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

[Heath Jeffrey]

In 1972 I did a forced-choice experiment with a Choctaw speaker in Mississippi to elicit terms in the blue-green spectrum. To avoid any possibility of English interference, I presented colored cut-outs (I couldn't afford Munsell chips).

My informant looked at the cut-outs, and called out to his wife who was in the kitchen: "Mable, what do we call 'green'?"
________________________________
From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de>
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2019 5:29 PM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Subject: [Lingtyp] query: "blue"/"green" and dialectal variation in English


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<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2F1e5nvUB8B3OdUXo1Rat7xrwrxj4H_qgJcvpAkNcHIj8c%2Fedit&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ca5ccab7cf2554448ff4908d6bba00f5b%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636902693462877570&sdata=8RElz5FyCj1EVz84boPMPMk3T4y%2FoHfXBxhXM49mwjE%3D&reserved=0>



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


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