Cross-Language Similarity between Perceptual and Semantic Structures of Color Tones

Abstract

The paper describes a study of how Japanese and Sinhala naive viewers use modifiers to describe differences in color tones. Three sequences of color tone stimuli were created for three hues, red, green and blue by varying just two parameters, saturation and value. Two methods were employed to study how naive viewers use modifiers to describe differences in their perceptions and modifiers of color tones. A preliminary elicitation employed the methods of selection description, in which Japanese and Sinhala modifiers meaning - pale, bright, vivid, strong, dull, dark - constituted a high proportion of responses. These modifiers were employed in a triadic comparison. Dissimilarities of all pair wise comparisons of stimuli were submitted to MDS analysis in order to derive a multidimensional perceptual structure for the stimuli. A semantic differential structure was derived applying PCA for modifier responses provided for the same set of stimuli. The results revealed that Japanese and Sinhala native speakers perceptually discriminate the six color tone stimulus into six categories. Furthermore, the semantic structures for each hue were different from one a another. And it was observed that the semantic structures related differently to the dimensions of the perceptual structures.