A categorization point of view of Vietnamese colour terms

Abstract

Colour is one of the first cultural forms to be recorded and signified through language. The Vietnamese people have an abundant and unique lexicons of their own colour terms, expressing their nation’s cognitive thinking and cultural characteristics. In this article, we review the history of research on colour terms in the world, thereby propose a way to categorize Vietnamese colour terms according to prototypical theory. This categorization point of view can be considered an appropriate basis for in-depth surveys on Vietnamese colour lexicons.