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Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues

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Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues. / Athanasopoulos, Panos; Damjanovic, Ljubica; Krajciova, Andrea et al.
In: Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Vol. 14, No. 1, 01.2011, p. 9-17.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Athanasopoulos, P, Damjanovic, L, Krajciova, A & Sasaki, M 2011, 'Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues', Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990046

APA

Athanasopoulos, P., Damjanovic, L., Krajciova, A., & Sasaki, M. (2011). Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(1), 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990046

Vancouver

Athanasopoulos P, Damjanovic L, Krajciova A, Sasaki M. Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 2011 Jan;14(1):9-17. doi: 10.1017/S1366728909990046

Author

Athanasopoulos, Panos ; Damjanovic, Ljubica ; Krajciova, Andrea et al. / Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition : the case of Japanese blues. In: Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 2011 ; Vol. 14, No. 1. pp. 9-17.

Bibtex

@article{cfae83c181d34986bf3db77f1d9f8fc7,
title = "Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition: the case of Japanese blues",
abstract = "Previous studies demonstrate that lexical coding of colour influences categorical perception of colour, such that participants are more likely to rate two colours to be more similar if they belong to the same linguistic category (Roberson et al., 2000, 2005). Recent work shows changes in Greek–English bilinguals' perception of within and cross-category stimulus pairs as a function of the availability of the relevant colour terms in semantic memory, and the amount of time spent in the L2-speaking country (Athanasopoulos, 2009). The present paper extends Athanasopoulos' (2009) investigation by looking at cognitive processing of colour in Japanese–English bilinguals. Like Greek, Japanese contrasts with English in that it has an additional monolexemic term for {\textquoteleft}light blue{\textquoteright} (mizuiro). The aim of the paper is to examine to what degree linguistic and extralinguistic variables modulate Japanese–English bilinguals' sensitivity to the blue/light blue distinction. Results showed that those bilinguals who used English more frequently distinguished blue and light blue stimulus pairs less well than those who used Japanese more frequently. These results suggest that bilingual cognition may be dynamic and flexible, as the degree to which it resembles that of either monolingual norm is, in this case, fundamentally a matter of frequency of language use.",
keywords = "bilingual cognition, Whorf, linguistic relativity, colour perception",
author = "Panos Athanasopoulos and Ljubica Damjanovic and Andrea Krajciova and Miho Sasaki",
year = "2011",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1017/S1366728909990046",
language = "English",
volume = "14",
pages = "9--17",
journal = "Bilingualism: Language and Cognition",
issn = "1366-7289",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Representation of colour concepts in bilingual cognition

T2 - the case of Japanese blues

AU - Athanasopoulos, Panos

AU - Damjanovic, Ljubica

AU - Krajciova, Andrea

AU - Sasaki, Miho

PY - 2011/1

Y1 - 2011/1

N2 - Previous studies demonstrate that lexical coding of colour influences categorical perception of colour, such that participants are more likely to rate two colours to be more similar if they belong to the same linguistic category (Roberson et al., 2000, 2005). Recent work shows changes in Greek–English bilinguals' perception of within and cross-category stimulus pairs as a function of the availability of the relevant colour terms in semantic memory, and the amount of time spent in the L2-speaking country (Athanasopoulos, 2009). The present paper extends Athanasopoulos' (2009) investigation by looking at cognitive processing of colour in Japanese–English bilinguals. Like Greek, Japanese contrasts with English in that it has an additional monolexemic term for ‘light blue’ (mizuiro). The aim of the paper is to examine to what degree linguistic and extralinguistic variables modulate Japanese–English bilinguals' sensitivity to the blue/light blue distinction. Results showed that those bilinguals who used English more frequently distinguished blue and light blue stimulus pairs less well than those who used Japanese more frequently. These results suggest that bilingual cognition may be dynamic and flexible, as the degree to which it resembles that of either monolingual norm is, in this case, fundamentally a matter of frequency of language use.

AB - Previous studies demonstrate that lexical coding of colour influences categorical perception of colour, such that participants are more likely to rate two colours to be more similar if they belong to the same linguistic category (Roberson et al., 2000, 2005). Recent work shows changes in Greek–English bilinguals' perception of within and cross-category stimulus pairs as a function of the availability of the relevant colour terms in semantic memory, and the amount of time spent in the L2-speaking country (Athanasopoulos, 2009). The present paper extends Athanasopoulos' (2009) investigation by looking at cognitive processing of colour in Japanese–English bilinguals. Like Greek, Japanese contrasts with English in that it has an additional monolexemic term for ‘light blue’ (mizuiro). The aim of the paper is to examine to what degree linguistic and extralinguistic variables modulate Japanese–English bilinguals' sensitivity to the blue/light blue distinction. Results showed that those bilinguals who used English more frequently distinguished blue and light blue stimulus pairs less well than those who used Japanese more frequently. These results suggest that bilingual cognition may be dynamic and flexible, as the degree to which it resembles that of either monolingual norm is, in this case, fundamentally a matter of frequency of language use.

KW - bilingual cognition

KW - Whorf

KW - linguistic relativity

KW - colour perception

U2 - 10.1017/S1366728909990046

DO - 10.1017/S1366728909990046

M3 - Journal article

VL - 14

SP - 9

EP - 17

JO - Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

JF - Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

SN - 1366-7289

IS - 1

ER -