Colourful Language: Survey of Colour Naming Eleanor MACLURE

London College of Communication, University of the Arts London

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a survey examining the relationship between colour and language, investigating the way we use our vocabulary of colour terms to communicate the colours we see. The survey was conducted over a period of approximately ten weeks, using a number of online channels to solicit responses from a random sample of the general public. The analysis of results included completed surveys from 194 participants and demonstrates a substantial breath and depth to colour naming, alongside a breakdown in understanding as colour terms become more obscure.

1. INTRODUCTION Is my understanding of colour names the same as your understanding? Would we identify different hues with the same name or give different labels to the same colour? I have sought to explore these ideas through my MA Graphic Design Major Project, Colourful Language. This survey forms a significant part of a wider investigation in to the relationship between colour and language and was created to gain further understanding of a number of aspects of colour naming among the wider population. This included assessing general attitudes to colour naming and examining any changes in response as colour terms became more sophisticated.

2. METHODOLOGY Prior to issuing, a pilot study was carried out on a small group of volunteers, in order to test survey functionality and the wording of the questions. Feedback allowed for refining the presentation and content of the survey. The survey was constructed and hosted by SurveyMonkey and was accessed via a weblink, which was issued potential respondents. It was conducted over a period of approximately ten weeks and number of channels were used to invite responses including email, social media, public forums and blogs.

To begin the survey participants were asked a series of basic questions, in order to establish the demographics of the sample. These included gender, age group, nationality, native language, visual colour deficiency and involvement in art and design. These categories were established as factors that may influence the perception and labelling of colours, and therefore needed be acknowledged. As sources and quantity of ambient light, type of computer and screen can affect how we perceive colours in the digital realm; participants were all asked a series of questions about how they viewed the survey in order to accommodate these variables.

To introduce the idea of colour naming participants were asked about their colour vocabulary, how they felt about describing colours and whether describing colours had led to disagreements. To explore how participants translated sophisticated colour names in more basic terms, respondents were asked to explain a number of colour names using simple words like red, blue and light, dark. The stimulus terms were grouped into two categories, sophisticated colour terms and obscure colour terms. The sophisticated colour

terms were: maroon, coral, nude, puce, mauve, teal, pistachio, khaki, fawn, tawny and taupe. These colour names were chosen because they are less widely used than basic colour terms, but are still well known and can be open to interpretation. The obscure colour terms were selected because they were particularly complex, in order to test the respondent's awareness and understanding. This group of terms comprised of: alizarin, cinnabar, citrine, gamboge, chartreuse, celadon, cerulean, periwinkle, ianthine, porphyry and greige.

To study colour naming, participants were asked to name a total of thirty-three colours, three groups of eleven swatches. The swatches were presented as a row of numbered, coloured squares. All of the colours were selected from Pantone's Europe Coated colour book. The colours were grouped based on three levels of complexity. The first group featured swatches that could easily be described as matching the eleven basic colour terms in English (Berlin & Kay 1969). The second group was comprised of colours that would not be strongly associated with a basic colour term. They varied more in saturation and brightness and were closer to the boundaries between basic colour categories. The third group of colours were selected to be more difficult to name as they varied to an even greater degree of saturation and brightness and were more difficult to categorise.

In a reversal of the colour naming exercise, participants were asked to pick colours from a table of swatches, also adapted from Pantone's Europe Coated colour book, which they thought was the best visual representation of a given colour term. The colour terms acting as the stimulus for the task were presented in three groups. The first group comprised of the eleven basic colour terms in English, as defined by Berlin & Kay (1969). The second and thirds sets included the same groups of sophisticated and obscure colour terms featured in previous sections of the survey.

The analysis of the raw data was conducted with the aid of Microsoft Excel, with the addition of some manual processing. The contributions from 194 participants have been included in the results. Although this does not represent the total number of responses, instances where the survey was not completed have been discounted from the final analysis.

3. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

3.1 Demographics Approximately two-thirds of participants were female. As this is a significant gender bias, the high proportion of female responses affects how the results of this survey should be viewed. There is also a bias among the age groups represented in this survey. Nearly two thirds of respondents were aged between 20 and 39, with the second largest group of participants being those aged 40-59. Just one person in the survey was over sixty, equivalent to 0.5% of the total and just over ten percent were aged under twenty. However, of those who took part, none of the respondents reported having any colour deficiency in their vision.

More than three-quarters of respondents spoke English as a first language. Of those who didn't, a range of twenty-six different languages were spoken by participants, including French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Cantonese and Japanese.

3.2 Viewing Conditions

Just over half the respondents reported viewing the survey in artificial light, with an almost equal number split between fluorescent and incandescent sources. The remaining participants viewed the survey in natural daylight, with just under two thirds reporting the light as having medium brightness. 19% of participants said that they had taken the survey in dim light, while 17% said described their light source as bright.

3.3 Talking about Colour Well over half of participants reported having difficulty describing colours at least some of the time. A similar amount also had trouble understanding what colours other people were describing. Just over half thought that it was important to describe colours accurately; however, a significant proportion felt that it depended on the situation. Many of the participants reported disagreeing about colours that were similar or lie close to the boundaries between basic colour categories such as blue/green, blue/purple, purple/pink and green/brown. Others described disagreements that centred on a difference in colour term labelling, such as teal/turquoise, teal/aqua, pink/fuchsia.

3.4 Colour Vocabulary In order to appreciate the size of participants' colour vocabulary, respondents were asked name as many colours as they could think of. The amount of colour terms listed varied considerably, ranging from 7 to 100. Overall, the average number of colours named was 26, representing a colour vocabulary of just over twice the number of basic colour terms in English. In comparison, a combined total of 542 unique colour terms were listed by respondents, creating an incredibly rich and diverse vocabulary of colour names.

3.5 Describing Colour Terms Participants produced a wide variety of responses to the eleven sophisticated colour terms. Often the participants were in agreement about the colour term translation, but explained it in different ways, creating a rich body of colour expressions. As expected, the majority of respondents were unfamiliar with a significant number of the obscure colour terms. Of the list citrine, periwinkle and chartreuse were the terms that participants were most acquainted with, while gamboge and ianthine were the least known.

3.6 Naming Colours The first set of coloured swatches were named with the most consistency. The responses were dominated by the eleven basic colour terms, with the vast majority of participants using a basic term to name every swatch. The swatch that produced the greatest variety of names could best be described as pink, while the 'white' swatch was the most consistent named. The responses to the second and third groups of colour swatches were far more diverse. There was also some overlap in the colour naming, with respondents giving the same name to different colours. Some of the more interesting responses included; "70s yellow, Industrial green, Blue Pyjamas, Barbie purple, Donkey, Mouldy Green, Red Wine Sauce..." showing a considerable degree of imagination and creativity.

3.7 Interpreting Colour Terms The interpretation of the basic colour terms was by far the most consistent. However some colour terms produced a wider range of responses than others. Yellow received a very

narrow range of interpretations, whereas the responses to purple varied from red toned shades to the more bluish end of the spectrum. The responses to pink, orange, green and blue varied more in their lightness and darkness than hue.

There was a far greater diversity in the responses to the more sophisticated colour terms, notably coral, which some participants identified as blue. Although referring to different hues there was some similarity in the interpretations of tawny, fawn and taupe. Of the sophisticated colours, it was puce that caused the greatest confusion.

The understanding of colour names broke down further in response to the obscure colour terms. Alizarin, ianthine and gamboge were the colour terms least familiar to participants, whereas cerulean and periwinkle were most likely to be identified correctly. Some colour terms were interpreted more consistently than others, including citrine, cerulean, greige and cinnabar, although very few participants identified hues close to the true colour of cinnabar or citrine. In contrast, there was very little agreement among the responses to alizarin, ianthine, cerulean and porphyry.

The full results of the survey and a more detailed discussion can be found at: http://issuu.com/Eleanorbydesign/docs/survey_report

4. CONCLUSIONS From the results of the project, it is clear that there is considerable diversity in the way we describe and name colours. The assortment of terms given as responses to the survey was far beyond the original expectations of the project. However, the paradox with colour naming is that although a great variety of colour names were given in response to the questions, the eleven basic colour terms still dominate the way we communicate colour.

How we describe colours is a fascinating subject, almost guaranteed to generate discussion and debate. Although this research project captures only a fraction of our interpretations and understanding of colour terms it is hoped that it can, in some way, contribute to the body of research that already exists on colour naming. It is clear that there is great potential to further extend the project, including improving the methodology, obtaining a larger sample and conducting statistical analysis on the data produced by the survey.

Our use of language in the description of colour is fraught with the difficulties of consistency, accuracy and mutual understanding. However, rather than trying to impose rules or design a system to address the issues, this project has become a celebration of our descriptions and interpretations, as it reveals not only the personal nature of our experience of colour, but the versatility and fascinating complexity of our language.

REFERENCES Berlin, B. & Kay, P., 1969. Basic colour terms: their universality and evolution. Stanford :

Center for the Study of Language and Information.

Eleanor Maclure E-mail: eleanorbydesign@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.eleanormaclure.co.uk Blog: http://eleanormaclure.wordpress.com