Re: NATLANG: Colours

Philippe Caquant wrote:
>
> There are 40 pages about "The Meaning of Colour Terms"
> in Wierzbicka, "Semantics - Primes and Universals".
> About Russian, she mentions "salatovyj" (light green)
> against "zelenij" (green), and "bezhovyj" (beige)
> against "koricznievyj" (brown). She also mentions
> Japanese "aoi" ("Thus, it is not only the sky which is
> called 'aoi', but also wet grass and the "Go!" traffic
> lights").
Yes, _aoi_ (~blue) is somewhat ambiguous.  In some contexts, it clearly
contrasts with _midori_ (green), while in others, _midori_ seems to be
included as a shade of _aoi_.  From what I can gather, it seems that
_midori_ is in the process of splitting away from _aoi_.

The Japanese language has only 5 color words that are -i adjectives
(stative verbs): shiroi (white), kuroi (black), akai (red), kiiroi
(yellow), aoi (blue/green).  And of those, _kiiroi_ is a more recent
addition, as shown by the fact that it's a compound, ki- "yellow" + iro
"color" + -i "adjective".  Apparently -i was once a more productive
suffix.  All other colors are na-type adjectives (uninflected
adjectives).