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 Number 613 (used to be 616 in the old version)
 Original If a language encodes fewer basic colour categories, then there are strict limitations on which categories it may encode. The distributional restrictions of colour terms across languages are:
1. All languages contain terms for white and black.
2. If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red.
3. If a language contains four terms, then it contains a term for either green or yellow (but not both).
4. If a language contains five terms, then it contains a terms for both green and yellow.
5. If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue.
6. If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown.
7. If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains a term for purple, pink, orange, grey, or some combinations of these.
 Standardized IF PURPLE or PINK or ORANGE or GREY , THEN BROWN.
IF BROWN, THEN BLUE.
IF BLUE, THEN YELLOW and GREEN.
IF YELLOW or GREEN, THEN RED.
IF RED, THEN WHITE and BLACK.
 Formula purple V pink V orange V grey ⇒ brown ⇒ blue ⇒ green & yellow ⇒ red ⇒ black & white
 Keywords colour terms hierarchy
 Domain lexicon
 Type implicational hierarchy
 Status achronic but presumably diachronically motivated
 Quality absolute
 Basis over 100 languages in Berlin & Kay 1969
 Source Berlin & Kay 1969
 Counterexamples 
—
 Comments 
By Frans Plank 03.08.2006, 09:49 
1. Tsakhur (Lezgian, E. Caucasian) has a basic colour term for TURQUOISE. Russian (Slavic, IE) has two basic colour terms for BLUE and LIGHT BLUE. Russian up to early 19th century had no basic colour term for PURPLE. Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic) has two basic colour terms for RED1 and RED2.
By Elena Filimonova 24.07.2007, 13:36 
2. In Jaqaru (Andean), there are eight basic colour terms, four are for various kinds of red (shocking pink, burgundy, reddish brown, and wine red) (Hardman 1981).

3. For further discussion see also Kay & McDaniel 1978.
 

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