Original scientific paper
Cold Colours in 19th-century English Literature
Jaroslav Peprnik
; Palacke University, Olomouc
Abstract
The paper is a frequency survey of five colour terms (black, white, grey, green, blue) used
in 55 novels by 10 foremost 19th-century British writers. Both basic colour terms and
terms with motivators have been registered - the latter (123 in all) are classified according
to their semantic fields and morphological-syntactical types. The number of occurrences of
white is equal to the combined occurrences of black and grey; with blue 50 p.c. more motivators
are used than with green. Usage differs considerably with the writers but no particular
colour dominates the perception of any writer. The author does not see any conflict between
the universalist theory of Berlin-Kay and the relativist theory of Sapir and Whorf.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
24425
URI
Publication date:
3.6.1996.
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