Lexical Encoding Sequences and Language Change: Color Terminology Systems

Witkowski, Stanley R.; Brown, Cecil H.

doi:10.1525/aa.1981.83.1.02a00020

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The fact that lexical borrowing is often especially extensive among genetically related languages means that this task may be considerably more problematic than previously thought. Scholars should perhaps be less inclined to embrace uncritically lexical reconstructions based on widespread forms that are in fact "over-reconstructions" for a genetic group's parent language (Witkowski & Brown 1981, Brown 1987. Findings of this investigation, at the very least, constitute points of reference for serious appraisal of such proposals.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Brown

1996

Lang. Soc.

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This study continues an investigation of lexical acculturation in Native American languages using a sample of 292 language cases distributed from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego (Brown 1994). Focus is on the areal diffusion of native language words for imported European Objects and concepts. Approximately 80% of all sharing of such terms is found to occur among closely genetically related languages. Amerindian languages only distantly related, or not related at all, tend to share native labels for acculturated items only when these have diffused to them from a lingua franca, such as Chinook Jargon (a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest Coast) or Peruvian Quechua (the language of the Inca empire). Lingua francas also facilitate diffusion of terms through genetically related languages; but sometimes, as in the case of Algonquian languages, these are neither familiar American pidgins nor languages associated with influential nation states. An explanatory framework is constructed around the proposal that degree of bilingualism positively influences extent of lexical borrowing. (Amerindian languages, bilingualism, language contact, lexical acculturation, lexical diffusion, lingua francas)* This study reports findings of a continuing large-scale comparative investigation of lexical acculturation in Native American languages described by Brown 1994. Lexical acculturation refers to ways in which Amerindians have linguistically accommodated new objects and concepts, e.g. chicken, rice, soap, and Wednesday, encountered in contact with Europeans. Such items are either named by loanwords (e.g. from Spanish into Latin American Indian languages) or by use of native vocabulary (e.g. "little maggots" for rice in many Amerindian languages spoken north of Mexico). The study focuses on the areal diffusion of words for items of acculturation manufactured from native vocabulary (henceforth referred to as "native terms"). Cross-language evidence reveals strong diffusional patterns:(a) In the vast majority of instances, diffusion of native terms for acculturated items has involved languages belonging to the same genetic group-

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Brown

1996

Lang. Soc.

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“…They concluded that "the transition rate for color term gain [was] markedly higher than that for color term loss (0.95 versus 0.36, respectively)" (Haynie & Bowern 2016, p. 13668). In related research, Witkowski & Brown (1981) used data from historical linguistics and anthropology to augment the data from color term vocabularies in order to reconstruct the history of color term evolution in the Polynesian and Mayan language groups. They too found that both Polynesian and Mayan languages added terms over time.…”

Section: Adding Color Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lexical Color Categories

Lindsey

Brown²

2021

Annu. Rev. Vis. Sci.

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Color is a continuous variable, and humans can distinguish more than a million colors, yet world color lexicons contain no more than a dozen basic color terms. It has been understood for 160 years that the number of color terms in a lexicon varies greatly across languages, yet the lexical color categories defined by these terms are similar worldwide. Starting with the seminal study by Berlin and Kay, this review considers how and why this is so. Evidence from psychological, linguistic, and computational studies has advanced our understanding of how color categories came into being, how they contribute to our shared understanding of color, and how the resultant categories influence color perception and cognition. A key insight from the last 50 years of research is how human perception and the need for communication within a society worked together to create color lexicons that are somewhat diverse, yet show striking regularities worldwide.

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“…Linked to concepts of paradise and renewal, the color white appears to have conferred supernatural status in the ancient Maya world. In ancient times and with many contemporary Mayan groups, white is associated with the direction north (Closs 1988:406–407; DeBoer 2005:72; Hanks 1988:358–359; Maria Vargas 1998; Laughlin 1969:175; León‐Portilla 1988:126; Witkowski and Brown 1981), the realm of the ancestors (Ashmore and Sabloff 2002:203; Schele and Miller 1986:42). In Aztlan, the “image of paradise”—the place of origin—was associated with whiteness (see Magaloni‐Kerpel 2006).…”

Section: Mythological Places In White Stonementioning

confidence: 99%

8  Materiality and Sacred Landscapes: Ulúa Style Marble Vases in Honduras

Luke

2011

Archaeological Papers of the American

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In this chapter, imagery on Ulúa marble vases from the lower Ulúa Valley of Honduras is explored from the perspective of conceptual landscapes and place‐making at Travesía. I argue that the color of the stone—white marble—and the associated iconography are related to localized understandings of paradisical ancestral spheres. The portable nature of Ulúa marble vases enabled this spiritual realm to be presented during social and political events in the region and abroad in both lower Central America and the central Maya lowlands.

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Lexical Encoding Sequences and Language Change: Color Terminology Systems

Abstract: Lexical reconstructions of Aoto-Polynesian (Branstetter 1977). Aoto-Miwok (Callaghan 1979). and Aoto-Mayan (Fox 1977; Kaufman 1964Kaufman , 1969

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Lexical Color Categories

8  Materiality and Sacred Landscapes: Ulúa Style Marble Vases in Honduras

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Lexical Encoding Sequences and Language Change: Color Terminology Systems

Abstract: Lexical reconstructions of Aoto-Polynesian (Branstetter 1977). Aoto-Miwok (Callaghan 1979). and Aoto-Mayan (Fox 1977; Kaufman 1964Kaufman , 1969

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

Lexical Color Categories

8 Materiality and Sacred Landscapes: Ulúa Style Marble Vases in Honduras

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Product

Resources

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8  Materiality and Sacred Landscapes: Ulúa Style Marble Vases in Honduras