The Internal Structure of Basic and Non-Basic Color Categories

Abstract

Kay & McDaniel 1978 have recently proposed a new method of distinguishing between basic and non-basic color terms, based on fuzzy set theory (Zadeh 1965). In the present paper, we report two empirical studies that test the effectiveness of the fuzzy set method for identifying basic color categories. It is found that the method fails to discriminate between basic and non-basic categories. It is argued on theoretical grounds that the method proposed by Kay & McDaniel cannot distinguish between basic and non-basic colors because its primary premise, that the two types of categories display different characteristic membership functions, is false. Some general conclusions about the structure of categories are offered.