Sex- and level-related differences in the Chinese color lexicon

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates differences in the color naming abilities of Chinese college students in relation to sex and year level. Data were obtained on the color names used by 40 females and 40 males ranging from level one to level four in naming 40 color stimuli selected from a set of 120 color samples. It was found that women used fewer basic color terms but more elaborate color terms than their male peers throughout the four levels of college. Moreover, women showed a superiority in other aspects of color naming: They were not only more accurate in color naming, but also left fewer colors unidentified. The influence of level and age was different for men and women. For men, it existed chiefly in the use of elaborate color words and between each pair of year levels. For women, a freshman versus senior type of contrast was found for all the four categories of color words. A significant correlation was found between color-related hobbies and students’ color vocabularies, but it was different when m...