MAPPING RUSSIAN BASIC COLOR TERMS USING BEHAVIORAL MEASURES

Progress in research on colour terms in the Berlin and Kay tradition requires clearer definition of the notion 'basic' and investigation of languages which constitute exceptions to the Berlin and Kay hierarchy. According to linguistic criteria Russian is unusual in having two basic terms for 'blue'. This study investigates whether these terms also meet certain psychological criteria for basicness. Seven native Russian speakers were asked to name 219 colour samples. Several behavioral measures, such as consistency within subjects, consensus between subjects and reaction time were found to differentiate basic and non-basic terms to a reasonable first approximation. However, a measure of stability of reference differentiates the two classes most clearly. The scores obtained for these measures by Russian 'blue' terms were comparable with those for other, well-established basic terms suggesting that Russian does indeed have two, independent, basic terms for 'blue'. © 1990.