Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33196769›Full record

ArticleJournal of vision2020

Basic color categories in Mandarin Chinese revealed by cluster analysis.

Tsuei-Ju Tracy Hsieh, Ichiro Kuriki, I-Ping Chen, Yumiko Muto, Rumi Tokunaga, Satoshi Shioiri

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of vision, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Comparing color qualia structures through a similarity task in young children versus adults.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Tsuei-Ju Tracy HsiehDepartment of Information Communication, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ichiro KurikiResearch Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
I-Ping ChenInstitute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Yumiko MutoTokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School, Yokohama, Japan.
Rumi TokunagaGraduate School of Global and Transdisciplinary Studies, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Satoshi ShioiriResearch Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Previous claims of the number of color categories and corresponding basic color terms in modern Mandarin Chinese remain irreconcilable, mainly due to the shortage in objectively evaluating the basicness of color terms with statistical significance. Therefore the present study applied k-means cluster analysis to investigate native Mandarin Chinese speakers' color naming data of 330 color chips similar to those used in World Color Survey. Results confirmed that there are 11 basic color categories among modern Mandarin speakers in Taiwan, one corresponding to each basic color term. Results also showed that observers overwhelmingly agreed in their use of Mandarin color terms, including those that had yielded ambiguous results in previous studies (gray, brown, pink, and orange). There is significant cross-language similarity when comparing the distribution of color categories in the World Color Survey chart with American English and Japanese data. The motif analysis and group mutual information analysis suggest that Mandarin color terms used in Taiwan describe very similar categories and are, hence, similarly precise in communicating color information as those in Japanese and American English. These results show that three languages of fundamentally different cultures and histories have very similar basic color terms.

Indexed as

Asian PeopleClassificationColorLanguageAdultChinaCluster AnalysisColor PerceptionFemaleHumansMaleUnited StatesYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID33196769
PMCPMC7671860

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.