The present study describes a field experiment conducted to test the hypothesis that color naming varies for 56 adolescent boys and 39 girls. No standard color chart such as Munsell, Pantone, or Crayola was used. Instead, subjects identified 15 computer-generated color samples assigned a score based on the scale devised by Rich in 1977 of four color descriptor categories. Findings differed from those of most previous studies, in which women aged over 16 years showed a more elaborate color vocabulary than men. Among the 14- to 16-yr.-old subjects, there was no significant difference in color naming.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BerlinB.KayP. (1969) Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkeley, CA: Univer. of California Press.
2.
GreeneK. S.GyntherM. D. (1995) Blue versus periwinkle: Color identification and gender. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80, 27–32.
3.
GuestS.Van LaarD. (2000) The structure of colour naming space. Vision Research, 40, 723–734.
4.
HardinC. L.MaffiL. (1997) Introduction. In HardinC. L.MaffiL. (Eds.), Color categories in thought and language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer. Press. P. 4.
5.
NowaczykR. H. (1982) Sex-related differences in colour vocabulary. Language and Speech, 25, 257–265.
6.
RichE. (1977) Sex-related differences in colour vocabulary. Language and Speech, 20, 404–409.
7.
SimpsonJ.TarrantA. W. (1991) Sex- and age-related differences in colour vocabulary. Language and Speech, 34, 57–62.
8.
SleightC. C.PrinzP. M. (1982) Children's color vocabulary. Language and Speech, 25, 75–79.
9.
SwaringenS.LaymanS.WilsonA. (1978) Sex differences in color naming. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 47, 440–442.
