Bilingualism and Psychology of Colors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v8i2.197Keywords:
Bilingualism, Color System, Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory, Symbols, Language AttitudeAbstract
The reality of humans spans beyond spoken language into varieties of extra linguistic avenues through which they express themselves. In other words, just like humans are able to express their feelings and attitude through words, the same can be expressed through symbols such as colors, clothing, pictures, and inscriptions. Color system is a general concept across cultures even though distinction through names and ascribed meaning(s) to each color vary per culture. This research investigated the strong statements about identity and attitude that bilinguals can make through their choice of colors depending on how conducive they find their linguistic community. Comparison was made between Chinese-English bilinguals in the US and Yoruba-English Bilinguals in Nigeria. The study revealed that colors are indeed a universal concept and can be used to express not only explicit information, but also implicit information such as attitude and perspectives of individuals. The study concludes that language attitude can be largely presumed upon cognitive perception of a language based on influencing factors, and that Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory of sociolinguistic is very much applicable to beyond ordinary spoken utterance analysis of language.
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Adegbite, Wale and Adeniyi, T (2014). A Semiotic Analysis of Inscriptions on the T- Shirts of Students from Selected Universities in Southwest Nigeria. Paper presented at the 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, Belgium. July 26-31, 2015.
Adegbite, Wale and Okunrinmeta, Uriel (2016). Language Policy and National Integration: A Case Study of Language Identity and Attitudes of Staff of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria. In Akin Odebunmi and Kehinde Ayoola (Eds). Language, Context and Society: A Festchrift for Wale Adegbite. 417-439. Ile-Ife: OAU Press.
Adriosh, Mohamed and Razi, Ozge (2016). Investigating Nigerian University Students’ Perception Towards English Language Dominance over their Indigenous Languages. The Eurasia Proceedings of Educational and Social Sciences (EPESS), 2016. Volume 5, 206-213.
Baker, C. (2003). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. 5th ed. Clevedon England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Baker C. (2007). A Parents and Teachers Guide to Bilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Bell, R. T. (1976). Sociolinguistics: Goals, Approaches and Problems. London: Batsford.
Berlin B, Kay P (1969). Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bertram, R., Schreuder, R., and Bayeen, R (2000). The balance of storage and computation in morphological processing: The role of word formation type, affixal homonymy and productivity. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition 26: 489-511
Bohon, K.S; Hermann, K.L; Hansen T; Conway, B.R. (2016). Representation of perceptual color space in macaque posterior inferior temporal cortex (the V4 complex). E Neuro 3:1-28
Butler, Yuko (2013). Bilingualism/ Multilingualism and Second-Language Acquisition In Tej K. Bhatia & William C. Ritchie (Eds.). The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (Second Edition), 5-25. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Cenoz, Jasone (2013). Defining Multilingualism. In Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. DOI: 10.1017/S026719051300007X
Danesi, M. (2004). Messages, Signs and Meaning: A Basic Textbook in Semiotics and Communication Theory. Toronto: Canada Scholars Press.
Edwards, John (2013). Bilingualism and Multilingualism: Some Central Concepts. In Tej K. Bhatia & William C. Ritchie (Eds.). The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (Second Edition), 5-25. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Engen T. & Kulbrandstad L. (2004). Tospråklighet, minoritetsspråk og minoritetsundervisning. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.
Fairclough, N. (1989) Language and Power, Harlow Longman.
Genesee, Fred; Hammers, Josiane; Lambert, Wallace E; Mononen, L.; Seitz, M. and Stark, R. (1978). Language processing in bilinguals. Brain and Language 5:1-12.
Giles, H., Bourhis, R. Y., & Taylor, D. M. (1977). Towards a theory of language in ethnic group relations. Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations, 307348.
Goodenough, W.H. (1957). Cultural anthropology and linguistics. Washington; Georgetown University Press.
Heredia, R., Cieslicka, A. B. (2014). Bilingual Memry Storage: Compound- Coordinate and Derivatives. Department of Psychology and Communications, 6, 11-20. doi: 10.1007/978-4614-9218-4
Kramsch, C. (2010). The multilingual subject. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Kroll, J.F and McCain, R. (2013). What bilinguals tell us about culture, cognition, and language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 11219-11220.
Lambert, Wallace E. (1974). Culture and language as factors in learning and education. In Frances E. Aboud and Robert D. Meade (Eds.). Cultural Factors in Learning and Education. 91-122. Bellingham, WA: Western Washington State University.
Liddicoat, Anthony (1991). Bilingualism: An Introduction. Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. NLIA Vol 2. Australia.
Martin-Jones, M. (2007). Bilingualism, education and the regulation of access to language resources. In Heller, M. (Ed.), Bilingualism: A social approach (pp. 161-182). New York: Palgrave Macmillan
McLaughlin, M. L. (1984). Conversation. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Moradi, H. (2014). An investigation through different types of bilinguals and bilingualism. Retrieved from https://www.ijhsss.com/files/Hamzeh-Moradi_6813z4a4.pdf
Myers-Scotton, C. (2005). Multiple voices: An introduction to bilingualism. Wiley-Blackwell.
Peal, E., & Lambert, W. E. (1962). The relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 76(27, Whole No. 546), 23.
Phinney, J. (2003) Ethnic Identity and Acculturation. In K. Chum, P.B. Organists and G. Marin (eds) Acculturation Advances in Theory, Measurement and Applied Research. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 63-81.
Ramos Garcia, Ana Maria (2011). The Cultural Knowledge of Monolingual and Bilingual Students. In Daniel Madrid and Stephen Hughes (Eds), Studies in Bilingual Education. 8: 223-235. Bern/New York: Peter Lang.
Sapir, E. (1929). Language. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Saussure, F. de. (1916). Course in general linguistics (C. Bally & A. Sechehaye, Eds; R. Harris, Trans)
Saville-Troike. (2003), The Ethnography of Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.
Serpa, Livia Amdrea (2014). Children Language Acquisition Focusing on Bilingualism. A Master’s thesis submitted to the faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.
Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (Eds). 2017. Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twentieth edition). Dallas: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com.
Spolsky, B. (2010). Ferguson and Fishman: Sociolinguistics and the sociology of language. In R. Wodak, B. Johnstone, & P. Kerswill (Eds.), The Sage handbook of sociolinguistics (pp. 11–23). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Suntharesan, V.(2016). Color Terms in Languages. Language in India. Vol. 16 (2). ISSN: 1930-2940.
Tajfel, H. E. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. Academic Press.
Trudgill, Peter. (2000), Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. England: Penguin Books. (p.122)
Valberg, A. (2001). Unique hues: An old problem for a new generation. Vision Research, 41(13), 1645-1657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0042-6989(01)00041-4
Van Dijk, Teun A. (2009). Society and Discourse: How Social Contexts Influence Text and Talk. Journal of Languages and Politics. Vol 9(3). Sheffield Hallam University. DOI: 10.1075/jlp.9.3.07lam
Weinreich, Uriel (1953). Languages in Contact. The Hague: Mouton
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Published
12/30/2019
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Adegbite, A. (2019). Bilingualism and Psychology of Colors. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 8(2), 107–126. https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v8i2.197
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