Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Colour is a matter of words

John von Radowitz
Thursday 18 March 1999 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

WHEN IT comes to colourful language, members of the Berinmo tribe have a strange way with words.

The hunter-gatherers from the upper reaches of the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea do not distinguish between blue and green but their language contains a sharp contrast between two hues of yellow, "nol" and "wol" not found in English.

Scientists from Goldsmiths College in London, compared the way the Berinmo perceived colours compared to a sample group of English speakers. The Berinmo were better able topick a colour from a choice of hues around the "nol-wol" boundary than around the blue-green boundary. A comparison group of English speakers showed the reverse tendency.

Writing in the journal Nature yesterday the scientists said: "Our results from these experiments are consistent with there being a considerable degree of linguistic influence on colour categorisation."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in