MIKS MUST ON MUST JA VALGE VALGE. Eesti viipekeele värvinimedest
Why black is MUST and white is VALGE. On colour terms in Estonian Sign Language

Summary/Abstract: After the basic color term universals were formulated by Berlin and Kay (1969), color terms have been studied in many different languages. Basic color terms in sign languages have not been studied quite so widely, but most of the existing descriptions come to the conclusion that lexicalization of basic color terms follows the same pattern as is found in spoken languages (Woodward 1989: 148; Nonaka 2004: 750; Nyst 2007: 96). The current paper is focused on color terms in Estonian Sign Language (ESL). Our aim is not to analyze the basicness of the terms but rather to concentrate on their supposed etymology. The analysis demonstrates that the principles of Berlin and Kay do apply to ESL. The terms appearing in a language at its earlier stages of development contain more of native signs (BLACK, WHITE 1), whereas among the terms added later, loans from other sign languages (YELLOW and BLUE from Russian Sign Language) and from spoken language (initialized signs ORANGE and PURPLE) are more salient. The color signs of a (probably) native origin are motivated either by certain objects with the typical color (lips or blush for RED) or by an extended meaning of a sign referring to an object of the typical color (BROWN, WHITE 2). Analysis of the ESL signs used by different age groups confirms the principles of historical changes observed in signs of other sign languages (Frishberg 1975).

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