Exploration of the Usage of Color Terms by Color-blind Participants in Online Discussion Platforms

TL;DR

This study investigates how color-blind individuals use color terms in online discussions, revealing differences in context predictability and mental imagery compared to sighted individuals, thus informing the role of sensory experience in language use.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how color-blind people's linguistic color term usage differs, highlighting the influence of sensory experience on language.

Findings

Color-blind speakers use 'red' and 'green' in less predictable contexts.

They evoke mental images less frequently than sighted speakers.

Results suggest sensory experience impacts linguistic color term usage.

Abstract

Prominent questions about the role of sensory vs. linguistic input in the way we acquire and use language have been extensively studied in the psycholinguistic literature. However, the relative effect of various factors in a person's overall experience on their linguistic system remains unclear. We study this question by making a step forward towards a better understanding of the conceptual perception of colors by color-blind individuals, as reflected in their spontaneous linguistic productions. Using a novel and carefully curated dataset, we show that red-green color-blind speakers use the "red" and "green" color terms in less predictable contexts, and in linguistic environments evoking mental image to a lower extent, when compared to their normal-sighted counterparts. These findings shed some new and interesting light on the role of sensory experience on our linguistic system.