The Colors of Words
The names of colors were some of the first words that my son Charlie learned when he was 2 1/2 years old. Today, we work a lot on teaching him to “extend the length of his utterance”—-to speak in phrases and sentences longer than one word—-and the easiest words that Charlie adds, and tends to add on his own, are color words: “Blue oval—-blue blanket—-white rectangle—–orange shirt—green coat!” Charlie does not verbally distinguish among different shades of colors—dark blue, sky blue, light blue, for instance. Sometimes I’ve noted that he says “purple” or “green” for a shade of blue that seems very “blue” to me—-rather than panicking that he has forgotten how to use the color words, I have wondered if there might be other reasons that he labels something a color that it is not.
Mixing Memory reports on a recently published study that shows how language, independent of culture, has a direct influence on color perception.
The paper, by Jonathan Winawer and 62,000 other people3, starts by using languages and cultures — Russian and English — that while pretty different, aren’t quite as radically different as, say, Berinmo and English. There aren’t many differences between English and Russian basic color terms, but there is one important one. In English, we refer to pretty much any shade of blue, be it light or dark, as “blue.” In Russian, however, there is an “obligatory distinction” between light blues, which are called “goluboy”(Голубой), and darker blues, which are called “siniy” (синий). Utilizing this small difference, Winawer et al. are able to test for differences in color perception between Russian and English speakers.
Participants in the study were shown three squares arranged in a triangle formation. One of the bottom two squares was the same shade as the top square. Arrayed in this formation, it is not as easy to see the differences in color as one thing—–see the graphic on Mixing Memory. This study is of interest to me as I try to match Charlie’s language to what he sees, thinks, and experiences—-I speculate that color words have other resonances, other associations, for him and that these “color” his perception of things. I have also wondered—-a somewhat different topic—-if Charlie might have some difficulty perceiving different colors and uses whichever color word seems to be the closest, in his view of things.
The paper was published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Go here to read Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination by Jonathan Winawer et al..
2 opinions for The Colors of Words
Maria
May 8, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Kristina, my 14-year old daughter used color words the same way as Charlie, without differentiating between shades until about two years ago. Now she uses “light” and “dark” with great accuracy. There is a certain “light blue” crayon that she prefers above all others, which we, her parents, can barely differentiate from another (undesired) “light blue” crayon even when they are side-by-side. Either her perception has changed or the perception has always been there and she couldn’t tie the spoken words to the visual. I suspect that she’ll soon begin to use the names printed on the crayons since that will allow us, her clueless parents, to buy more of them!
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 8, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Fascinating—–I was also thinking of this notion of color words in regard to the palette that Jessica Park paints in:
http://jessicapark.com/prints.html
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