Colour naming by panels of British and Taiwanese subjects (speaking English
and Mandarin, respectively) was, used; to study colour categorization, and
the Results applied to investigate differences of usage between the two la
nguages. Fifty British and 40 Chinese subjects took part in experiments usi
ng an unconstrained method with 200 ISCC-NBS colour samples. Data analysis
was performed to calculate the frequency and codability of each colour name
in each group and subgroup. These names were then grouped using 7-category
and 4-category methods to find the culture and gender differences. Ir was
confirmed that the 11 basic flames found by Berlin and Kay were the most wi
dely used for both languages. The results showed a close agreement between
the two languages in terms of colour categories,:but a large discrepancy in
the use of secondary names due to cultural differences. The cross-cultural
comparison revealed a clear pattern of the linkage between language and co
ncepts of colour. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.