Colors, Numbers and Language Class 11B. Puzzle du Jour: Can you Name all the colors? Count first row? Count total crayons? Image from Flickr User.

Colors, Numbers and Language

Class 11B

Puzzle du Jour:Can you

Name all the colors?

Count first row?Count total

crayons?

Image from Flickr User Laffy4K, Licensed by Creative Commons

Last TimeSapir-Whorff

Hypothesis that language (grammar) influences thoughts

Bad “folk linguistic” theories connecting language and thought

But some subtle effects possible

Numbers: Is counting cultural?Actually…maybe it is

Although most cultures count to 100 or more.

Many birds/mammals can count up to 3-4 … or moreCuckoos have to remove one egg before

adding cuckoo egg (so other birds won’t notice missing egg)

Cormorants get every eighth fish. Refuse to move after 7th fish

Rhesus monkeys can do addition/subtraction with low numbers

Pirahã (Amazon Basin)Words

Hòi (HL tone) ‘one’, hói (LH) ‘two’Baagi or aibai ‘many’Experiments on men show difficulty in

determining exact quantities Often cheated by Portuguese speakers But Pirahã women mock men for being cheated Grouping into units of 2,3 helps

If children learn Portuguese They learn Portuguese numbers well

ActionsExperiments show that Pirahã can identify

exact quantities (without number words)

Early Counting in WritingEarly writing = inventory controlSumeriansBronze Age Greeks

Counting important forCommerce/trade transactionsLevying tithes/taxesDividing itemsCharging interest on loans

Counting MethodsGrouping can vary

1,2,3,…100In almost all languages

Grouping1-10, 11-20,… (West)

40 = 4 tensBase ten

Group by 20 (Celtic, Danish)40 = 2 20s

Group by 6 (Ndom, PNG) or 12 (Nimbia, Nigeria)1/3 ≠.333 but an easier decimal

Group by 10 & 60 (Babylonian)

Beyond IntegersAdding Zero

Zero < zero (It) < *zefiro (Ar çifr)Imported from India

Simplifies multiplication, division, …

Larger NumbersSanskrit śata ‘100’ borrowed in many S.

Asian languagesMillion common in many languagesMetric prefixes

Kilo (KB), Mega (MB), Giga (GB), Tera (TB)Milli (mm), nano meter (nm), pico (pm)

Exotic NumbersNegatives (-1)

Used for accounting

Irrationals (√2, π, e)Greeks could not define as ratios

Imaginary (√-1)Thought to be impossible

We have these terms because of cultural innovationOften considered “unnatural” at first

Color QuestionsColor terminology varies widely by languageSome only have two basic colors

Are we seeing the same colors?

How many can we visually distinguish?

Painting Across Cultures

Pompeii (79 AD) China (1127-1279)

Images from Wikipedia

Color Swatches100s of colors available for

Beads, embroidery floss, ink, crayons,…

Image from yarntree.com. Fair Use claimed.

BUT Naming LimitedEnglish Major Categories

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

Black, white, brownSecondary

Cyan, magenta, pink, gray, lime, ….Often perceived as mix of two colors

ShadesIndigo, sky, navy, periwinkle…Crimson, vermillion, fire engineOlive, emerald, jade,

Russian ColorsMore is better

Pink, “sky”, gray are major colors

Image from masterrussian.com Fair Use claimed.

Traditional Welsh Color TermsLess and not easily

translated

ColorsCoch = redMelyn = yellowGlas = blue/green

=“grue”Sky glas ≠ grass glas

Gwyn = whiteDu = blackLlywd =

gray/brown/blue/gray/black (????) Image by Elizabeth J. Pyatt. All Rights Reserved.

“New” Welsh ColorsBrown = brown

Oren = “orange”

Gwyrdd = greenFrom Latin viridisCognate with verde (Sp/It), vert (Fr),

Porffor = purpleFrom Latin purpura

Used in catalogsAnd to describe dyed objects (e.g. flags).

Hence grass is still glas “blue”

More on Grue“Blue” Traffic light

Go = green in EnglishGo = Ao ‘blue’ (Japanese)

Many languages combine blue/greenBasque (blue/green/gray)VietnameseOlder Japanese, Chinese,

Korean

Borders can shiftSkies “green” in Classical

ArabicTraffic lights “blue” in

Japanese/KoreanImage by Andreas Habeland. Licensed via Creative Commons

Traffic Light ColorsWhat colors in

traffic lights?

Image by Andreas Habeland. Licensed via Creative Commons

Color Theory3 Parameters – Hue, Value, SaturationUsed in digital color manipulationHue – color in a rainbow + magenta

Add cyan & magenta

Value – lightness/darknessSaturation – intensity of hue

Art TrainingNeed to decouple language and train

on these parametersExpert language ≠ novice language

Munsell 3-Axis Color Space

Image from Wikipedia

Hue & ValueHue = color

Black, white, gray ≠ hueBrown also not a hueMost intense hues are

color names Red = fire engine red Blue = sapphire blue

ValueBlack, white are maximal

ends of value scaleGrays are in between

Images by Elizabeth J. Pyatt. All Rights Reserved.

SaturationIntensity of hue

Percentage of color

Mixing hue w/black & whiteHue + white = tintHue + black = shadeHue + gray = tone

Image by Elizabeth J. Pyatt. All Rights Reserved.

Brown = Unsaturated Red/Yellow/OrangeBrown results from

Red/orange/yellow +black/gray

Image by Elizabeth J. Pyatt. All Rights Reserved.

Other color illusionsPink = pale magenta

Pale red = salmon

Sky blue = pale cyanPale sapphire blue = periwinkle

Llywd (and Llwyd River)Primarily gray in modern WelshGray, faint color, pale, wan,

brown, muddy (water) Afon Llwyd “Lloyd River” Silver River or Muddy River?

Gray haired, grizzledMoldy, mustyUnremarkable, insignificant,

common, uninterestingHoly, blessed pious

Rivers, lakes were sacred So were monks in plain dress

Also name of mythical sorcerer

Llwyd River. Photo from Wikipedia

Compound Color WordsLlwyd-dywyll

Black-gray = dark gray, twilight, dusk

Llwyd-lasGray blue = Bluish gray

Llwyd-felynGray yellow = khaki, beige, buff

Unsaturated shades

Related WordsBore llwyd

Gray morning = overcast

Wedi llwydo Mouldy, must

= unsaturated?

Llwyd = “Unsaturaturated”?Middle Welsh

Llwyd = unsaturated?

Modern WelshLlwyd = gray or grayishBrown = brownLlwyd-frown = grayish

brown

Image by Elizabeth J. Pyatt. All Rights Reserved.

Berlin-Kay et al Color UniversalsBerlin & Kay

Color researchers & linguistsProposed universal trends in color

systemsStill under debate

Some findingsBasic color systems max out about 12

Many more secondary colors possible

Black/white most common color wordsRed is next most common color

Extremes = ColorBlack/white

End points on value scale

“Red” usually fire engine red“Red” ≠ maroon, salmon, pink,…Red also prominent as symbolic color

Cardinal robes (Catholic church)Chinese New Year/gift envelopesWeddings (India…)

Red also dangerousWestAncient Egypt

Fair Use claimed

Licensed via Creative Commons

Hunt for Saturated DyesFamous dyes

Phonecian red/purple: sea snailsIndian yellow: dried cow urine (fed

mango leaves)Cochineal red: bug partsUltramarine: ground lapis lazuli

Only Old world source = Afghanistan

Cinnabar: can cause mercury poisoning

Soy dyes – relatively new

Saturated colors rejected as “tacky”E. Asia, West, (NOT Greeks & Romans)

Image from Wikipedia

Hering PrimaryHering identified six primary colorsBlack (K) /white (W) Red (R), yellow (Y), blue (B), green (G)

These colorsMost frequently found in languagesMost frequently found in color

symbolismWestern game pieces – R,Y,G,BWestern flagsWu Xing – B,W,R,Y,G,BNative American Compas colors

Cherokee – blue (N), white (S), red (E), black (W)

Color Name by TextureHair

Blonde, chestnut, Red = Irish finn = white/blondeWelsh gwyn = white/blonde

WineWhite vs Red

White whine usually pale yellow

Skin tone?!?!?

Images from Wikipedia

Basic vs. Secondary?Latin Colors

Red: ruber, roseusYellow: croceus (saffron), fulvus, flavus,

luteus Fulvus was probably darker maize yellow

White: albus, candidus, canus (hair)Black: niger, aterBlue: caeruleus (sky blue?)Green: viridisPurpureus: purple

Changes in many Romance languages

Color Adj vs Reference ObjectIs there a perceptual difference betweenLime-colored shirt vs lime shirtRaspberry colored vs raspberryChocolate, peach, wine, cranberry…

When is there a shift?Orange once was orange fruit colored

Latin-eus = adj from noun

Croceus (saffron color), aureus (gold color)

Image from Wikipedia

ConclusionsWe can see millions of colors

Grouped into only a few categoriesCultures can add secondary colors

Categories can focus on extremesDark/light & saturated hues

Perception doesn’t follow color theoryBrown usually not recognized as variety of

red/orange

Are Hering primaries universal?