The Focus and Boundary of Mandarin Chinese Basic Color Terms: An Empirical Study

This survey investigated the focus and boundaries of basic color terms (BCTs) in Mandarin Chinese. The primary aim of this experimental study was to systematically analyze the characteristics of focal colors and category boundaries in Chinese BCTs. Ninety native Chinese speakers participated in the survey, with a mean age of 22 (age range 18-26; 45 females and 45 males). The survey is a mapping-task-involved focus mapping (best example) and uses boundary mapping tasks. The findings revealed that the foci and boundaries of Chinese BCTs are generally similar to those of English BCTs, although there are minor variations. Moreover, the study also found that Mandarin Chinese categorizes color in ways that reflect its unique characteristics, with synonymous color terms exhibiting overlapping category boundaries but not sharing identical focal points. Notably, the color term qing/青 (“cyan”) demonstrated significant variability and dispersion in focus, covering a broad spectrum of hues that includes a large portion of both blue and green. The results support the universal existence of basic perceptual color categories, as proposed by Paul and Kay.