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Language and Perception: The Intricacies of Color Terminology Across Cultures
There are many different associations that color can bring up in people around the world. Some colors have universal associations, while others can completely contradict the associations of another region of the world. The different colors are used to represent emotions, people, seasons, religion, beauty, etc. It is important to remember that certain colors might have different meanings and associations in different areas of the world, depending on context.
When thinking about what associations colors have around the world, it is also important to consider how these different areas talk about color. Some languages don’t have words to describe the same colors that other areas might. For example, before the year 1500, there was no word to describe the color “orange” in the English language. It was simply referred to as “yellow-red.” This would make it a bit more difficult for this color to have any solid associations on a large cultural level. In a similar vein, the Boas and Shona languages in African don’t have a word to distinguish between orange and red.
Some languages have words only to describe black or dark, white or bright, and occasionally red. It would be a lot harder to talk about color the way we do in the United States if we only had three words to describe them. There are many languages around the world that only have one word to describe both green and blue. This is similar to the way that the English language would describe different shades of colors. For example, the way we would describe light blue and dark blue, but we still have the same term, “blue,” as an umbrella descriptor for both. It is also interesting to note that while English might have an extensive vocabulary for describing things like emotions or colors, other languages have more words to talk about odors and smells.
The Color Purple’s Counterpart: The Multifaceted Meanings of Red Across Cultures
There are interesting and different associations that are made with every color around the world. These associations can either vary drastically from location to location or share a very similar connotation among multiple different cultures. Because of this, many large companies, such as McDonald’s, review the colors that they use for branding differently in each region. In general, women are usually able to identify more colors than men, which makes their associations with color a bit deeper. There are also generalizations made about people’s color preferences. For instance, people who live in warmer, sunny climates tend to prefer warm colors, whereas those who live in colder, less sunny climates tend to prefer cooler-toned colors. Also, children tend to identify with brighter primary colors, and as people get older, they gravitate toward more muted, subdued colors.
Red is one of the most prominent colors all around the world. Because of this, there are many different associations that come along with it. One of the primary associations that cultures make with the color red is that of passion. This possibly stems from the fact that in China and India, red is used as a wedding color because it is said to bring luck and is traditionally the color that brides wear on their wedding day, as opposed to white, like in the United States. Red is also used and worn during mourning periods in South Africa. Both of these situations, marriage and death, are huge life events that bring out a lot of passion in many people. There was a study done on the associations made with red in The United Kingdom and China.
The findings showed that many participants associated red with healthiness, intersexual attraction, dominance, and aggressiveness. The study showed that while women tended to perceive men who were wearing red or in a red environment as more sexually attractive, men in red had no effect on other men’s perceptions of them. This study indicates some universality of the color red, as most people would agree that the UK and China are culturally quite different. As stated previously, red represents passion and love in Western cultures, but it can also represent danger, excitement, and communism.
In Indian culture, red is the color to represent love, beauty, purity, and fertility. Red also has associations with multiple religions. For example, it is associated with the crucifixion in Catholicism and Christianity and represents sacrifice and sin in Judaism. Red can also be a color of high status, as it is reserved for chiefs to wear in Nigeria. However, in the Middle East, red can be associated with evil, as it evokes feelings of caution or danger.
From Harvest to Royalty: The Diverse Connotations of Orange and Yellow
Orange is another color that has different ways of being red. For example, in the United States and Europe, orange is associated with the harvest and autumn, likely because of the changing color of the leaves. It is also associated with warmth and citrus fruits, like oranges. Orange is the national color of the Netherlands, so it is most commonly associated with royalty there. In India, a more golden orange color is typically associated with saffron. Saffron is sacred in India, so this color is seen with sacred associations. In Japan, orange is typically associated with courage and love. This is contrasted with the fact that the Middle East uses orange as the color for times of mourning. Interestingly, orange has religious connotations in Christianity with gluttony.
Yellow has some very interesting and varying associations around the world. Yellow is primarily seen as bright and cheery in Western cultures. It is associated with warmth from the sun and summer. It is also used for a lot of the transportation we have here, such as street signs, school buses, and taxis. Germany sees yellow as an envious color, whereas the United States sees green as an envious color. In Asia and Africa, yellow is typically reserved for people of high rank or members of the royal class. It is considered imperial and sacred, which could possibly explain why it is the color that represents commerce in India. In Egypt and Latin American countries, however, yellow is used as a mourning color.
Blue and Green: A Tapestry of Trust, Spirituality, and Contrasting Cultural Connotations
Blue is the color that holds the most universal associations. Most advertisers and people in branding or marketing tend to use blue for companies that are going to be used globally, such as Skype, Facebook, Twitter, etc. In Western cultures, blue is seen as representing authority and trust, which is why it is used for bank logos and government officials. There are also strong connections between blue and masculinity in the Western world, which is why blue signifies the birth of a baby boy. It can be seen as peaceful, soothing, and calming while also being associated with depression and sadness. This goes to show that color can have a variety of meanings and associations, even within the same culture. Asian countries, specifically India, see blue as a color of strength, as it relates to Krishna. In contrast to the Western views of blue, it is seen as a feminine color in China. Blue has one of the strongest religious associations in Latin America and Catholicism with the Virgin Mary. Latin America also makes associations between trust and serenity with blue, which is similar to the Middle Eastern read of heaven, immortality, and spirituality.
Green most commonly has associations with nature, life, and fertility, but that is not always the case. In the West, green refers to being eco-conscious and represents the environment. However, it also represents money and greed or envy. Asia has an interesting contrast in its association with the color green. In some contexts, it is seen to represent fertility and youth, but in others, it represents exorcism and infidelity. This is shown in the tradition in China of wearing a green hat if you have cheated on your spouse. In Latin America or other regions that are close to dense jungles, green represents death. The jungles can be dangerous and house the unknown. The Middle East has its strongest associations with green and Islam, as green is the color to represent Islam. It also represents wealth, luck, fertility, and strength. Interestingly, almost every active military in the world uses the color olive green for their uniforms.
Purple: A Palette of Royalty, Religion, and Cultural Reverberations
Lastly, the color purple is one that has many associations across cultures. In Western cultures, purple is associated with wealth and fame. Purple commonly depicts royalty in artworks and pop culture. This color symbolizes progress and modernism. It is also associated with honor, as the Purple Heart is given as the highest military honor in the United States. In most Asian countries, purple also signifies wealth and nobility; however, in Thailand, it is the color of mourning. This mirrors the associations that many Latin American countries have with this color. They associate it with sorrow, and it is the color of death in Brazil. The Middle East has associations with purple and wealth and virtue. In a more religious vein, purple can be associated with the crucifixion in Catholicism and with the Buddha in Tibet and Thailand. Buddha statues and rosaries are both often made out of amethyst.
In conclusion, colors have a wide variety of meanings throughout the world. Some cultures can connect and communicate through their similar associations with different colors, while others are divided on the meanings. Also, depending on context, some regions can have different associations with colors, even within the same culture. It just goes to show that not everybody in the world sees things the same way you do.
References
- Gage, J. (1999). Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. University of California Press.
- Zollinger, H. (2010). Color: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Wiley-VCH.
- Pastoureau, M. (2001). Blue: The History of a Color. Princeton University Press.
- Eiseman, L. (2000). Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color. Grafix Press.
- Whitfield, T. W. A., & Wiltshire, T. J. (1990). Color psychology: A critical review. Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.
- Biggam, C. P. (2012). The Semantics of Colour: A Historical Approach. Cambridge University Press.
- Walker, J. (2012). Color in the Western World: An Illustrated History. Shire Publications.
- Gladstone, V. (2017). Drunk Tank Pink: The Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave. Penguin Press.
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