[Lingtyp] query: "blue"/"green" and dialectal variation in English

[David Gil]

Dear all,

I've recently become aware of dialectal variation within English with 
respect to the denotation of the colour terms "blue" and "green"; 
specifically, the extent to which they apply to intermediate colours 
such as cyan, turquoise and teal.I'm currently running an informal 
survey on google forms (see link below); the results are still coming 
in, but I'm already observing interesting dialectal variation.For 
example, in stimulus 8, showing a shade of teal, subjects are presented 
with a forced choice task: is it "blue" or "green"?The percentage of 
subjects who chose "blue" range from 19% in Australian English (23 
subjects) to 65% in USA English (97 subjects), with other countries 
occupying intermediate positions on the scale.

My question: has anybody described this kind of variation within English 
dialects before?It's the world's most studied language, and a very 
popular domain of investigation, and yet a Google search didn't come up 
with any references to precisely this kind of variation.Any comments 
related to this topic would be appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1e5nvUB8B3OdUXo1Rat7xrwrxj4H_qgJcvpAkNcHIj8c/edit

Thanks,

David

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

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