Abstract

SAVKIC, Sanja. Chromatic lexic and Maya ideology. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2011, vol.37, pp.99-119. ISSN 0185-2574.

To gain greater insight into the color semantic field, it is important to consult various Mayance language dictionaries, in order to assemble a preliminary chromatic vocabulary, composed of five basic color terms which in Yucatec Maya are sak, ek', chak, k'an and ya'ax, or "white", "black", "red", "yellow" and "green-blue", respectively. The very vocabulary addresses certain extra-linguistic categories that language is capable of accumulating, reflecting, and communicating. These categories depend on a particular culture; consequently this study is amplified with greater information from different sources written during the colonial period in order to shed light on the many uses that the colors had in the aspects of human life which, at the same time, can be seen in conceptualizations articulated in pairs of opposition or tripartite groupings.

Keywords : chromatic semantic field; chromatic vocabulary; basic color terms; color in the written sources; color; ideology.

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