Abstract
We report a field study of the color terms of the Bantu language Xhosa. This was carried out to describe the Xhosa color term inventory, and particularly to establish which terms were basic, as a test of Berlin and Kay's theory of color universals. Our informants were from rural Transkei and performed two main color tasks: elicited lists ('tell me as many color terms as you know') and a color‐naming task. Statistical indicators of salience and of consensus of use for each color term were derived from performance on the two tasks, and the range of referents of each term established. Our results indicate that Xhosa has basic color terms for white, black, red, yellow, and grue (green with blue), and as such is consistent with Berlin and Kay's theory.
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