Subject
Re: Responses to query on VN and synesthesia (trilingual
synaesthetes?)
synaesthetes?)
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Date
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Peter: deeper problems emerge when one ponders with awe the
"words-for-colours" diversity among the world's 6000 extant languages.
(of which, recall, only 200 or so have what you might call a
written/literary corpus.)
Lingala (Zaire) has three colour words: white, black, other! (The
missionaries have since introduced French words to populate the
rainbow).
Many have just three or four colour words with "black/white/red/blue"
being
the most common.
The extreme case reported is the Piraha tribe (Brazil) who appear to
have no
words for colours and a very limited vocab. for numbers and counting
(not
even the 1-2-3-many of some Aboriginals)
However, in spite of these "explicit naming" limitations, such speakers
can
sort/distinguish coloured tiles of many hues (presented by the nosey
anthropologists) with the same aplomb/accuracy as those, comme nous,
who
have many hundreds of distinct words for colours. (In the same way,
the
"innumerate" Piraha manage to trade with their neighbours and weave
intricate basket-geometries)
The implications for the somewhat declining-fashion of the SAPIR-WHORF
hypothesis is a digression for other lists. (The current core thesis is
that
ALL THINGS SAYABLE in any NL [Natural Language] are SAYABLE in all
other NLs
-- with, at worst, possible inconveniences and inefficiencies. This may
be
considered a blow to those who claim, for example, the unique splendour
of
their native tongue! Others may claim VN's English Evgenie O as a
counterexample, matching the glorious original?
Of course, we may not always agree which word best describes a given
sample.
I'm told that (i) Ford employ colour-blind inspectors for matching
paint-jobs -- they are better at detecting subtle differences of SHADE
-- I
hope the editors will accept that I am not straying from the
Nabokovian
nexus! (ii) experiments with Russians reveal ambiguities in how they
identify tile samples with their words for yellow/blue/green!!
BUT (un grand MAIS), the basic concept of synaesthetics is the trigger
by
one particular perceptual category to produce a perception in a
different
category -- it's not only peculiar to certain (lucky?) brains, it also
varies in what-triggers-what and HOW the experience is DESCRIBED by
the
beneficiaries. There seems no reason (_pace_ Chomsky?) for any
universal
transformations from sound-to-colour, taste-to-sound, or whatever.
skb
www.feniks.com/skb/
www.acmqueue.org/ (see my Curmudgeon columns)
www.sarcheck.com (see my SODA and UNIX Review columns)
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
"words-for-colours" diversity among the world's 6000 extant languages.
(of which, recall, only 200 or so have what you might call a
written/literary corpus.)
Lingala (Zaire) has three colour words: white, black, other! (The
missionaries have since introduced French words to populate the
rainbow).
Many have just three or four colour words with "black/white/red/blue"
being
the most common.
The extreme case reported is the Piraha tribe (Brazil) who appear to
have no
words for colours and a very limited vocab. for numbers and counting
(not
even the 1-2-3-many of some Aboriginals)
However, in spite of these "explicit naming" limitations, such speakers
can
sort/distinguish coloured tiles of many hues (presented by the nosey
anthropologists) with the same aplomb/accuracy as those, comme nous,
who
have many hundreds of distinct words for colours. (In the same way,
the
"innumerate" Piraha manage to trade with their neighbours and weave
intricate basket-geometries)
The implications for the somewhat declining-fashion of the SAPIR-WHORF
hypothesis is a digression for other lists. (The current core thesis is
that
ALL THINGS SAYABLE in any NL [Natural Language] are SAYABLE in all
other NLs
-- with, at worst, possible inconveniences and inefficiencies. This may
be
considered a blow to those who claim, for example, the unique splendour
of
their native tongue! Others may claim VN's English Evgenie O as a
counterexample, matching the glorious original?
Of course, we may not always agree which word best describes a given
sample.
I'm told that (i) Ford employ colour-blind inspectors for matching
paint-jobs -- they are better at detecting subtle differences of SHADE
-- I
hope the editors will accept that I am not straying from the
Nabokovian
nexus! (ii) experiments with Russians reveal ambiguities in how they
identify tile samples with their words for yellow/blue/green!!
BUT (un grand MAIS), the basic concept of synaesthetics is the trigger
by
one particular perceptual category to produce a perception in a
different
category -- it's not only peculiar to certain (lucky?) brains, it also
varies in what-triggers-what and HOW the experience is DESCRIBED by
the
beneficiaries. There seems no reason (_pace_ Chomsky?) for any
universal
transformations from sound-to-colour, taste-to-sound, or whatever.
skb
www.feniks.com/skb/
www.acmqueue.org/ (see my Curmudgeon columns)
www.sarcheck.com (see my SODA and UNIX Review columns)
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm