.1Reduplication of color terms
        • 3.2.1.1Emphasized color
        • 3.2.1.2Softened color
        • 3.2.1.3Situational color
        • 3.2.1.4Changing color
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.78.09dro
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