1. 1 Usage-based analysis for color term categorization A case study of Chinese color term lü and qing Lapkei Lei National Taiwan Univerity

2. 2 Statement of Purpose Traditional studyVs.Present study 1.Semantically autonomous 2.Problem 1.Semantically dependent 2.Solution What are the principles guiding the mental process of color categorization?

3. 3 Outline The problem of traditional color terms study. –Background –The problems Usage-based model for color terms study. –Definition –The proposed color terms categorization –The meaning of color terms

4. 4 Traditional color term analysis How to define the color category? –(ex.) 綠 (lü ‘green’ hereafter) lü Focal color/ prototype =lü Munsell Color Chip: Color Term = HSB = (H)ue + (S)aturation + (B)rightness

5. 5 Traditional color term analysis (cont.) =lü lüshu ‘Green tree’ lüye ‘Green leaf’ lü lücha ‘Green tea’ lüsongshi ‘Turquoise’ kongquelü ‘peacock green’ ? ??

6. 6 The underlying principle of traditional color terms analysis The traditional analysis (cf. Berlin & Kay 1969; Xu 2007) treats color terms as being semantically autonomous. –The standard color term analysis defines the color term independently of the composite structure, viz [COLOR ENTITY], in which it occurs in. ‘green tree’‘green precious stone’

7. 7 Problem of traditional analysis (Xu, 2007), 青 (qing ‘cyan’ hereafter) qing So what exactly does qing mean??? It depends. AB C qingcao ‘cyan grass’ qingtian ‘cyan sky’ (for example)

8. 8 Problem of traditional analysis (cont.) 綠 vs. 青 The color term is defined independently of the composite structure in which it occurs in. The color term is defined in term of the composite structure in which it occurs in. [qing cao] [qing tian] qing qingcao qing qingtian

9. 9 Present study The meanings of CTs are contextually dependent. –The Basic and primitive unit: [COLOR ENTITY] –Color terms are defined in terms of the composite structure they occur in. (e.g.Color ColorEntity  [COLOR ENTITY]) Traditional studyPresent study [ lü shu] “ green tree ”lülü lü shu [ lü baoshi] “ green precious stone lülü lü baoshi

10. 10 Usage-based analysis for color term categorization Color terms are unique to each composite structure, –but they are not unstructured. The derived color terms form a structured inventory of a speaker’s knowledge of the convention of their language. This structured inventory is usually represented by the taxonomic network.

11. 11 The taxonomic network of color term ‘green tree’‘green grass’ ‘green jacket’

12. 12 The taxonomic network of color term Each derived color term constitutes a node in the taxonomic network, these nodes, however, are NOT equal weight. ‘green tree’‘green grass’ ‘green jacket’

13. 13 The taxonomic network of color term (cont.) –Hypothesis 1: The entrenchment of a word form, regular or irregular, is a function of its token frequency. ‘green tree’‘green grass’ ‘green jacket’

14. 14 The taxonomic network of color term (cont.) –Hypothesis 2: The entrenchment of a schema is a function of the type frequency of the instances of the schema. ‘green tree’‘green grass’ ‘green jacket’

15. 15 Data lu and qing we examine the Chinese CT lü ‘green’ and qing ‘grue/cyan’ in Chinese Gigaword corpus. –Lü serves as a representation of the regular Color terms. It denotes a single color, GREEN. Other examples are hong ‘red’ for RED and lan ‘blue’ for BLUE. –Qing serves as an exceptional representation. It saliently denotes two colors, GREEN and BLUE.

16. 16 Frequency and entrenchment: Result of lu ‘green tree’‘green grass’ ‘green jacket’

17. 17 Frequency and entrenchment: Result of qing ‘cyan mountain’‘cyan grass’ ‘cyan sky’

18. 18 Conclusion (1) Color terms are contextually dependent. Color terms are defined in terms of the composite structure [COLOR-ENTITY] in which they occur. –Color terms are unique to each composite structure.

19. 19 Conclusion (2) Color terms are structured by a taxonomic network formed in a speaker’s knowledge of the convention of their language.

20. 20 Conclusion (3) The categorization of Color terms by taxonomic network could be explained by the usage-based model. –Higher frequency of a unit or pattern of CT results in a greater degree of entrenchment, which affects the processing of a unit. –This entrenchment determines the prototypicality of color terms.

21. 21 Thank you!