Books by Dimitris Mylonas
Gender differences in colour naming were explored using a web-based experiment in English. Each p... more Gender differences in colour naming were explored using a web-based experiment in English. Each participant named twenty colours selected from 600 Munsell samples, presented one at a time against a neutral background. Colour names and typing onset response times were registered. For the eleven basic colour terms, elicitation frequency was comparable for both genders. Females demonstrated more elaborated colour vocabulary, with more descriptors in general and more non-basic monolexemic terms; they also named colours faster than males. The two genders differ in the repertoire of frequent colour terms: a Bayesian synthetic observer revealed that women segment colour space linguistically more densely in the “warm” area whereas men do so in the “cool” area. Current “nurture” and “nature” explanations of why females excel in colour naming behaviour are considered.
Papers by Dimitris Mylonas
Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London)., Jan 28, 2020
For computational methods aiming to reproduce colour names that are meaningful to speakers of dif... more For computational methods aiming to reproduce colour names that are meaningful to speakers of different languages, the mapping between perceptual and linguistic aspects of colour is a problem of central information processing. This thesis advances the field of computational colour communication within different languages in five main directions. First, we show that web-based experimental methodologies offer considerable advantages in obtaining a large number of colour naming responses in British and American English, Greek, Russian, Thai and Turkish. We continue with the application of machine learning methods to discover criteria in linguistic, behavioural and geometric features of colour names that distinguish classes of colours. We show that primary colour terms do not form a coherent class, whilst achromatic and basic classes do. We then propose and evaluate a computational model trained by human responses in the online experiment to automate the assignment of colour names in different languages across the full three-dimensional colour gamut. Fourth, we determine for the first time the location of colour names within a physiologically-based cone excitation space through an unconstrained colour naming experiment using a calibrated monitor under controlled viewing conditions. We show a good correspondence between online and offline datasets; and confirm the validity of both experimental methodologies for estimating colour naming functions in laboratory and real-world monitor settings. Finally, we present a novel information theoretic measure, called dispensability, for colour categories that predicts a gradual scale of basicness across languages from both web- and laboratory- based unconstrained colour naming datasets. As a result, this thesis contributes experimental and computational methodologies towards the development of multilingual colour communication schemes.
Color Research and Application, Oct 1, 2011
Languages differ markedly in the number of colour terms in their lexicons. The Himba, for example... more Languages differ markedly in the number of colour terms in their lexicons. The Himba, for example, a remote culture in Namibia, were reported in 2005 to have only a 5-colour term language. We reexamined their colour naming using a novel computer-based method drawing colours from across the gamut rather than only from the saturated shell of colour space that is the norm in cross-cultural colour research. Measuring confidence in communication, the Himba now have seven terms, or more properly categories, that are independent of other colour terms. Thus, we report the first augmentation of major terms, namely green and brown, to a colour lexicon in any language. A critical examination of supervised and unsupervised machine-learning approaches across the two datasets collected at different periods shows that perceptual mechanisms can, at most, only to some extent explain colour category formation and that cultural factors, such as linguistic similarity are the critical driving force for augmenting colour terms and effective colour communication.
Предметом исследования является практика использования денотативных образцов в эмпирических иссле... more Предметом исследования является практика использования денотативных образцов в эмпирических исследованиях терминов цвета. Авторы рассматривают историю и возможности эмпирического изучения названий цвета с использованием цветовых таблиц и фиксированных цветовых образцов в русском языке и приводят результаты собственного исследования. Особое внимание уделяется характеристике процедуры анализа. Рассматриваются количество и структура полученных цветообозначений, распределение основных цветонаименований русского языка, структура психологически выделенных цветообозначений, наиболее распространенные модели обозначения оттенков, степень нормативности зафиксированной цветовой лексики. Метод исследования – эксперимент, инструментарий которого позволяет сопоставить цветовые термины русского языка с цветовыми шкалами RGB и Манселла. Основные выводы проведенного исследования заключаются в том, что ряд непроизводных неосновных слов русского языка уже достаточно прочно вошли в речевой обиход и име...
We explored differences between Russian and English languages in incidences of colour names relat... more We explored differences between Russian and English languages in incidences of colour names related to food and edible substances. Colour names were elicited in a web-based psycholinguistic experiment with native speakers of Russian (N=713; 333 males) and English (N=272, 113 males). Colour samples (N=600) were approximately uniformly distributed in the Munsell Color Solid. An unconstrained colour-naming method was employed. A refined dataset comprised 14,260 responses from Russian and 5,428 responses from English speakers. For each language dataset, we report the inventory of “edible” colour names, their frequency, and derivational productivity. We conclude that, along with the natural environment, the inventory of “edible” terms is language-specific and manifests culture-specific culinary worldview.
Data generated and analyzed in the Humanities and Social Sciences Communications article, "A... more Data generated and analyzed in the Humanities and Social Sciences Communications article, "Augmenting a colour lexicon" (2022)
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2022
Languages differ markedly in the number of colour terms in their lexicons. The Himba, for example... more Languages differ markedly in the number of colour terms in their lexicons. The Himba, for example, a remote culture in Namibia, were reported in 2005 to have only a 5-colour term language. We re-examined their colour naming using a novel computer-based method drawing colours from across the gamut rather than only from the saturated shell of colour space that is the norm in cross-cultural colour research. Measuring confidence in communication, the Himba now have seven terms, or more properly categories, that are independent of other colour terms. Thus, we report the first augmentation of major terms, namely green and brown, to a colour lexicon in any language. A critical examination of supervised and unsupervised machine-learning approaches across the two datasets collected at different periods shows that perceptual mechanisms can, at most, only to some extent explain colour category formation and that cultural factors, such as linguistic similarity are the critical driving force for...
Colour categorisation is faster when colour stimuli straddle a colour boundary. Recently a tempor... more Colour categorisation is faster when colour stimuli straddle a colour boundary. Recently a temporal advantage has been shown for stimuli presented in the right visual field (RVF) consistent with a left-hemisphere dominance for language processing (Gilbert et al, 2006 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103). In the present study 40 late Mandarin-English bilinguals residing in the UK performed a colour categorisation task, in L1 and L2. Colour stimuli near the blue-green boundary were presented in isolation for ...
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2021
The present study is an apparent-time analysis of color terms in Russian native speakers (N = 192... more The present study is an apparent-time analysis of color terms in Russian native speakers (N = 1927), whose age varied between 16 and 98 years. Stratified sampling was employed with the following age groups: 16–19, 20–29, and so on, with the oldest group of 70 years and over. Color names were elicited in a web-based psycholinguistic experiment (http://colournaming.com). Participants labeled color samples (N = 606) using an unconstrained color-naming method. Color vocabulary of each age group was estimated using multiple linguistic measures: diversity index; frequency of occurrences of 12 Russian basic color terms (BCTs) and of most frequent non-BCTs; color-naming pattern. Our findings show intergenerational differences in Russian color-term vocabulary, color-naming patterns, and object referents. The CT diversity (measured by the Margalef index) progressively increments with speakers’ juniority; the lexical refinement is manifested by the increasing variety of BCT modifiers and growi...
Color Research & Application, 2017
Color Research & Application, 2018
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Books by Dimitris Mylonas
Papers by Dimitris Mylonas
At the conclusion of this workshop, you will know that successful colour communication requires user-centred design thinking and you will have an insight about the order that colours are recognised and identified. The instructor is the principal researcher of an online colour naming study (Available: http://colornaming.net) currently translated in seven languages with over 1700 participants.