Berlin and Kay’s Color Name Study
In 1969, Berlin and Kay demonstrated a hierarchy in color names across languages. Here were the findings. The chart is read implicationally, so the first line says “If your language has only two colors, then they are a term for ‘dark’ and a term for ‘light’.” Thus, all language with six colors are going to have words for the six listed below.
- 2 Terms > “Dark”, “Light”
- 3 Terms > “Dark”, “Light”, “Red”
- 4 Terms > “Dark”, “Light”, “Red”, either “Green” or “Yellow”
- 5 Terms > “Dark”, “Light”, “Red”, “Green”, “Yellow”
- 6 Terms > “Dark”, “Light”, “Red”, “Green”, “Yellow”, “Blue”
Neat trivia. Now, just figure out why they follow this order.
