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Colours are semantic universal while colour terms are language specific. This study sought
to analyze Kisukuma colour terms focusing on denotative and associative meanings
encoded in colours with respect to respondents‟ experiences. The study employed
qualitative method. Sample of 24 respondents were selected using snow-ball sampling
technique and data were collected using interview and focus group discussion. The content
was obtained and analyzed using thematic analysis which groups and organizes the data in
various themes basing on specific objectives. The findings reveal that Kisukuma has eight
colour terms: Yape- white, Yapi- black, Yaza- red, Ndilizu- green Luduhlu/yanga- yellow,
Bhuhulu/bhululu – blue, Matalaka/madaraka- light blue, Yakhu- grey; the first five colour
terms are salient while the rest three are non-salient. Furthermore, the findings reveal that
these eight colour terms have composite and derived colour categories;
Matalaka/madaraka- light blue is a fuzzy union of bhuhulu/bhululu- blue and yakhu-grey
while zulunge- orange is fuzzy intersection of red and yellow respectively. The study
further revealed that associative meanings of colour terms in Kisukuma have more positive
meanings than negative meanings in sense that the uses of yapi- black and yaza- red were
mostly negative. In contrast, yape-white colour, luduluh- yellow and ndilizu- green colour
mostly had positive associative meanings, bhuhulu/bhululu- blue, Matalaka/madaraka light blue and yakhu- grey had narrow meanings which were positive. |
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