This thesis concerns the evolution of language. A proliferation of theoretical models have been presented in recent years purporting to offer evolutionary accounts for various aspects of modern languages. These models rely heavily on abstract mechanistic models of the production and reception of language by modern humans, drawn from various approaches in linguistics which aim at such models. A very basic and ubiquitous assumption is that expressions have meaning in virtue of being associated with internal representations, and that therefore the evolution of language can be modelled on the basis of individuals trying to produce external manifestations of these internal “meanings”. I examine the role of this assumption in language evolution theorising, and review evidence from neuroscience and first language acquisition relevant to the validity of this assumption. The chaotic nature of the relationship between “meaning” and the brain undermines the supposition that the evolution of language was driven by spontaneous association between internal structures and external forms. I then turn to the philosophical basis of language evolution theorising, adopting a Wittgensteinian perspective on the cognitive interpretation of linguistic theories. I argue that the theoretical apparatus of such approaches is embedded in language games whose complicated rules relate to linguistic behaviour (and idealisations of that behaviour) but not to neural organisation. The reinterpretation of such descriptions of language as descriptions of the internal structures of language users is rejected as a grammatical confusion: if the rules for constructing linguistic theory descriptions do not mention neural structures, then theoretical descriptions of the linguistic abilities of an individual say nothing non-trivial about their internal brain structure. I do not deny that it would, in principle, be possible to reduce linguistic theories (reinterpreted as mechanistic descriptions) to neural structures, but claim that this possibility is guaranteed only by leaving the practice of re-describing physical brain descriptions entirely unconstrained. Thus the idea that we can reasonably infer the behaviour of humans and prehumans in more primitive communicative environments by manipulation of the models of linguistic theories is unfounded: we have no idea how such a manipulation would translate into statements about neural organisation, and so no idea how plausible such statements about earlier neural organisation (and the resultant behaviours) are. As such, cognitive interpretations of linguistic theories provide no better ground for statements about behaviour during earlier stages in the evolution of language than guessing. Rejecting internal-mechanism based accounts as unfounded leaves the evolution of language unexplained. In the latter parts of this thesis, I offer a more neutral approach which is sensitive to the limited possibilities available for making predictions about human (and pre-human) behaviour at earlier stages in the evolution of language. Rather than focusing on the individual and imputed internal language machinery, the account considers the communicative affordances available to individuals. The shifts in what individuals can learn to do in interaction with others, that result in turn from the learning of interactive practices by others, form the basis of this account. General trends in the development of communicative affordances are used to account for generalisations over attested semantic change, and to suggest how certain aspects of modern language use developed without simply assuming that it is “natural” for humans to (spontaneously) behave in these ways. The model is used in an account of the evolution and common structure of colour terms across different languages.

Over the last decade, linguistic relativity has seen a resurgence in research and discourse on thought, language, and culture. One particular facet of this research, multilingualism, has been relatively sparse in comparison to the wealth of research available focusing on individual languages and monolingual speakers. This study represents a preliminary investigation that enters this arena by focusing specifically on how speakers of English as a second language use English basic color terms in respect to monolingual speakers. This is done by using a modified methodology from the World Color Survey as a comparative model of a speaker’s division of colors. Participants in this study illicit responses for 160 color tiles taken from the Munsell color chart used as the basis of the World Color Survey. The results of this study show that three of the ten multilingual participants division of the color space per English color terms falls outside of the normal range of variation between the monolingual English speakers who participated in this study. Though future research is needed to definitively posit the reasons for those participants color maps, this study provides a new window and inquiry into an under-researched area of linguistic relativity.

This thesis aims to construct a semantic system for the disparate uses of peh in TSM and peh¡¦s pragmatic functions in actual language uses in terms of cognitive accounts. Firstly, based on the data collected from dictionaries of the Ministry of Education, the present study divided the various meanings of peh into two main types, i.e., prototypical meaning and extended meanings. Prototypical meaning is further classified into perception-based type. How peh is perceived in perception-based type is in close relationship with the actual environment where we interact with. On the other hand, the main category under extended meanings is conception-based type, which is divided into four subcategories of cognitive mechanisms. That is, the diverse meanings of peh in conception-based type will be interpreted in the perspective of four subcategories of cognitive mechanisms. They are metonymic extension, metaphorical extension, the interaction of metaphor and metonymy, and culturally-related extension. Then, to better understand peh¡¦s pragmatic functions in TSM, the study shifts its foucus to the examination of the interrelationship between peh and the shared Taiwanese cultural background knowledge in actual language uses. Basically, the function which peh serves in discourse depends mainly on the context where it is used, and the world or the community will determine and pick up the most appropriate wordings for us (Mey, 2008). There is no definite answer as to which linguistic expression bears which meaning or interpretation when we try to sort out all possible interpretations and meanings for each linguistic expression containing peh. We need both contextual clues and cultural background knowledge to decipher peh¡¦s underlying meanings. The encodings of color perception do not lie in our biology; instead, it is structured socially (Lucy, 1997). In addition, certain uses of peh, e.g., pe̍h-pau (¥Õ¥]), pe̍h-thiap-á (¥Õ©«¥J), etc., in real life discourse make the function of peh more than a representation of the color itself but bridge the gap and create interpersonal relationship between their language users at the same time. On the whole, this research may shed light on the cognitive understanding of peh in TSM not only semantically but also pragmatically.

本論文探討顏色詞「黑/烏」與「白」在台灣華語、台灣客語以及台灣閩南語中語意延伸之比較。黑與白是自然界中最原始的顏色，而在Berlin and Kay (1969) 的顏色發展歷程中處於第一階段。本文觀察顏色詞黑與白背後的認知機制，並藉此將語料分成原始意義、轉喻延伸、隱喻延伸和特殊例子這些類別來詳述。本研究發現有些隱喻延伸普遍地存在三個語言當中，有些則是某個語言特有的，而這些語言特定的顏色詞通常蘊含文化根源、發展成構式或從外語借用而來。 本文還運用Kövecses (2005) 隱喻中的文化因素來審視顏色詞黑與白。研究發現就跨語言層面而言，台灣華語發展出最多的隱喻延伸，台灣閩南語次之，而台灣客語最少。這顯示了台灣華語顏色詞的蓬勃發展跟該語言的文化、經濟或科技等活躍發展密切相關。此外，本文發現顏色詞黑大多為負面意義，而顏色詞白則多為非負面意義。顏色詞黑與白也發展出許多語意延伸的對立，例如神秘與明確、惡與善、違法與合法。 / This thesis explores the similarities and differences regarding color terms of black and white among TM, TH and TSM. Black and white are the two most fundamental colors in the natural world as designated at stage one in Berlin and Kay’s (1969) evolutionary sequence. We classify data into cognitive categories of prototypical meaning, metonymic extensions, metaphorical extensions and idiosyncratic examples, observe their corresponding lexicalization types (Packard 2000) and use Kövecses’ (2005) cultural factors in metaphor to examine them. The three languages all contain abundant data of prototypical meanings which refer to the physiologically visual color, black and white, the representative colors of human conceptual universals about night and day (Wierzbicka 1996, Goddard 1998). Via different ICM mechanisms (Kövecses and Radden 1998), the three languages develop diverse metonymic extensions. Besides, through the general metaphor ABSTRACT QUALITY IS PHYSICAL QUALITY (Goatly 2011), numerous attributes are conceptualized through the visual color black or white in metaphorical extensions. Some metaphorical extensions are universal across the three languages; some are language-specific because of cultural roots, fixed constructions or language borrowing. Idiosyncratic examples include arbitrary items and proverbial expressions. We also use Kövecses’ (2005) cultural factors in metaphor to observe the cross-cultural and within-culture dimensions. For the cross-cultural dimension, in terms of the source domain of color black or white among the three languages, TM develops the most prolific metaphorical extensions of color terms, TH has the least versatile generations, and the development of TSM color terms is in between. The complexity of TM color terms is closely related to the vivacity of cultural, economic or technological developments in that language. From the most primitive opposite of darkness and brightness, color terms of black and white also distinctively contrast with each other. The negative meanings of color terms black are proportionally dominant whereas the meanings of color terms white are mostly non-negative. Furthermore, color terms black and white reveal some evident oppositions in the metaphorical extensions such as mystery and clarity, viciousness and innocence and illegality and legality.

Die Arbeit prüft, inwieweit die Übersetzungstheorien von Otto Kade et al., Werner Koller und die Skopostheorie das Problem der kulturgebundenen Farbwortvielfalt bei der Übersetzung zu lösen versuchen. Im ersten Teil wird hierfür der Grundstein gelegt, indem interdisziplinäres Wissen auf die Bildung von Farbbezeichnungen, ihrer Herkunft und ihrer biologischen und physikalischen Grundsätze angewendet wird. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch die Sapir-Whorf-Hypothese diskutiert. Die Etymologie bestehender Farbbezeichnungen verschiedenster Sprachen bildet dabei das Zentrum, sowohl für die Erklärung der Farbwahrnehmung und die Kulturgebundenheit ihrer Bezeichnungen als auch der Neuschöpfung von Farbbezeichnungen in den Übersetzungssituationen. Anhand fiktiver Übersetzungssituationen aus dem Alltag wird der Übersetzungsprozess für jede Übersetzungstheorie simuliert und aus ihrer Sicht verfolgt. Im Abschluss werden die Ergebnisse gegenübergestellt und diskutiert.

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Die Arbeit prüft, inwieweit die Übersetzungstheorien von Otto Kade et al., Werner Koller und die Skopostheorie das Problem der kulturgebundenen Farbwortvielfalt bei der Übersetzung zu lösen versuchen. Im ersten Teil wird hierfür der Grundstein gelegt, indem interdisziplinäres Wissen auf die Bildung von Farbbezeichnungen, ihrer Herkunft und ihrer biologischen und physikalischen Grundsätze angewendet wird. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch die Sapir-Whorf-Hypothese diskutiert. Die Etymologie bestehender Farbbezeichnungen verschiedenster Sprachen bildet dabei das Zentrum, sowohl für die Erklärung der Farbwahrnehmung und die Kulturgebundenheit ihrer Bezeichnungen als auch der Neuschöpfung von Farbbezeichnungen in den Übersetzungssituationen. Anhand fiktiver Übersetzungssituationen aus dem Alltag wird der Übersetzungsprozess für jede Übersetzungstheorie simuliert und aus ihrer Sicht verfolgt. Im Abschluss werden die Ergebnisse gegenübergestellt und diskutiert.:Inhaltsverzeichnis I Abkürzungsverzeichnis 4 1 Einleitung 5 2 Farben: Wahrnehmung und Benennung 8 2.1 Sinnesorgane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2 Auge und „Farbensehen“ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.2.1 Warum Farbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.2.2 Farbwahrnehmung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.2.3 Farbwahrnehmung versus Sprache und Denken . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.3 Farbe und Kultur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.3.1 Grundfarbwörter – Berlin und Kay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.3.2 Etymologie der Grundfarbbezeichnungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.3.3 Farbbezeichnungen als Metonymie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.3.4 Grundfarbwörter diachron betrachtet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.4 Zusammenfassung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3 Zur Übersetzung von Grundfarbwörtern 51 3.1 Einordnung und Begriffsklärung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.1.1 Übersetzbarkeit, Übersetzungsschwierigkeit oder Übersetzungsproblem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.1.2 Übersetzungssituationen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.1.3 Übersetzungseinheit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3.1.4 Zwei Übersetzungsfälle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 3.2 Leipziger Schule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 3.3 Äquivalenzkonzept nach Werner Koller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 3.4 Skopostheorie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 3.5 Vergleich und Diskussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 4 Schluss 98 5 Literaturverzeichnis 100 A Abbildungen 106