Introduction

This is an unusual type of chapter. We are looking at the notion of basicness of color terms by comparing various tests. To do this, we are using languages that are well studied. Often this means the basic color terms in those languages can be taken as given, so that we can then see how well particular types of tests perform in identifying the basic color terms. There are two reasons for doing this. One is that it may tell us something about the different types of tests and therefore about the notion of basicness. The second is a practical point. Given the difficulties of fieldwork in particular places, it is worth looking for tests that are easy to run, quick, and efficient, as opposed to those that are more elaborate. So this chapter is about testing the tests. In addition, it has been found that languages which have a full set of basic color terms may still preserve a color hierarchy. That is to say there is not simply a division between basic and non-basic color terms but rather the terms higher on the hierarchy can still be seen to be “more basic” than those lower on the hierarchy. We shall be looking for tests which can reveal that type of structure.

First we outline the Berlin and Kay hierarchy. Then we look at the types of measure available and the statistical techniques for establishing how well they fit with the predictions derived from Berlin and Kay.