CAT COLOURS PERCEPTION IN RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC CONSCIOUSNESS

Galina K. Keosidi

Lesosibirsk Pedagogical Institute –

the branch of Siberian Federal University, Russia

The questions concerning interrelation of national consciousness and language of this or that nation have been under the scientists’ attention during many decades.

Preconditions to studying this problem were made in scientific works of great linguist W. von Humboldt who pointed out national specific character of any culture, which finds its reflection in the language by means of the inner form (Humboldt, 2001).

Sapir – Whorf Hypothesis of linguistic relativity appeared in the USA, says that language and mentality or the way of thinking of people are interconnected.

Cognitive linguistics appeared in the second half of the XX century has led to studying interrelation of language and culture of nation, which is established in its thinking. Therefore the interest caused by the questions concerning problems of the national language and the national worldview is increasing.

According to Z. Popova and I. Sternin it is necessary to distinguish between indirect and direct worldview. Indirect worldview can be determined as cognitive which is «the result of reflection of reality by the sense organs and human reasoning, the result of cognition and studying the reality by public or individual consciousness». While «the direct worldview is the result of fixation of sphere of concepts by secondary sign systems which materialize, direct cognitive worldview existing in consciousness. Such are linguistic and artistic worldview» (Popova, Sternin, 2002: 10-11). That is linguistic and cognitive views of the world are connected among them.

The notion colour and the phenomenon of colour perception exist practically in any national worldview, however not all scientists recognize their universality. So, for example, A.Wierzbicka does not consider colour a universal human notion, «the names of colour» are not universal, in her opinion either (Wierzbicka, 1996: 231-232).

Within the limits of given article we have tried to describe the peculiarities of cats colours perception and their reflection in the Russian linguistic consciousness.

According to the scholars, the group of basic colour terms in Russian represents «a naive worldview» of colour and consists of 12 colour namings. They are so-called «seven colors of the rainbow», and also black, white, grey, brown and pink.

To find out how cats colours are reflected in Russian linguistic consciousness, linguistic experiment has been held. There were 62 respondents – students and young teachers of Lesosibirsk Pedagogical Institute – the branch of Siberian Federal University from 17 till 30 years old who took part in the experiment. The respondents have received 2 tasks. Firstly, they were offered to write down the colour names they usually use to describe cats’ coat. Secondly, 54 colour photographs of cats of different breeds and colours were shown to the participants of the experiment. Looking at these photos it was necessary to define the animal’s coat colour which, in the opinion of respondents, most precisely describes this or that cat.

As a result of the first part of the experiment there was an indication of 48 various names of colour and shades. The core colour names became black, white, grey and red – 4 of 48. These four colours were named almost by all respondents. The near periphery was made up by the following colours: smoky, brown, striped, motley / spotty, three-coloured / black-white-red, black-and-white / white-black. The distant periphery appeared to be presented by 37 colour names, i.e. those names which were mentioned no more than 7 times. Thus, quantitative distribution of opinions of respondents concerning the names of colour used for the description of cats looks as follows: black (58), white (56), grey (53), red (51), smoky (20), brown (18), striped (15), motley/spotty (15), three-coloured / black-white-red (12), black-white / white-black (9), ashy (7), blue (6), tortoise (5), beige (4), peach (4), tiger / leopard (3), dark blue (3), green / green-turtle (3), snow-white (2), gray-white (2), yellow (2), chestnut (2), color (2), coal (2), white-yellow (2), red (1), orange (1), lilac (1), lavender (1), violet (1), silvery (1), cream (1), dusty-grey (1), milky-white (1), sienna (1), skewbald (1), dirty (1), nacreous (1), colour-point (1), tabby (1), chocolate (1), sandy (1), albino (1).

So, it is necessary to note, that the given list included all the basic colour terms typical for Russian language except for pink.

For the 2 task of the experiment 54 photos of cats of various breeds and colours have been chosen. The pictures representing animals of the same colour but different breeds have been intentionally chosen. There were several photos of cats of unusual breed La-perm and the majority of respondents saw them for the first time. The results are the following.

Respondents have been shown 2 photos of black cats but different breeds: black Oriental cat which official colour is ebony, i.e. black, brilliant colour with bluish outflow and a black British Shorthair cat. The core in both cases is presented by black colour however the indication on brilliant structure of a coat and dark blue outflow is much more often given in the description of a British Shorthair cat. Though it is necessary to admit that these features are not reflected in the official colour of this breed, and the colour is called black. To emphasize brightness and saturation of black colour the following answers have been given by the testees: the most black, bluish strong-black, devilly-black, black with outflow and even dark blue. At the description of animals with white coat the core appeared to be represented by white colour, however periphery consists of various shades and combinations of white colour depending on breed of cats. So, for example, at the description of a kitten of the British breed several testees named it «belenkyi» (a derivate from adjective white; - enk is an evaluative affix, which has diminutive-hypocoristic meaning) emphasizing, thus, the age of an animal and the attitude to it. Characterizing Oriental cat and Turkish Angora there was an indication on the length of hair, therefore such names as bald-white and fluffy-white appeared. That is, when testees considered insufficient the use of the adjective white for the description of colour of an animal, they used various associations, which, in opinion of respondents, most precisely described the seen colour (for example, snow-white, the colour of summer clouds, etc.). At the description of cats of red colour (such colour is admitted by scientists and experts-felinologists) the core was made by ginger colour, the periphery appeared to be presented by every possible combination of ginger colour with such names of colour, as gold, orange, red, brown, fiery, honey, bricky, sandy.

Describing blue cats of three different breeds, more often respondents used grey colour which made up the core, and blue, dark blue, plum, smoky, ashy, silvery and their various combinations became peripheral colours. The use of these names of colour is based on intuitive similarity, i. е. all of them are put in one group. Only 5 participants of the experiment have named cats blue what corresponds to their official colour naming.

The next colour shown to the testees was chocolate. In linguistic consciousness of the participants of experiment brown color became core, the periphery was made by different combinations and shades of this color, among them are also ginger, brown, claret, red, and chestnut.

Describing cats of lilac colour testees used grey colour which was central in the given group. Periphery was formed by white, beige, smoky, lilac, blue color, and also following shades and combinations: dirty-white, white-grey, pale-grey, light grey, dirty-grey, and grey-blue. None of the respondents mentioned lilac colour, obviously, considering this colour improper for the description of cats. Cats of cream colour in consciousness of Russian people are displayed as ginger or peach; however the mentioning of cream colour was frequent enough. There were a lot of examples of colour names based on similarity with certain products or subjects of real life which surround people. So, it was possible to meet such names, as an ice-cream, the colour of champagne, the colour of the Persian carpet, the colour of dirty snow, coffee, cocoa with milk, the colour of a pancake, etc.

So, we have analyzed the names of basic colours used for description of cats. However there is a huge variety of colour variations, patterns, and types in cats that is why to describe all of them in one article is simply impossible.

It would be considerable to describe tortoiseshell cats, i.e. cats, which coat colour is presented by different combinations of black, red, and white colour. Therefore at the description of these animals it is possible to see such naming as three-coloured cat or following enumerations white-black-brown, black-white-red, etc. Some participants of the experiment named such cats tortoiseshell as it is accepted in official terminology. One of the respondents called tortoiseshell colour a happy one, what corresponds with superstition, that such cats bring success, happiness. Speaking about animals with different colour patterns and types on their fur it is necessary to admit that they were often named striped, spotted / mottled or coloured, tiger or leopard; cats with black-and-white stripes have received the name zebra. We can conclude that respondents associated cats with wild animals, and these associations were based on similarity in colour and the location of spots or stripes. There was also the name Dalmatian, i.e. the name of a dog’s breed has been used for the description of a spotted cat.

Our experimental data testify that in ordinary consciousness of Russian people as the basic spectrum of cats colours there are only four colour names – black, white, grey, red. This fact corresponds with the opinion of scientists considering that there exist only two basic cats colours – black and red. Other colours and tinctures appear in the result of genetic mixture of two above-mentioned colours. It is necessary to mention that in spite of two genetically-based colours felinologists recognize seven basic colours in cats, which form the core colours in scientific consciousness. This list contains the following colour namings: black, white, red, blue, chocolate, cream and lilac. So, in conclusion it is possible to say, that there are 4 core colours in ordinary linguistic consciousness of Russian people to describe cats colours, and 7 core colour names in scientific linguistic consciousness.

As a visual perception of a concrete cat colour in linguistic consciousness of people is presented by a greater colour spectrum, basic colours and their mixtures appeared to be presented. The experiment helped to reveal that often colour of an animal in linguistic consciousness of people does not correspond with the colour defined by felinologists – Russian blue, lilac (British shorthair), red (Oriental cat), etc. As a rule, the speakers name such colours as grey, ginger, and also using the colours of objects of reality – smoky, ashy, gray-haired, dirty-grey, colour of dirty snow, steel, an ice-cream, colour of champagne, honey-red, color of asphalt, earthen, coaly, etc.

Consequently, when the participants of the experiment could not find appropriate colour for the description of a cat, they named a wild animal (leopard, tiger, tortoise, panther, mouse, Arctic fox, hamster, etc.) thus, comparing fur colour of cats with fur colour of this or that animal. Often an object of the reality was used for the description of cat’s colour (stony-grey, lava colour, brick colour, sea colour, an ice-cream, colour of champagne, honey-red, color of asphalt, earthen, coaly, etc.). Such connection of one object of reality with another in human mind allows us to speak about discourse thinking of the participants of the experiment.

References

1. A.Wierzbicka Semantics, Culture and Cognition: Universal human concepts in culture-specific configurations, translated by M.A. Kronhaus  (Moscow: Russian dictionaries, 1996), in Russian.

2. W. von Humboldt, On the Diversity of Human Language Construction and Its Influence on the Mental Development of the Human Species (Мoscow: Progress, 2001), in Russian.

3. Z.D.Popova, I.A.Sternin, The Language and the National Worldview (Voronezh, 2002), in Russian.