Part of
New Directions in Colour StudiesEdited by Carole P. Biggam, Carole Hough, Christian Kay and David R. Simmons
[Not in series 167] 2011
► pp. 73–90
Edited by Carole P. Biggam, Carole Hough, Christian Kay and David R. Simmons
[Not in series 167] 2011
► pp. 73–90
Towards a diachrony of Maltese basic colour terms
...
la perception de la couleur n’est pas entièrement elucidée quand on en a precisé les domaines physiques et physiologiques. Il y a une histoire humaine de la perception. [colour perception cannot be fully explained merely by a precise specification of the relevant physical and physiological domains; perception is itself a product of human history.](Ignace Meyerson 1957: 7)The vernacular of the Maltese archipelago displays a twelve-term colour paradigm comprising 〈abjad〉 “white”, 〈iswed〉 “black”, 〈aħmar〉 “red”, 〈aħdar〉 “green”, 〈isfar〉 “yellow”, 〈ċelesti〉 “sky blue”, 〈blu〉 “dark blue”, 〈kannella〉 “brown”, 〈roża〉 “pink”, 〈griż〉 “grey”, 〈oranġjo〉 “orange” and 〈vjola〉 “violet”. The dual systemic split of the blue category is a striking feature of Maltese, inviting comparison with the situation obtaining in Italian and other Mediterranean languages. The hybrid (basically Arabic/Italian) composition of the Maltese colour system presents the linguistic researcher with an intriguing cultural synthesis reached by an erstwhile medieval vernacular of Arabic spoken by a small island community exposed to complex linguistic and cultural currents endemic in its regional and local history. The case of Maltese – a Europeanized Arabic vernacular – highlights the crucial role of external influences on cognitive processes monitoring the acquisition of colour categories, and evokes the need for a linguistic model incorporating an elaborate cultural dimension restricting universalist claims commonly associated with the Berlin and Kay paradigm.
Cited by (5)
Cited by five other publications
Bulakh, Maria
2019. Innovations in Semitic color term systems. In Lexicalization patterns in color naming [Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 78], ► pp. 159 ff. 
Albertazzi, Liliana & Osvaldo Da Pos
2017. Color names, stimulus color, and their subjective links. Color Research & Application 42:1 ► pp. 89 ff.
Bimler, David & Mari Uusküla
2017. A similarity‐based cross‐language comparison of basicness and demarcation of “blue” terms. Color Research & Application 42:3 ► pp. 362 ff.
Paggetti, Giulia, Gloria Menegaz & Galina V. Paramei
2016. Color naming in Italian language. Color Research & Application 41:4 ► pp. 402 ff.
Charitonidis, Chariton
2014. Colour verbs in Modern Greek: A cognitive approach. Word Structure 7:2 ► pp. 125 ff.
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