Is Purple Lost in Translation? The Affective Meaning of Purple, Violet, and Lilac Cognates in 16 Languages and 30 Populations.

Colour-emotion association data show a universal consistency in colour-emotion associations, apart from emotion associations with PURPLE. Possibly, its heterogeneity was due to different cognates used as basic colour terms between languages. We analysed emotion associations with PURPLE across 30 populations, 28 countries, and 16 languages (4,008 participants in total). Crucially, these languages used the cognates of purple, lilac, or violet to denote the basic PURPLE category. We found small but systematic affective differences between these cognates. They were ordered as purple > lilac > violet on valence, arousal, and power biases. Statistically, the cognate purple was the most strongly biased towards associations with positive emotions, and lilac was biased more strongly than violet. Purple was more biased towards high power emotions than violet, but cognates did not differ on arousal biases. Additionally, affective biases differed by population, suggesting high variability within each cognate. Thus, cognates partly account for inconsistencies in the meaning of PURPLE, without explaining their origins.

Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity.

Many of us "see red," "feel blue," or "turn green with envy." Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r = .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.

When does "bright" mean "prototypical"? Color-term modifiers in eight European languages, examined with color-survey data.

Certain modified color terms encountered in a multi-language corpus of unconstrained color-naming data, elicited with 65 Color-aid Corporation tiles, can be glossed into English as "bright (or vivid) X" (e.g., Estonian "ere-X"), while other modifiers are glossed "light" or "dark." However, translation between languages or into the terms of colorimetry is never assured. We address the problem empirically by examining the denotata of each modified term and treating its uses as a distribution across a metric color space in which tiles are located as points. We compared each distribution with that of the unmodified term X, identifying the latter with the focus of X (the within-language consensus about the most prototypical exemplar of X). In some cases the modifiers operate as "bright" in the sense of "intense" or "saturated," so "bright-X" and "X" share a centroid, but this is not universal.

Individual variations in color-concept space replicate across languages.

The cross-cultural nature of color categories and concepts is central to the Berlin-Kay tradition of color-language universalism. In an extension, we examine the cognitive organization of color concepts, the pattern of associations among them, where cross-cultural regularities may also exist. We focus here on individual variations in that pattern. Listing data provide a convenient probe of "associational space" and are amenable to factor analysis using a correlational index of between-list similarity. The rotated factors are "points-of-view": alternative prototypal ways of organizing the concepts and extremes of a spectrum of listing-sequence variation. Points-of-view proved to be comparable for three languages (Hungarian, Italian, Estonian) when visualized with multidimensional scaling. This allowed a similar interpretation of the spectrum of variation in each language, as individual differences in the weight of a conceptual distinction between chromatic and "achromatic" terms, supporting the case for cross-language convergence.

"Clothed in triple blues": sorting out the Italian blues.

Cross-cultural comparisons of color perception and cognition often feature versions of the "similarity sorting" procedure. By interpreting the assignment of two color samples to different groups as an indication that the dissimilarity between them exceeds some threshold, sorting data can be regarded as low-resolution similarity judgments. Here we analyze sorting data from speakers of Italian, Russian, and English, applying multidimensional scaling to delineate the boundaries between perceptual categories while highlighting differences between the three populations. Stimuli were 55 color swatches, predominantly from the blue region. Results suggest that at least two Italian words for "blue" are basic, a similar situation to Russian, in contrast to English where a single "blue" term is basic.

A comparative analysis of colour-emotion associations in 16-88-year-old adults from 31 countries.

As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well-being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations between colours and emotions observed in younger individuals also apply to older adults. We recruited 7393 participants, aged between 16 and 88 years and coming from 31 countries. Each participant associated 12 colour terms with 20 emotion concepts and rated the intensity of each associated emotion. Different age groups exhibited highly similar patterns of colour-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient of .97), with subtle yet meaningful age-related differences. Adolescents associated the greatest number but the least positively biased emotions with colours. Older participants associated a smaller number but more intense and more positive emotions with all colour terms, displaying a positivity effect. Age also predicted arousal and power biases, varying by colour. Findings suggest parallels in colour-emotion associations between younger and older adults, with subtle but significant age-related variations. Future studies should next assess whether colour-emotion associations reflect what people actually feel when exposed to colour.