Imagine a world where i colors are grouped together and reduced to a few categories: “light”, “dark” and, at most, red. Here, this world is not fantasy, but a real reality in some cultures. In fact, even if the people who belong to these peoples (like the Dani of Papua New Guinea or the Inuit, for example) are able to perceive the different shades of color, they have never had the practical need to give them a defined name and therefore for them perhaps green, blue or brown do not exist, but only a very small quantity of terms under which they group even very different colors, or perhaps they have many words to define in detail the different shades of white. According to most anthropological research, in fact, the distinction between colors and their classification it would depend culturally above all on what you need in everyday life. Let’s delve deeper into the issue and see some examples.
Different cultures “see” and name the colors of the world differently
An example of a people who have a very limited color nomenclature are the Dani of Papua New Guinea, who call everything dark, blue or green “mili”and everything that is clear, white or yellow “grinding wheel”. For them, having a word for each color is not a priorityyet this does not mean that they do not actually see the different nuances: simply, they don’t think they’re important to mention.
However, the Dani are not the only ones to have a limited vocabulary for colors. Other cultures, such as Himba of Namibia, have an equally surprising approach. In fact, individuals of this ethnic group do not distinguish between blue, green or yellow, while they do a wide variety of terms for brownessential for recognizing the different nuances of the terrain or shrubs in their desert environment.
Another intriguing example comes from Inuitwhich they don’t have a specific word for red or blue but they have dozens of terms for white, related to different snow and ice conditions.
All these examples lead us to reflect on a fundamental concept: each culture develops its own chromatic language in response to concrete needs and at priorities of the context in which he lives.
In other words, languages do not evolve uniformly or universallybut they are shaped based on the most significant aspects for that specific community. What is essential for the survival, for the communication, or for them daily practices of a culture, tends to be expressed with precise and articulated terms. In contrast, other aspects of reality that are not perceived as crucial may remain undefined or be lumped together under a few general terms such as “dark” or “light”.
Linguistic relativism and color perception
These observations find a broader framework in the theories given anthropologists Paul Kay and Brent Berlin in the 1960s, who explored how human languages code color. Through an extensive comparative study of languages from different regions of the world, Berlin and Kay have indeed identified one universal pattern in the evolution of the chromatic languageknown as the universal color theory.
According to this theory, languages that have a limited number of color terms tend to organize colors into two main categories: light and dark. With the progressive development of linguistic complexity, more specific categories emerge, such as green, blue and brown, until we arrive at languages that have an extremely rich and differentiated color vocabulary.
This scheme, known as “lineup by Berlin and Kay“suggests that the evolution of color language is not dictated exclusively by biological or physiological factors (such as the ability to distinguish between colors) but, rather, is influenced by the cultural and social needs of different populations.
For example, some cultures living in natural environments rich in color variety may develop more complex terminology to describe shades of green or brown, while others, with a different environmental context, may not distinguish between such colors, but focus on shades of yellow, as in the case of Berinmo.
But in the end, is it really necessary to have all these colors?
The different chromatic languages show us how the language is not only a means of communication, but also a reflection of the priorities, experiences and culture of those who use it. If for us the world is rich in nuances, other societies see it through a simpler but equally significant palette. What for us might seem like a “lack” of details, actually represents a different and equally valid way of interpreting and enhancing reality.
In an age where we try to categorize everything and analyze reality in every detail, these differences remind us that not always “more means better”. Sometimes, a more essential language can be deeper and more in tune with the true priorities of everyday life.
