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Article published In: Sensory Perceptions in Language and Cognition
Edited by Rosario Caballero and Carita Paradis
[Functions of Language 22:1] 2015
► pp. 20–43

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Usage-related variation in the referential range of blue in marketing context

 | University of Antwerp
 | University of Leuven
Published online: 1 May 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.22.1.02ani
The paper explores language-internal variation in the referential meaning of the lexical form blue. Taking a usage-based cognitive approach, we analyze the referential range of blue in several marketing contexts from a semasiological and an onomasiological perspective. The study develops an interdisciplinary method that combines frequency analysis with mapping of the referent distributions in the three-dimensional CIELab color space. It is argued that the observed referential variation in blue is influenced by usage-related factors such as availability of the referents, diversity of color naming strategies and onomasiological competition between lexical forms in the individual product categories.
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