In chapter 5, it is explained that Bedouin Sign Language (and many other languages for that matter) only have two different color words. It is simply black or white. I understand grouping all the dark colors together under the name black to discern them from the light colors which are named white, but why wouldn't you want to distinguish between the differen colors. To me, blue is very different from green, even though they are both cool colors. Wouldn't having only two color words cause a lot of confusion in the language?
On another note, I've also heard that if one sense is missing, then the others become stronger. So for someone not able to hear, it is probable that they're sight is probably pretty strong. So they would probably be more likely to be able to distinguish between different hues of different colors than we are, so why wouldn't they want to name them?
Comments (2)
Although I'm not sure what was covered in class, I also think the differences in the names of colors are very interesting. I do not necessarily think the lack of these classifications would actually cause confusion. If a culture never had the different classifications, they would not be confused. To us (an outsider) it seems strange they do not have the classifcations we do, but if they never had them in their culture then they can clearly function without it. It would be hard to imagine the opposite cirumstance. I guess a comparable example would be the proper and familiar "you" forms. In our culture, we just use "you". Perhaps other cultures find it strange that we do not differentiate between the formal and informal.
Posted by Rachel Learned | April 21, 2008 12:01 AM
Posted on April 21, 2008 00:01
I think a good way to adjust to a frame which only contains two colors, is to think about this difference as being reflective of the needs of the Bedouin people (after all, language is a tool used by people to communicate and words don't spontaneously occur with no impetus).
As we spoke about in class, industrial cultures differentiate more between colors because of overwhelming availability of commercial goods, such as textiles, which can be pumped out in a startling array of colors, from taupe to khaki. Many products here are even marketed on the sole basis that the consumer has "new" colors to choose from, such as iPods, phones, laptops, crayons, household paint, and kitchen appliances.
I think of America's larger color vocabulary kind of like the increased ability to detect more and more subtle differences between any two objects that comes with becoming a specialized in a specific area of knowledge. For example, the difference between newsprint and Stonehenge is absolutely huge in my mind, but most people would look at both items and refer to them as paper.
Posted by Tamara Belden | April 21, 2008 12:54 AM
Posted on April 21, 2008 00:54