LINGUIST List 10.686

Thu May 6 1999

Sum: Color Survey

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

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Message 1: Color Survey

Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 01:35:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: matubara <matubaracybergal.com>
Subject: Color Survey

Dear linguists;

After a huge delay, I would like to post the summary of my color survey conducted as part of my graduation thesis last fall with the help of 51 volunteers from Linguistlist. (15 languages: English 15 people, Polish 7,German 6, Russian 4, French 2, Italian 2, Greek 2, Hungarian 2, Chinese 2, Persian, Sebian, Turkish, Dutch, Czech, Spanish, Fijian, Hebrew, Berber and Moroccan Arabic, 1 person respectively). I apologize for the delay of this summary, as I express sincere thanks for the people who offered their time and thoughts for me. I am sorry for a few people to whom I was not able to respond for various reasons.

Q1: How many colors do the rainbow have to you? What colors are they? Results: 23 people mentioned 7 colors, 13 people 6 colors, and one person said 8 (which was the largest number). The smallest nunmer was 3 colors ( one person). 12 people out of the 23 who voted for 7 colors listed the following ones: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Interestingly, those who voted for 6 colors dropped indigo from the above list, all of them.

Q2: To those who answered Q1, what is the basis for saying so? a. I was taught in school/at home.(Chosen by 28 people) b. I learned in a book or some form of publication in my home country.(Chosen by 9 people) c. It is handed down by word of mouth. (Chosen by 10 people) d. I actually conted in a rainbow. (Chosen by 7 people) e. others (12 people: consent of the wife, from a folk tale, from imaganation, etc) Comments: This shows how influential school education is in seeing the objective reality of the rainbow.

Q3: Is there any convenient way in your language to memorize the colors of the rainboW? For instance, in British English there are such set phrases as "Richard of York gained battles in vain" (the first letter of each word standing for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet) for girls and Vibgyor(acronym) for boys. Results: 13 people responded in the affirmative, 9 people in Englsih, 2 in Russian, 1 in Polish, and 1 in German. 6 English-speaking people( 4 of them Americans) had another phrase "ROY G BIV."

Q4: What are the basic colors to you? Results: Because of the vagueness of the term "basic color", many people duly expressed the inadequacy of the question. I admit this was an inappropriate question and therefore do not discuss the results here.

Thank you, Mariko Matubara