Date of Award
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Communication and Arts
Faculty
Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences
First Supervisor
Ina Malcolm
Abstract
The Japanese language has a colour term, 'ao' (or 'aoi'), which is usually referred to in bilingual dictionaries as being the equivalent of English 'blue'. Very often, however, it is used to describe things which English speakers would describe as being green. Granny Smith apples are 'ao', so are all Westerners' eyes, regardless of whether they would be described as being 'blue' or 'green' in English. The sky and the sea are prototypically 'ao', but this term is also used to describe lawns, forests, traffic lights and unripe tomatoes. What, then, do Japanese native speakers (henceforth JNS) understand by this term? How do its semantic boundaries relate to those of the term 'midori' (`green')? What is the JNS understanding of the foreign loan words 'guriin' (green) and 'buruu' (blue)? This study pursues these questions seeking to delineate the semantic boundaries of the colour term 'ao'.
Recommended Citation
Conlan, F. (2005). Searching for the semantic boundaries of the Japanese colour term 'ao'. Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/58