In:Lexicalization patterns in color naming: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Ida Raffaelli, Daniela Katunar and Barbara Kerovec
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 78] 2019
► pp. 213–236
Complex color denomination in French and Occitan
Published online: 9 October 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.78.10bac
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.78.10bac
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.
Keywords: color naming, Romance, French, Occitan, experimental studies, morphological complexity
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methodology
- 3.Color naming strategies in French and Occitan
- 3.1Simple terms: Primary terms and analogy
- 3.2Derived terms
- 3.3Compounds
- 3.4Modifying expressions
- 3.5Complex descriptions
- 4.Naming strategies and variation among participants
- 5.Discussion and concluding remarks
- Abbreviations
Acknowledgment Notes References
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