Complex color denomination in French and Occitan
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Xavier Bach
Abstract
In this chapter, we investigate color naming in French and Occitan. It is well known that French, compared to other Romance languages, has a tendency to be very analytic. This raises the following question: do speakers of French and other Romance languages (here, Occitan) differ in morphological strategies used to express meaning in the semantic domain of color? To investigate this question, we compare the color descriptions provided by speakers of French (N = 20) and speakers of Occitan (N = 20). The results show some striking differences between the two languages in lexical and morphosyntactic strategies used to name colors. Speakers of Occitan employ secondary color terms using a variety of derivational suffixes, which are absent from the French data despite their existence in the language.
Abstract
In this chapter, we investigate color naming in French and Occitan. It is well known that French, compared to other Romance languages, has a tendency to be very analytic. This raises the following question: do speakers of French and other Romance languages (here, Occitan) differ in morphological strategies used to express meaning in the semantic domain of color? To investigate this question, we compare the color descriptions provided by speakers of French (N = 20) and speakers of Occitan (N = 20). The results show some striking differences between the two languages in lexical and morphosyntactic strategies used to name colors. Speakers of Occitan employ secondary color terms using a variety of derivational suffixes, which are absent from the French data despite their existence in the language.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Lexicalization patterns in and over time
- Rethinking the category of “basic color term” 23
- Lexicalization patterns in Slovak color naming 45
- Compound color terms in Italian 61
- “Brightness” in color linguistics 83
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Korean 109
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Gbaya, a Ubanguian language of CAR 133
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Part 2. Color terms in a genealogical and typological perspective
- Innovations in Semitic color term systems 159
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming 191
- Complex color denomination in French and Occitan 213
- Color terms in Basque 237
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Croatian, Czech, and Polish 269
- Color naming in Africa 1
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Part 3. Languages in culture and languages in contact
- Universals and variability of color naming in Icelandic, Icelandic Sign Language, and North American Icelandic 333
- Symbolic and cultural meaning of colors in phraseology 357
- From object to color and back 379
- Ossetic color terms system 401
- Index 427
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Lexicalization patterns in and over time
- Rethinking the category of “basic color term” 23
- Lexicalization patterns in Slovak color naming 45
- Compound color terms in Italian 61
- “Brightness” in color linguistics 83
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Korean 109
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Gbaya, a Ubanguian language of CAR 133
-
Part 2. Color terms in a genealogical and typological perspective
- Innovations in Semitic color term systems 159
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming 191
- Complex color denomination in French and Occitan 213
- Color terms in Basque 237
- Lexicalization patterns in color naming in Croatian, Czech, and Polish 269
- Color naming in Africa 1
-
Part 3. Languages in culture and languages in contact
- Universals and variability of color naming in Icelandic, Icelandic Sign Language, and North American Icelandic 333
- Symbolic and cultural meaning of colors in phraseology 357
- From object to color and back 379
- Ossetic color terms system 401
- Index 427
