Luận văn thạc sỹ: Prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese from a cognitive linguistics perspective

178Appendix 1.6: Researches in Vietnamese in regard to lexicon research direction.Appendix 1.7: Researches in Vietnamese in terms of semantics research direction Appendix 1.8: Researches

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYÊN ĐÔNG PHƯƠNG TIÊN

PROTOTYPES OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FROM A COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE

(TINH DIEN DANG CUA CAC MAU CO BAN TRONG TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET

DƯỚI GOC ĐỘ NGON NGỮ HỌC TRI NHAN)

MAJOR: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

CODE: 9220201

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Linguistics

Hanoi, 2021

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYÊN ĐÔNG PHƯƠNG TIÊN

PROTOTYPES OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

FROM A COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE

(TINH DIEN DANG CUA CAC MAU CO BAN TRONG TIENG ANH VA TIENG VIET

DƯỚI GOC ĐỘ NGON NGU HỌC TRI NHẬN)

MAJOR: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIPThe thesis entitled “Prototypes of basic colour terms in English andVietnamese from a cognitive linguistics perspective” has been submitted for thedegree of Doctor of Philosophy.

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis, Ihave fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and work of others, whetherpublished or unpublished, in my thesis

The thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation orresearch paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or anyother university

Signature

NGUYEN BONG PHUONG TIEN

ABSTRACTThis dissertation, with the aim of identifying the prototypes of black/den,white/trắng, red/do, yellow/vang, green/blue/xanh, grey/xdm colour terms, attempts

to clarify the similarities and the differences among the prototypes of basic colourterms in English and Vietnamese data with further explanations from cognitive andcultural perspectives

Data is collected with as + basic colour terms + as/nhw + object referent Xstructure in English and Vietnamese data from literary works

Combined research methods are adopted in the following means: percentageidentification of individual object referent is based on quantitative method whereasfurther explanations concerning distinctive features depend on qualitative method aswell as the similarities and the differences among these prototypes count oncontrastive method

The findings show: night as prototype of black colour term, snow asprototype of white colour term, blood and rose as two prototypes of red colour term,corn as prototype of yellow colour term, emerald as prototype of green colour term,sapphire as prototype of blue colour term, badger as prototype of grey colour term,muc as prototype of den colour term, nga as prototype of /rắng colour term, son asprototype of do colour term, nghé as prototype of vàng colour term, tau /d asprototype of xanh colour term, /rø/gio as prototype of xám colour term

Theoretically, this dissertation provides comprehensible explanations ofcultural and cognitive characteristics of English and Vietnamese nations.Practically, the study results are helpful for English and Vietnamese learners intranslating or interpreting these prototypes correctly from cultural and cognitiveviewpoints Profound knowledge of English and Vietnamese linguistic systems isbeneficial for language learners for a more detailed description of the similaritiesand the differences Last but not least, native readers or speakers understand thesimilarities and distinguish the differences for the appropriate daily usage

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLESFigure 1.3: Theoretical framework of dissertation 54Figure 2.2: Data analysis procedure ofdissertation 79Table 4.1: Prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data «128Table 4.2: Objects as culture-specific referents of basic colour terms in English data andVietnamese data 129Table 4.3: Research outcome comparison about the most representative object referents orprototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data 130APPENDICES 170APPENDIX |: LITERATURE REVIEW 170Appendix 1.1: Main development representatives in terms of prototype & categories 170Appendix 1.2: Researches in English regarding lexicon research direction na T72Appendix 1.3: Researches in English related to semantics research direction 76Appendix 1.4: Researches in English from culture research direction nil 7)Appendix 1.5: Researches in English on the subject of cognition research direction 178Appendix 1.6: Researches in Vietnamese in regard to lexicon research direction.

Appendix 1.7: Researches in Vietnamese in terms of semantics research direction

Appendix 1.8: Researches in Vietnamese connected to culture research direction APPENDIX 2: OBJECT REFERENTS OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS IN ENGLISH AND

VIETNAMESE DATA 188Table 2.1: Objects referents of black colour term in English data

Table 2.3: Objects referents of red colour term in English data

Table 2.4: Objects referents of yel/ow colour term in English data

Table 2.5: Objects referents ofgreen colour term in English

Table 2.6: Objects referents of biue colour term in English data

Table 2.7: Objects referents of grey colour term in English data

Table 2.8: Objects referents of den colour term in Vietnamese data

Table 2.9: Objects referents of ding colour term in Vietnamese data

Table 2.10: Objects referents of do colour term in Vietnamese data

Table 2.11: Objects referents of vang colour term in Vietnamese data soe 282

286s7)APPENDIX 3: TABLES OF OBJECT REFERENTS AND 06-CLASS CLASSIFICATION

AND CATEGORY SUB-CLASSIFICATION OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE DATA

Table 2.1: 27 English authors, 169 literary works and 430 tokens regarding

blackWwhite/red/vellow/green/blue/grey colour terms

Table 2.2: 52 Vietnamese authors, 219 literary works and 443 tokens regarding

Table 2.12: Objects referents ofxanh colour term in Vietnamese data

Table 2.13: Objects referents of xd colour term in Vietnamese data

den/triing/do/vengxanh/xém colour terms

Table 3.1: Object referents of black colour term in English data

Table 3.2: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of black colour term inEnglish data

Table 3.3: Object referents of white colour term in English data

Table 3.4: -Class classification and category sub-classification of white colour term inEnglish data 336Table 3.5: Object referents of red colour term in English data 339Table 3.6: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of red colour term in Englishdata 340

341Table 3.7: Object referents ofyellow colour term in English data

Table 3.8: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of yellow colour term inEnglish data

Table 3.9: Object referents of green colour term in English data

Table 3.10: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification ofgreen colour term inEnglish data

Table 3.11: Object referents of bive colour term in English

Table 3.12: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of blue colour term inEnglish data

Table 3.13: Object referents ofgrey colour term in English data

Table 3.14: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of grey colour term inEnglish data 348Table 3.15: Object referents of den colour term in Vietnamese data 20349Table 3.16: 06-Class classification and category sub-classification of den colour term in

‘Vietnamese data 351Table 3.17: Object referents of øắng colour term in Vietnamese data

Table 3.18: 06-class classification and category sub-classification of #ăng colour term inVietnamese data 355Table 3.19: Object referents of do colour term in Vietnamese data 20358Table: 3.20: 06-class classification and category sub-classification of do colour term inVietnamese data 360Table 3.21: Object referents of vang colour term in Vietnamese data 363Table 3.22: 06-class classification and category sub-classification of vang colour term inVietnamese data, 364Table 3.27: Object referents ofxanh colour term in Vietnamese data 366Table 3.28: 06-class classification and category sub-classification of xanh colour term inVietnamese data 367Table 3.29: Object referents ofxam colour term in Vietnamese data 369Table 3.30: 06-class classification and category sub-classification of xdm colour term inVietnamese data 369

TABLE OF CONTENTSSTATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ABSTRACT ii

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1Aims and Objectives

Research questions

Scope of the stud)

Methodology of the study

aa dã Bi lở Significance of the study

Des Structure of the study

PART 2 DEVELOPMENT 10CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 101.1 REVIEW ON PREVIOUS STUDIES

1.2.6 Prototype and Prototype theory

1.2.6.1 An overview of Prototype terminology

1.2.6.2 Viewpoints on Prototype theory

1.2.7 An overview of basic colour terms

1.2.7.1 Physical features and linguistic criteria of basic colour terms 441.2.7.1.1 Physical features of a basic colour term

1.2.7.1.2 Linguistic criteria of a basic colour term

1.2.7.2 Basic colour terms in English

1.2.7.3 Basic colour terms in Vietnamese

CHAPTER 3: CLASS CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORY SUB-CLASSIFICATION

OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE DAT,

3.1 Class classification and category sub-classification of basic colour terms inEnglish data

83

3.1.1 Class and category classification of b/ack colour terms in English data 833.1.2 Class and category classification of white colour term in English data.3.1.3 Class and category classification of red colour term in English data 3.1.4 Class and category classification ofyel/ow colour term in English

3.1.5 Class and category classification of green colour terms in English data 953.1.7 Class and category classification of grey colour term in English data 1003.2 Class classification and category sub-classification of basic colour terms in

‘Vietnamese data

3.2.1 Class and category classification of đen colour term in Vietnamese data 1023.2.2 Class and category classification of #rding colour term in Vietnamese data 1053.2.3 Class and category classification of do colour term in Vietnamese data 1093.2.4 Class and category classification of vdng colour term in Vietnamese data 1123.2.5 Class and category classification of xanh colour term in Vietnamese data 1153.2.6 Class and category classification of xdm colour term in Vietnamese data 1183.3 Summary wk 20CHAPTER 4 COMPARISON OF PROTOTYPES OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS INENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE DATA 1244.1 Prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data 1244.2 Comparison of prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data 1324.2.1 Prototype of black colour term in English compared to prototype of den colourterm in Vietnamese 334.2.2 Prototype of white colour term in English compared to prototype of trang colourterm in Vietnamese 1354.2.3 Prototype of red colour term in English compared to prototype of do colour term

in Vietnamese 1374.2.4 Prototype ofyellow colour term in English compared to prototype of vàngcolour term in Vietnamese 1404.2.5 Prototype of green colour term and prototype of b/„e colour term in Englishcompared to prototype of xanh colour term in Vietnamese 1414.2.6 Prototype of grey colour term in English compared to prototype of xdm colourterm in Vietnamese 144

43 Summary 146PART 3 CONCLUSION 1495.1 Recapitulation 1495.2 Concluding remarks

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES 157

English references 157Vietnamese references 164RESEARCHER’S ARTICLES RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION

APPENDICES 170

APPENDIX |: LITERATURE REVIEW 170APPENDIX 2: OBJECT REFERENTS OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS IN ENGLISH ANDVIETNAMESE DATA 188APPENDIX 3: TABLES OF OBJECT REFERENTS AND 06-CLASS CLASSIFICATIONAND CATEGORY SUB-CLASSIFICATION OF BASIC COLOUR TERMS IN ENGLISHAND VIETNAMESE DATA 294

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The view on this diverse world results in different colour pictures, whichclearly reflects the distinctive values in cognition and culture of one nation itself Inother words, colour terms, besides the usual daily semantically expressiveviewpoint, should be explored from deeper cognitive views underneath (Vũ PhuongAnh, 2011) so as to explore the connections between one colour term and theequivalent prototypes in human beings’ cognition

In the world, the issue of colour terms has been studied from variousresearch aspects as follows:

In terms of lexical aspect, the role of culture has been emphasized inresearching colour terminologies, rather than researching colour terminologies inseparation Studies by Geiger (1869); Conklin (1955); Lakoff (1987); Kay & Maffi(1999) have influenced this current dissertation since cultural element used to beignored in considering the connection between colour terminologies and their usage

In Vietnamese, Trinh Thi Minh Huong (1999) paid more attention to lexical aspect,mainly towards one colour term or some basic colour terms in Vietnameselanguage

Regarding semantic viewpoint, Kövecses (1986) and Lucy (1992) lay thefoundation in which colour prototypes should be performed based on the semanticfeatures of colour category In Viét Nam, Hoang Van Hanh (1982), Nguyén HoangPhuong Linh (2014) and Lé Phuong Thao (2018) compare and contrast thesemantic values and meanings between colour terms in Vietnamese and English.Concerning culture factor, Chevalier and Gheerbrant (1997) as well asWierzbicka (2006) provide knowledge about the role of culture in the diverseinternational system of colour symbols around the world Nguyén Khanh Ha (1995)confirms the existence of the parallel connection between one particular linguistic

expression (a lexical word unit) and its associated typical cultural nationalcharacteristics.

In respect of cognitive viewpoint, this research direction has beenincreasingly popular and widely applied Rivers (1897), Brown and Lenneberg(1954), Berlin and Kay (1969), Heider (1971, 1972), Rosch (1973, 1974, 1975)have been more aware of the fact that colour categories should be represented incognition in terms of a prototype (as the most salient object referent) of the categorysurrounded by less-similarity object referents Tran Thi Lan (2001), Lé Van Thanh (2014); Hoang Tuyét Minh and Nguyén Van Quang (2015) identify the connectionbetween the prototypes of one basic colour and the associated objects in daily real-life situations close to one community members’ life culture and cognition related

to the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English culture andcognition system

These researchers, concentrating on one single colour term or some specificcolour terms in one language only, does provide the most wide-ranging generalpicture with further detailed explanations with the subject of linguistic and cognitivesystem within one native community Therefore, a research on basic colour termsfrom a different theoretical framework (particularly, prototype theory) with abroader research scope should be conducted with the hope of discovering basiccolour prototypes between English and Vietnamese languages together with furtherexplanations based on cultural and cognitive perspectives for better understandingabout the similarities and the differences between these two systems

Practically, the findings of this dissertation introduce reliable informationrelated to the prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese dataaccompanied by a comprehensible explanation of cultural and cognitivecharacteristics of English and Vietnamese communities The findings of this studyprovide the background for English and Vietnamese learners to be able to translate

or interpret these prototypes of basic colour terms correctly in terms of cultural and

cognitive viewpoints Native readers or speakers understand the similarities anddistinguish the differences for the correct daily usage between the two linguisticsystems in terms of prototypes, class classification and category sub-classification

of basic colour terms

25 Aim and Objectives

The ultimate aim of this dissertation is to compare and contrast theprototypes of black/den, white/tring, red/dé, yellow/vang, green/blue/xanh,grey/xdm colour terms in English and Vietnamese data from the cognitive andcultural perspectives

The specific aim for this study is to point out the similarities and thedifferences among the prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamesedata from cognitive and cultural perspectives; therefore, the following objectives areput forward for the complete insight:

- To classify object referents functioning as colour-term referents of basiccolour terms in English and Vietnamese data into 06 classes and categories

- To identify the prototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamesedata based on prototype theory

- To point out the similarities and the differences of the prototypes of basiccolour terms in English and Vietnamese data from cognitive and culturalperspectives

- What are the similarities and the differences of the prototypes of basiccolour terms in English and Vietnamese data from cognitive and culturalperspectives?

4, Scope of the study

Regarding dissertation approaches, this dissertation is employed based onprototype, category and cognitive and cultural elements In this study, a prototype isdefined as the most salient feature in connection with the list of other object referents ofone basic colour term whereas a category is the grouping of object referents of onebasic colour term based on the commonalities with the prototype Additionally,cognitive and cultural elements assist as explanatory role towards the prototypes ofbasic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data for similarities and differences.With regard to research subjects, a basic colour term, based on Berlin and Kay’s(1969) linguistic criteria, in the form of one single root adjective word as oneindependent lexical unit, expresses the mental or psychological unit of our humanconsciousness and of the whole world image reflected in human psychology Based onBerlin and Kay’s (1969) presentation of 11 basic colour terms, white, black, red,yellow, blue, green, brown, purple, pink, grey, orange colour terms in English languageare the original research targeted subjects whereas those basic colour terms inVietnamese are rắng, den, đỏ, vàng, xanh da trời (xanh đương), xanh lá cây, nâu, tim, hong, xám, cam in Vietnamese language.

Nevertheless, that xanh da trời (xanh dương) and xanh lá cay colour terms areinappropriate due to the linguistic criteria of a basic colour term as one singleindependent lexical word results in the final choice on xanh colour term in Vietnamese.From the initial data collection step, in terms of tokens containing these basic colourterms from literary works, the data containing brown/ndu, purple/tim, pink/héng,orange/cam colour terms bring in the following number: 17/01, 04/02, 02/10, 01/00,respectively Within this research scope, the collected data of each basic colour term isexpected to reach above 10 tokens for strengthened reliability The examples

containing ndu/purple/tim/pink/orange colour terms are too low to be reliable for thefinal conclusion on the prototype of each colour term although those of brown/héngcolour terms are above 10 examples However, the ultimate aim of this study is tocompare and contrast the prototypes of colour terms in English and those inVietnamese; particularly, the following pairs of basic colour terms in English andVietnamese data (brown/ndu, purple/tim, pink/héng, orange/cam) do not meet this

criterion Consequently, brown/ndu, purple/tim, pink/hong, orange/cam colour terms

are affirmed not to be the research subjects in this study

Ina nutshell, white, black, red, yellow, green, blue, grey colour terms in Englishand irdng, den, đỏ, vàng, xanh, xám colour terms in Vietnamese have been asserted asthe official research colour terms targets in this dissertation It should be noted that thisexact appearance sequence of basic colour terms is continuously applied and expressed

in presentation layout throughout the chapters in this dissertation

Prototypes of basic colour terms in English and those in Vietnamese areidentified through comparative idioms formatted as + basic colour term + as + objectreferent X structure in the scope of the study in English and Vietnamese data.Idioms with comparative structures accumulated are from literary works inEnglish and Vietnamese data From this, further information relating to the objectreferents associated with each basic colour term as well as the percentage as thefinalized appearance percentage of all surrounding object referents with differentranges of salience level lay the foundation for prototype identification and explanationtasks,

In regard to data criteria, the data of this dissertation is collected and analyzedbased on:

- Basic colour terms in English (black, white, red, yellow, green, blue grey) and

basic colour terms in Vietnamese (den, trang, do, vàng, xanh, xám) are the research

colour terms

- Comparative idioms comprise as + basic colour term + as/nhw + objectreferent X structure in the scope of the study in English and Vietnamese data.

- The prototype of a basic colour term in English or Vietnamese must beunderstood as the most salient example in a category or in all category membersincluded in one colour category, identified based on the highest appearance percentage;

in other words, the object referent associated with one basic colour term obtains thehighest appearance percentage is affirmed as the prototype of this basic colour term.Concerning the process of prototype comparison of basic colour terms inEnglish and Vietnamese data, a colour term, based on Wierzbicka’s (1996) hypothesis

on the symbolic meaning attached to basic colour terms, is described as follows:

“People can see something like this when they see something else I can say that”(Wierzbicka, 2005: 229) In short, a particular colour term ‘means what people mean orhave in mind when they use it’ (Wierzbicka, 1996: 293)

On the subject of category classification from the total object referents of basiccolour terms in English and Vietnamese data, the following 06 categories, namelyFlora, Fauna, Inanimate nature, Food and beverage, Man-made object, Body andbodily product have been the official classifying criterion in this dissertation (Griber etal., 2018) From this foundation, a detailed description of sub-classification withinthese 06 categories is another main concentration in this dissertation

For the purpose of comparing and contrasting, this research applies TheoreticalContrastive Analysis which looks for the realization of a universal category X in both

A and B (Fisiak et al., 1978: 10) In other words, that “X is understood as the prototype

of a basic colour term introduces the colour categories present in language A (orEnglish language) and language B (or Vietnamese language)

x

Js

Figure 0.1: Theoretical CAs (Adapted from Fisiak et al 1978: 10)

Comparative criteria, in terms of prototypes of basic colour terms, shouldmeet the following requirements: (i) Comparing the appearance frequency typicalfor the object referents associated with one basic colour term before identifying theprototype of this basic colour term; (ii) Comparing in terms of semantic meaning ofthese prototypes in English and Vietnamese data; (iii) Comparing in terms ofcognitive and cultural features of these prototypes of basic colour terms in Englishand Vietnamese data.

5 Methodology of the study

This thesis is designed as a contrastive study using the combined method.Qualitative method and quantitative method, with bilateral relationships, are inter-twined in analyzing prototypes of basic colour terms The comparison of theprototypes of basic colour terms in these two languages helps gain more insightsinto the similarities and the differences associated with basic colour terms in twocultures

To be explained in further details, quantitative method (especially linguisticstatistical method) provides reliable results based on SPSS tool Qualitative method(especially the descriptive method) provides explanations by describing thedistinctive features of the prototypes of black/den, white/trang, red/đỏ, yellow/vang,green/blue/xanh, grey/xám colour terms to reflect lexical and semantic distinctivefeatures Contrastive method compares the similarities and the differences betweenEnglish and Vietnamese cognition systems towards colour terms, which reveal moreinformation related to possible differences and similarities in distinctive culturalfeatures based on linguistic data between English and Vietnamese nations

6 Significance of the study

This dissertation focuses on the most salient representative feature objectreferents for the finalized prototypes of basic colour terms in English andVietnamese Besides further research on cultural and cognitive characteristics of

English and Vietnamese language systems, the findings of this research set thefoundation for further research on basic colour terms in general and on theprototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data in particular.Theoretically, the results of this study provide new insight into theprototypes of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data The study resultssupport studies in cognitive linguistics in general and distinctive cultural andcognitive features in particular Additionally, this research brings a clearexplanation regarding the cultural characteristics and cognition processes of Englishand Vietnamese nations in order to illuminate the similarities and the differencesbetween the two linguistic systems.

Practically, the results of this study help English and Vietnamese teachersand learners understand the prototypes of black/den, white/tréng, red/do,yellow/vang, green/blue/xanh, grey/xám colour terms in English and Vietnamese byproviding useful materials in the process of teaching and learning effectively.Besides, English and Vietnamese native speakers can raise their awareness related

to the potential differences and similarities in the other language In other words, theknowledge of the enriching cultural and national distinctive features beingpresented through colour prototypes helps readers understand the similarities anddistinguish the differences so as to grasp the underlying messages conveyed whenreading literary works or national comparative idioms The potentially achievedresults will facilitate speakers of one foreign language with deeper understandingrelated to the cognitive characteristics analyzed under the light of culture andthinking between the two communities, especially for the benefit of cultural shockavoidance

T Structure of the study

Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, Development part is divided into:

Chapter 1, Literature Review, firstly, serves as an overview on the previousstudies related to colour and colour terms from multi-aspects with the purpose ofpointing out the existing gaps that this study attempts to fulfill Secondly, this chapterreviews relevant literature of prototype theory: naming theory, category, cognition andculture English and Vietnamese cultural features in addition to the language-culture-cognition relation would also be presented The following section is the presentation ofbasic colour terms concentrating on physical features and linguistic criteria to identify thebasic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data Last but not least, the theoreticalframework as the core spine of this dissertation is presented.

Chapter 2, Methodology Chapter, delineates the choice of quantitative method,qualitative method, comparative-contrastive analysis method comprising procedures,data collection as well as data analysis procedures to facilitate the research process.Chapter 3, Classes and categories of basic colour terms in English andVietnamese data, is a detailed description of the findings from data of comparativeidioms containing black/den, white/tréng, red/đỏ, yellow/vang, green/blue/xanh,8rey/xám colour terms from literary works The 06-class classification of basic colourterms in English and Vietnamese as well as category sub-classification is represented.This chapter paves the way for deeper illustration in terms of prototype identification andprototype comparison in the following chapter

Chapter 4, Comparison of prototypes of basic colour terms in English andVietnamese data, further explains the similarities and the differences between theprototypes of basic colour terms in these two languages based on cognitive and culturalvalues This part contributes to the general pictures of English and Vietnamese nationswith regard to the prototypes of black/den, white/trdng, red/đỏ, yellow/vang,green/blue/xanh, grey/xám colour terms

Last but not least, References and Appendices come at the end of the dissertation

PART 2.DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

This Literature Review Chapter is a comprehensive and thorough overviewwith reference to basic colour terms from multi-aspect research directions Thissection also concentrates on principal concepts forming the mainline theoreticalframework (prototype theory, category, cognition, culture) accompanied by thewidespread-synthesized presentation related to basic colour terms This reviewregarding previous studies brings in the dissertation theoretical framework.1.1 REVIEW ON PREVIOUS STUDIES

The study of colour terms across time and cultures started in the second half

of the 19'-century which witnesses the existence of a universalist perspective on the colour debate in the mid-19" century (Biggam, 2012) Colour terms have beeninvestigated from a variety of perspectives

1.1.1 In English

The debate around colour terms becomes popular since Berlin & Kay'sfamous study in 1969 Then, other researches predating or postdating this 1969stime-mainline have concentrated on multi-aspect research directions The researchhistory on basic colour terms can be classified into the four main research directions

responsible for generating perceptual states which differ in psychological salience;

on the other hand, the psychological differences between more and less salientperceived colours bias humans (Kay & Maffi, 1999) downplay the role of cultureand its main proponents (Berlin & Kay, 1969; Rosch, 1972)

In a similar vein, Gladstone’s view, with enormous influence on afterwardsresearches, was developed into a diachronic model of colour language development.This model is constructed from the evidence of synchronic colour term application.The idea of detecting the refinement of colour term reference in distinct synchronicsources and proposing a diachronic developmental sequence to explain suchimprovement was accepted and regarded as ‘an evolutionary process which all racesexperience’ (Magnus, quoted in Biggam, 2012: 13)

Regarding biologic-psychological theories, the universal aspects in colourcoding knowledge, lexical domain of colour, the empirical locus of linguisticrelativity and language determinism, the study on Mesoamerican colour terms wasresearched entirely on basis of hue without any regard to intensity or saturation(Klineberg, 1935) whereas human colour perception study was based on originalmaterials of more than 60 North-American Mesoamerican tribes (Jackendoff, 1952,1953)

Study by Lenneberg and Robert (1953) was evaluated as a dedicated supportfor the linguistic relativity hypothesis despite their main original intention originallyaimed as an additional research tool In the original study in an array of 320 colourchips varying in the dimensions of hue and brightness in a physical chart, Zunispeakers are reported to encounter more difficulties in colour recall for thesecolours than English speakers who have available terms to distinguish them Thesignificant differences between the Zuni from the American Southwest and nativeEnglish speakers in the ranges informants for colour terms provide sufficientevidence for the linguistic relativity hypothesis (Lenneberg and Robert, 1953)

Performed on a different participant subject (Hanunoo tribe in Philippines),the lexical set of colour alphabet system related to perceptual categorization is thecentral point (Conklin, 1955) Following the same research direction on humanbeings in other nations, neither the investigation on 56 categories and the responses

by students from Universities of Maryland (270 subjects) and Illinois (172 subjects)nor that between the American and Scottish studies in the field of colour termsfound no substantial agreement (Battig and Montague, 1965; Brown, 1978).Another research direction of colour lexicon arising from the structure andfunction of the visual system is considered as semantic universal received attentionfrom McDaniel (1972, 1974) who asserted the role of perception in determininglanguage in deriving semantic universals from properties of the visual systemtowards any colour category

One notable study among the vast literature works on colour terms was oneproposed by Lakoff in 1987 This study shows the possibility to compare colourcategories comprising focal colours in different languages (Lakoff, 1987)

To be conducted in a different research direction from others previouslymentioned, in particular, the respondents were asked to write down as many colour terms

as possible with no time limit as well as the group composed of people of and-70 ages, this new research trend was able to check the ultimate number of colourterms that can be remembered and notified (Taft and Sivik, 1997)

between-17-In the linguistic analysis on old English colour terms (grey, blue), thatcollocations, referents and contrasts draw conclusions about the extension of theword related to colour nuances illustrates the fact that detailed contextual studies of

a collection of individual tokens can be helpful towards the overall semanticcharacterization of a given term (Biggam, 1997)

Besides the support towards colour terminology universalism, criticismrelated to an autonomous neuro-physiological colour pathway is revealed in thestudy of physiological colour perception (Saunders and van Brakel, 1997)

As an attempt of Berlin and Kay hypothesis, “World Colour Survey”, assuperordinate rules, determines the evolution of Basic Colour Terms: black and white

to distinguish black and white; Warm and Cool to distinguish the warm primaries (redand yellow) from the cool primaries (green and blue); Red to distinguish red Theordering of these rules reflects the data accumulated from the overwhelming majority

of languages studied in World Colour Survey (Kay and Maffi, 1999)

Regarding the connection between colour language and speakers’ needs,colour language develops based on speakers’ needs due to the differences in colourlanguage residing in differences in physiology and intensive literary contexts Inother words, basic colour terms used by native speakers in one region depend onhuman characteristics in colour cognition and multi-culture colour development andstructure Colour has become a deeply studied domain that addresses therelationship between language and thought thanks to the exhibition of bothbiological and linguistic aspects Colour cognition differences result in colour termvariability - more culture-specific phenomena from language to language (Surridge,Osorio and Mundy, 2003; Kay and Reiger, 2006)

On the subject of the relation between primary and secondary colour termdivision, the differences between basic colour terms and secondary colour termsused by native community members, based on distinguishing criteria, are identifiedfor the close connection among the basic colour sensory agents and naming thesecolours (Hardin, 2005)

Berlin and Kay's theory of basic colour terminology implies an ethnocentricbias based on traditions of Western scientific and philosophical thought; however,the translation method for colour terms from 78 languages is criticized Theeffectiveness of Munsell colour system in colour terminology elicitation and focalhue identification as well as colour terminology de-contextualization and failure formethodology limitation identification is questioned (Saunders, 2014)

In terms of semantics research direction, semantic domains of colourcategories comprise more central points with more identified features thanperipheral ones, and these focal points are defined as ‘basic colour terms’(Kövecses, 1986) This new naming of basic colour terms, different from primaryand secondary colour terms, has been the background for further researches on basiccolour terms in one linguistic system in combination with other theoretical elementsfrom a more diverse research perspective.

How linguistic analysis has characterized the meanings of colour termsacross languages is the central achievement in this semantic research direction(Lucy, 1992) Especially, this study focuses on the two critical dimensions indefining the meaning of a term: referential range (what a colour term can refer to)and grammatical distribution (how the term can be used)

On the subject of culture research direction, the relationship betweenphysiology and language, proposed by Gladstone (1858) and Magnus (quoted inBiggam, 2012), was rejected On surveying on colour-blindness cultures,differences in colour language reside in differences in contexts: colour languagedevelops in relation to speakers’ needs, isolated from the vision system (Surridge,Osorio and Mundy, 2003)

Based on Ndembu materials and rituals, colour classification wasrecommended to exist in initial cultures, implying that colour element is connected

to culture element (Turner, 1967) This implication is in line with the previousstudies

National colour symbols around the world, mainly in ethnology, socialism,psychology, mythology and religion, provide the description and explanations aboutthe diverse aspects of colour symbolic meaning Culture, included as sociallytransmitted information, causes some differences in colour languages to expressthemselves in connection with particular cultural or linguistic groups (Reiger, Kay

& Cook, 2005); therefore, colour language should be put in the relationships withhuman mind, brain and culture (Chevalier and Gheerbrant, 1997).

From cognition perspective, colour encyclopedia of tribes in North Pole fromnative speakers’ colour vocabularies as well as their ability in discriminatingcolours shows that colour vocabularies are different, depending on diverse colourperception Different colour vocabularies depend on variant colour perception ofnative speakers’ colour vocabularies and their abilities in discriminating colours(Rivers, 1897) Perception element serves as the initial phase concerning colour-forming vocabulary while culture element gradually consolidates its impact towardscolour lexicon and distinctive thinking habit

Codability effect on recognition is another new research orientation A series ofMunsell chips is used to test colour recall and recognition in English speakers Theavailability of a basic colour term in a given language affects the retention of thatcolour in recall testing Brown and Lenneberg (1954) attributed this effect to theproperty of codability; more specifically, linguistic codability is the ease with whichpeople can name things and the effects of naming on cognition and behavior

As colour issue has been important in larger discussion of biology-culture relation, Kay and Berlin (1969) challenged the thesis of completerelativism in colour encoding The expansion of Lenneberg and Robert’sexperiments was possible thanks to the use of stimulus materials developed byLenneberg and Roberts (1956) in a Whorfian-influenced study to assess themeanings of the basic colour terms Concerning the relationship between prototypesand colour categories, universal prototypes are discovered for colour categorydefinition and a universal sequence for colour lexicon emergence The naturalsalience of the colour prototypes plays a role in colour category formation.Categories, with their uncertain boundaries, are connected to prototypes aspsychologically salient cognitive anchors, in which, prototypes are cognitively basicand boundaries are defined in relation to prototypes (Berlin and Kay, 1969) The

language-mind-fundamental but provoking findings have genuinely initiated the new research trendwith reference to basic colour terms.

Based on further empirical work and the introduction of earlier work byMcDaniel and Wooten (McDaniel, 1972), the same research orientation (similar tothat by Berlin and Kay) re-conceptualizes the encoding sequence for thisreformulation for the following conclusions First, colours are independent of anybeings in the world Second, colour concepts, embodied in focal colours, are partlydetermined by human biology Third, colour categorization makes use of humanbiology However, colour categories are more than a consequence of the nature of theworld plus human biology; rather, colour categories resulted from the world plushuman biology plus cognitive mechanism with some characteristics of fuzzy settheory plus a culture-specific choice of basic colour categories (Kay and McDaniel,1978)

The work with the profound impact on cognitive psychology field must havebeen prototype theory by Eleanor Rosch (1972) which is the mainline theoreticalfoundation for further surveys Human minds process colour categories throughlearning, remembering, denoting and evolving; in other words, the internalgradation in colour categories implies a possibility to isolate the point of thecategory because only the best example reveals the internal structure of categories(Heider 1971, 1972; Rosch 1973, 1974, 1975; Mervis, Catlin and Rosch, 1975).Research on colour implies how the world languages structure references to colourstimuli in their semantic systems or describes the existence of a system of colourcategories or the characteristics incorporation of colourific information intocategories Colour categories should be represented in cognition, in terms of aprototype (as the clearest cases, the best examples) of the category surrounded byother colours of decreasing similarity to the prototype and of decreasing degree ofmembership (Rosch, 1975: 193) Colour categories present in human cognition as aset of both criteria features with clear-cut boundaries and prototypes (as the clearestcases, the best examples) of the category, in which, this prototype is surrounded by

other colours with decreasing similarity to this prototype and with decreasingdegree of membership (Rosch, 1975: 193; Rosch et al 1976).

In terms of the connection between cognition and language, colour sensingsystem from left hemisphere and transferred to the right hemisphere throughlinguistic development leads to the close connection between colour cognition andlanguages (Kay and Chad, 1978)

With reference to etymology, the survey on English colour terms with thedetermination that b/ue term originated from French, green term originated fromGerman sharing the similar with grow verb, red term borrowed from Greece, pinkterm sharing the original with Dutch language, opens a new research direction incolour terms for comparison and contrast among different lexical systems in theworld (Quinion, 1996)

In the relation between colour terms and emotional words, why colour termsand emotional words are involved in different languages in the world results fromthe overlapping phenomenon as well as the similarities and the differencesregarding semantic impacts on colour terms and emotional words (Soriano andValenzuela, 2006)

In short, a variety of research directions in connection to lexical, semantic,cultural or cognitive perspectives has laid the foundation and influential theories onone or some linguistic systems However, the limitation lies in the fact that not asingle research performed on prototypes of basic colour terms in English data,especially accompanied by the combination of national distinctive cultural andcognitive features, has been carried out This room left in research performance inEnglish has introduced the initial idea of performing one research on this theoreticalfoundation of this dissertation: the prototype theory with the concentration onprototypes of basic colour terms in English data accompanied by cultural-cognitiveexplanations is the potential research orientation for this dissertation

1.12 In Việt Nam

In terms of Vietnamese language, inheriting the afore-mentioned previousstudies, these theories or hypothesis are applied into practical Vietnamese contextsfor better understanding of national distinctive meanings towards each colour term

or for revealing other hidden meanings from one colour term or the broader picturebetween Vietnamese cultural meaning and another national culture Vietnameseresearchers have concentrated on colour vocabularies, mainly in specific appliedresearches in lexical field, exploiting semantic formations, descriptive semanticlayers as well as distinctive cultural thinking In other words, the number ofresearches on colour terms in Vietnamese language remains relatively limited,mostly found in some grammatical textbooks Additionally, in-depth researches oncolour terms are the focus in some master and doctoral thesis Fundamentalresearches on basic colour terms in Vietnamese are in the research directions asfollows:

In terms of lexicon research direction, metaphor aspect of colour terms isadequately paid attention Based on Tố Hitu’s one hundred and sixty poems from

1937 to 1971, metaphors connected to đez/trăng/đỏ/xanh colour terms is the mainfocus In particular, den colour term brings the sense of sadness and fury due to theunequal remaining and the existing power in the feudal society; «rang colour termbrings coldness, emptiness and death besides purity and kindness in human heart oroptimism and belief; xanh colour term represents victory, love, hope as wellhappiness, wealth, freedom and independence; do colour term stands for the glory

of history, dream and future Colour adjectives do not only express the objectiveexternal colours but also evokes outside scenes’ and human beings’ internalsubjective colour terms These colour metaphors are thoughtful as well as natural inaccordance with modernization and realism clearly reflects his inner beauty andsensitive soul, resulting in the conclusion that the subjective language usersdetermine metaphors (Lé Anh Hién, 1971).

Investigating the use of colour terms in literary works has been a dominatingtrend regarding lexicon research orientation in Vietnamese researches, namely asBiện Minh Điền (2000), Nguyễn Thi Thành Thắng (2001) and Hà Thi Thu Hoài

(2006) From Nguyễn Khuyén’s poems, all the colour words are collected to

identify the ratio of the most dominant colours; especially xanh colour term createsthe natural beauty of Northern rural area (Biện Minh Dién, 2000) What is more,

polysemy phenomenon of colour words in Nguyễn Khuyén’s poems is generalized

in order to emphasize this poet’s distinctive artistic style (Nguyén Thi Thanh Thang,2001) In the similar orientation, the target towards Tô Hoai’s creativeness increating many layers of ng, vàng, đỏ colour terms is the specific aim of thisresearch (Hà Thi Thu Hoài, 2006) This demonstrated that the huge Vietnamesedata in poetry branch or literal works is potentially beneficial for future surveys orresearches on the subject of colour terms

Basic colour terms or colour supplementary lexicons in Vietnameselanguage, particularly Vietnamese derivative colour terms, are initially surveyed.Besides some fundamental features on basic and derivative colour terms inVietnamese language, especially on xanh and do colour terms, are also presented(Trinh Thi Thu Hién, 2004) The findings from this research have demonstrated thepotential research orientation regarding basic colour terms and derivative colourterms in Vietnamese as well as in other languages

The following work on Vietnamese colour lexicons concentrates onanalyzing symbolic meanings of Vietnamese colour lexicons The descriptivemeaning of Vietnamese colour terminologies in literary works is the central surveysubject The way to construct descriptive meaning towards colour lexicons as well

as in English and Vietnamese colour idioms has been identified; however,comparing and contrasting colour terminologies between English and Vietnamesedata has not been paid adequate attention (Trinh Thi Minh Huong, 1999)

In short, the afore-mentioned works, with more attention particularly to onecolour term or some basic colour terms in Vietnamese language, have surveyed oncolour lexicon used in Vietnamese literary works for the aesthetic values andillustrate the emphasis on one particular author’s distinctive literal style.Vietnamese linguistic system is diverse in linguistic expressions (basic colour termsand their sub-terms) and expressive values for the literal aesthetic achievement.

In terms of semantics research direction, regarding researches performedonly on Vietnamese colour terms, each particular combination presents onedistinguished semantic value due to the specific meanings of each colourterminology in combination with ‘face’ words in normal or reverse orders Thereverse orders containing ‘mau + mặt” express human beings’ emotions andaffections (xanh mặt refers to anxiety or fear states; do mat refers to embarrassment,tim mặt means anger) However, the normal orders of these colour words with faceare found in idiomatic expressions with expressive values, in which face as asupporting unit in these idioms (Bùi Thi Ngọc Anh, 2008)

Sharing the similar interest in Vietnamese colour terms, Trần Văn Sáng(2009), based on six hundred Vietnamese folk songs, conclude that Vietnamesecolour terms carry mainly literal or specific meanings with less figurative meaningimplication Specifically, do colour term in Vietnamese folk songs expresses thecolour of young female’s cheeks, a constant visible feature in description todemonstrate Vietnamese ancestors’ ancient viewpoint on beauty (Tran Văn Sáng,2009)

The issue of comparison in colour term usage between Vietnamese andanother linguistic system also attracts some Vietnamese researchers One similarcomparison is performed based on the semantic structure among Vietnameseadjectives and those in Russian (Hoang Van Hanh, 1982)

English reference connected to red, green, purple, pink, grey, black, whitecolour terms in English idioms is the concentration Particularly, in grammatical

aspect, colour terminologies are equivalent in idioms whereas in semantic aspect,each colour lexicon consists of private connections despite the standing side-by-sideposition The conclusion is that colour combinations carry a common meaningwhen in combination or colour combination in one idiom consists some logic values(Vũ Phuong Anh, 2003).

Colour idioms in English and Vietnamese data are surveyed to figure out thesimilarities and the differences in idiom usages for Vietnamese students torecognize errors in learning English However, the limited number of idiomscomprising red/dé, yellow/vang, blue/xanh, black/den, whife/trắng colourterminologies between the two languages in this small-scale research restricts thedata scope (Nguyén Hoang Phuong Linh, 2014) Sharing the same data target andfocusing on semantics theories introduced by international linguistics researchersare the foundations for exploring some prominent semantic features of theVietnamese and English idioms about love, marriage and family The findings will

be able to facilitate the understanding of these idioms’ meanings: (i) Idiommeanings are constructed on metaphor, metonymy and national cultural knowledge;(ii) Individual Vietnamese lexical meaning depends on synonym and antonymregulations; (iii) Most English and Vietnamese idioms can be explained directly due

to the figurative and transferred senses (Nghiêm Thi Bich Diệp, 2018)

Vietnamese phrases containing den, trang colour terms formed based onnative speakers’ conventions characterizing national distinctive features compared

to English phrases containing black and white colour terms usually applied infigurative meaning or meaning transfer is another survey conducted to compare andcontrast between English and Vietnamese languages Vietnamese and Englishnative speakers use different semantic meanings, matching with their nativecommunities: in form, in colour cognition, in potential usage with an adjectivecomponent in another language The main difference helps English learners identifythe matching capacity between fixed phrases and use them approximately incommunication (Nguyễn Thị Tố Hoa, 2017) Similarly, xanh and đỏ colour terms in

Vietnamese are analyzed mainly from semantic perspective - the most traditionalresearch orientation (Trinh Thi Thu Hién, 2015).

From focusing on den, trang colour terms in English and Vietnamese data orxanh and do colour terms in Vietnamese in these two studies above, this data scopehas been expanded into 05 đỏ, vàng, den, trắng, xanh basic colour terms inVietnamese and Chinese languages in the following study With respect to colourresearches from comparative-contrastive perspective between two linguisticsystems, đỏ, vàng, den, trắng, xanh colour terms together with their impliedmeanings are surveyed from a different viewpoint on the similarities and thedifferences between Vietnamese and Chinese linguistic systems Expressivefeatures and semantic structures of colour terms in Vietnamese and Chineselinguistic systems as well as their percentage in data collected from literary worksare the central research subjects in this dissertation (Bùi Thị Thúy Phương, 2004).Central research objectives, lexicon formation on basic colour terms andtheir derivations in idioms and data from literary works, demonstrate the percentage

of colour lexicons The conclusions refer to the three following aspects: Basiccolour term formation (English language uses compounding and inflecting methodswhereas Vietnamese language uses repeating method); Basic colour term semantics(Basic colour terms with more meanings imply a variety and power in meaningtransformation away from the original meaning); Iconic meaning (Basic colourcognition in English and Vietnamese systems employs distinctive cultural nationalfeatures) The limitation is that the attention has been paid merely on originalmeaning, inflected meaning, transformed meaning and iconic meaning withoutresearching other inflected and specific colour terms in English and Vietnamese data(Lé Phuong Thao, 2018)

In short, these works are beneficial in assisting foreign language learners indistinguishing the similarities and the differences between linguistic units or fixed

phrases accompanied by literal, figurative or even transfer meanings and thepractical usage for misunderstanding avoidance in communication.

On the subject of culture research direction, regarding Vietnamese colourterms, sub-systems in colour vocabularies in Vietnamese are classified to analyzethe meanings and contexts in lexical usage so as to clarify the connections betweenthese colour terms and typical cultural national characteristics Based on pointingthe word-class features (primary and secondary colour terms) and comparing for thecommon relations among them, the connections between these words and typicalcultural national characteristics have been identified However, besides mentioningthe relations among these lexical groups (for example: basic colour terms,secondary colour terms and distinctive colour terms), some major classes consisting

of diverse colour terms (like idioms) were not mentioned What is more, the colourterms between English and Vietnamese idioms for similarities and differences andthe impacts of linguistics, culture and thinking in using these colour lexicons werenot compared and contrasted (Nguyén Khanh Ha, 1995) The idea of exploitingcolour terms from idioms in English and Vietnamese data can be further researchedand enhanced for a complete study

With regard to the studies on other foreign languages, the survey on theconnection between Flora group (including flower and plant objects) and colourterms in Vietnamese and English idioms presents some similarities and somedifferences related to natural world between English and Vietnamese cultural

features (Tran Thi Thu Huyén, 2001).

Centering on the idea of how colour words are applied, this comprehensivesummary on linguistic and cultural knowledge connected to colour terms is valued

as one brief introduction of linguistic and cultural impacts (Lé Thi Vy, 2006).That colour is viewed as a universal symbol in some cultural and religiousrituals in the world brings in current research orientation from semiotic viewpointtowards colour terms (Nguyễn Đức Dân, 2006) This has opened up more studies

among different languages for a more comprehensive picture of the world linguistic

system

In short, these studies, from the connection between linguistics and culturefactors (even religious factor), introduce the general picture about the similaritiesand the differences between Vietnamese and English cultures These works declarethe parallel connection between one particular linguistic expression (a word or alexical unit) and distinctive cultural national features Also, idioms have proved thereliable features in primary data source for upcoming researches

As to cognition research direction, not many works on colour terms havebeen conducted from cognitive perspective, especially at master and doctoral thesis.These articles, carrying the tendency to compare between Vietnamese language andanother target language, concentrate on one single colour term or all basic colourterms within the limited research scope

A pioneering survey on the connection between colour perception and colourspectrum is the concentration on visual perception and different humancommunities possessing different viewpoints on colours (Đào Than, 1993).Concerning researches on English and Vietnamese comparative idioms, bothEnglish and Vietnamese peoples are concluded on idiom usage in daily life bypresenting differences related to those associated object referents of đỏ, hồng, trắng,xanh colour terms between English and Vietnamese data: snow object referent asthe most typical object referent of white colour term in English data whereas tuyét,trứng gà boc object referents as the most salient object referents associated withtrang colour term in Vietnamese data; cherry object referent as the most centralobject referent of red colour term in English data whereas /ô luộc, mặt trời, máu

(of the lips), bồ quân (of the cheeks) object referents as the most outstanding object

referents of do colour term in Vietnamese data; cherry, rose object referents as themost obvious object referents of pink colour term in English data whereas bê quân

object referent as the most noticeable object referent of héng colour term in Vietnamese data (Tran Thi Lan, 2001).

Regarding semantic explanations based on the positive and negativeassumptions towards basic colour terms in Vietnamese and English languages(collected from idiom source), the outcomes are as follows In Vietnamese data, vdi,bông object referents represent răng colour term; than, myc tau object referentsrefer to den colour term; son, máu object referents make reference to đỏ colourterm; hoa mướp, nghệ object referents allude to vàng colour term; Id cdy, nước biểnobject referents make an ullusion to xanh colour term; zøước cu nâu object referentimplies ndu colour term; gud ca đái dé object referent denote tim colour term Onthe other hand, in English data, fresh snow, common salt, milk object referents refer

to white colour term; coal, soot object referents represent black colour term; freshblood object allue to represents red colour term; ripe lemon, egg yolks, gold objectreferents imply yellow colour term; clear sky, sea, sunny day object referents make

an allusion to blue colour term; growing grass, leaves of plants, trees objectreferents denote green colour term; toasted bread, coffee mixed with milk objectreferents make reference to brown colour term; clouds on a rainy day objectreferent indicates grey colour term; fully-ripened fruit object referent identifiesorange colour term (Trinh Thi Thu Hién, 2002).

Based on the percentage of object referents from colour như X objectreferent idioms in Vietnamese data collected from the Internet, it is concluded thatblood prototype has been existing in Vietnamese cognition as well as those objectreferents close to daily Vietnamese cultural life, particularly, the habit of raisinganimals for nourishment (Lé Van Thanh, 2014) Following this research orientationand expanding to a broader data scope, that the comparative English idioms are to

be compared and contrasted to those in Vietnamese language is the central researchfocus, presenting the following conclusions: comparative idioms bring in multi-colourful pictures related to natural views, of human beings, social life, as well asspiritual world together with distinctive national thinking of this nation Referring to

structure element, comparative idioms with object referents as nouns occupy thehighest proportion in English and Vietnamese In connection with semanticelement, comparative idioms convey the relations between human beings andsociety, fauna, flora and natural world On the subject of comparison and contrastobjective, the fact that English comparative idioms are for judgment, evaluation andprediction purposes while Vietnamese idioms are for physical nature worlddescription does reflect the core difference between the two thinking ways (HoangTuyét Minh, 2014: 117) Based on the findings from this research, the followingmain points play the central guideline spine and are further exploited: Comparativeidioms carry the object referents representative lively world-view pictures related tonatural views, of human beings, social life as well as spiritual world of one nation;

in which, there exists an emphasis on the relations between human beings andsociety, fauna, flora and natural world

Similarly, the issue of Vietnamese and English people sharing similaritiesand differences in cognition towards black colour term is also the central researchtarget Black category scopes in English and Vietnamese data include popularobjects in each nation with more acceptable examples in one category Vietnameseand English cognition systems towards black colour share ink - coal - ebony - crow

~ soot — tar representative object referents The object referents are familiar objects

in Vietnamese and English daily life The results show the following differences incognition towards black colour: Although black category scopes in Vietnamese andEnglish share some similar components, the percentage of these components in twolinguistic systems is not equivalent; black category in any language consists ofmany different components: buffalo complexion (da trâu) and black bean (đỗ den)only found in Vietnamese language while those typical object referents in Englishlanguage are crude oil and a Congo negro (Hoang Tuyét Minh and Nguyén VanQuang, 2015) In a nutshell, the fact that these two studies, based on distinctivecognitive features between English and Vietnamese peoples, has pioneered theinitial idea of developing one dissertation on the subject of prototypes of basic

colour terms together with further category classification of object referentsassociated with basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data besides beingaccompanied by the explanatory support of cultural and cognitive characteristics.What is more, idiom usage between English and Vietnamese communities isrevealed through some similarities in cognition towards some basic colour terms:coal object referent of black colour term equal to than object referent of den colourterm, snow object referent of white colour term the same as tuyét object referent of trắng colour term (Nguyễn Văn Quang 2017) Comparative idioms initiate fromcomparative rhetoric method, as one method to compare one subject to anothersubject, in terms of the images of the subjects and phenomenon in the naturalphysical world Moreover, comparative idioms are formed based on the cognitiveconnection; consequently, this cognitive connection reflected in comparative idioms

is close to one nation but brings a strangely different perception to another nationbecause one national community is concerned about subjective external appearance

or phenomenon whereas another country pays most attention to the function or thefeature of the same subject or phenomenon

Afore-mentioned researchers generally agree that colour perception decidespersonal viewpoints on colour terms This foundation is enhanced by identifying theconnection between the prototype of one basic colour term and the associated objectreferents in daily real-life situations close to one community members’ cultural andcognitive features for more awareness towards one particular colour term related to thesimilarities and the differences between Vietnamese and English data Researches oncolour terms in English and Vietnamese linguistic systems concentrate on structural andsemantic factors from different aspects as well as the appearance percentage based onliterary work data Some researchers are more interested in Vietnamese basic colour termsystem whereas others pay more attention to two colour terms The limitation is that thecomparison and contrast of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data in literarywork systems from cognitive viewpoint based on the connection with distinctive culturalfoundation has not received the adequate attention for a systemic and complete thesis

Nevertheless, all researches above are beneficial for further research on basic colour termsfrom comparative and contrastive linguistic viewpoints.

To sum up, the research direction revolving the relation among colour terms fromliterary works, cognitive and cultural viewpoint is the central aim of this dissertation withthe hope of explaining the similarities and the differences among prototypes and categories

of basic colour terms in English and Vietnamese data Colour terms, in those researchesabove, are analyzed with reference to structure and semantic viewpoints within differentranges and their usage in literary works Some researches aim at Vietnamese colour termsystem while others survey on two most fundamental colour terms The limitation is thatthe impact of cultural and linguistic factors on colour term usage has not been paidadequate attention In this dissertation, a broader number of basic colour terms in Englishand Vietnamese data is the primary research targets besides the mutual integralcombination of cognitive and cultural explanations, which hopefully brings in moreprospective and beneficial research results

1.2.1, Cognition

Human knowledge is comprised of continuous stages: strengthening,connecting, comparison, abstraction and reflection Reality reflected in linguistics ishuman beings’ cognitive heritage as the outcome between bodily experiences andthe objective world In other words, possible objects’ features and neurologicalsystem structure human experiences (Evans and Green, 2006: 46) From theviewpoint that human mind is a function of the way in which our species-specificbodies interact with the environment we are living in, the human mind must bear theimprint of embodied experience Human knowledge is comprised of continuousstages of strengthening, connecting, comparing, abstracting and reflecting The keyfeature here for understanding the embodied nature of human cognition is to ‘lookfor possible mind-body and language-body connections’ (Gibbs, 2006: 9) that areformed during the interaction between the body and the physical and cultural world.How the body is related to the mind in the environment during our interaction andhow this relationship affects human cognition encompass social factors due to thefact that ‘the properties of certain categories are a consequence of the nature ofhuman biological capacities and of the experience of functioning in a physical andsocial environment’ (Lakoff, 1987: 12)

The three typical views on cognition is presented in details as follows:From psychological view: Cognition, without attention to cultural differences

in cognitive development, is defined as the organization of an agent’s sensorimotorexperiences and interactions with the environment (Piaget, 1936) On the otherhand, it is proposed that individual cognitive development, with a strong emphasis

on the role of culture, requires a sociocultural embedding through certaintransformation processes; in which, the cognitive abilities of an ‘en-culturated’person as the product of developmental processes, in which primitive and immaturehumans are transformed into cultural ones through social interactions (Vygotsky,quoted in Lindblom & Ziemke, 2007: 139-141)