Color term salience

American Anthropologist • Vol/Iss. 74 • Published In 1972 • Pages: 1107-1121 •

By Hays, David G., Margolis, Enid, Naroll, Raoul, Perkins, Revere Dale

Abstract

This paper examines the Berlin-Kay color salience theory and offers four correlates of color salience: earliness of introduction, brevity of expression, frequency of use, and frequency of mention in ethnographic literature. All four correlations support the Berlin-Kay theory. The authors suggest that salience may be “an important general principle of cultural evolution” (1107).

Samples
Sample Used	Coded Data	Comment
HRAF Collection of Ethnography (paper/fiche)
Other	Other Researchers

Hypotheses (3)
Hypothesis	Supported
The number of color terms in a society's language is strongly correlated with its level of social complexity (1118)	Supported
"The frequency of a term in a single literary language correlates strongly with the earliness of that term in Berlin and Kay's evolutionary sequence" (1118)	Supported
"Ethnographers use the early terms in the Berlin-Kay list in almost every societal description that deals with color; they tend to use later terms in fewer descriptions, and only in desciptions that also use some of the early terms" (1118)	Supported

Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas Amelia Piazza

Color term salience

American Anthropologist • Vol/Iss. 74 • Published In 1972 • Pages: 1107-1121 • Cite

By Hays, David G., Margolis, Enid, Naroll, Raoul, Perkins, Revere Dale

Abstract

Samples

Hypotheses (3)

American Anthropologist • Vol/Iss. 74 • Published In 1972 • Pages: 1107-1121 •