Age-related differences in richness and diversity of Russian color lexicon
Griber, Yulia A, Mylonas, Dimitris and Paramei, Galina V (2021) Age-related differences in richness and diversity of Russian color lexicon. In: International Colour Association (AIC) Conference.
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated age-related differences in richness and diversity of color lexicon in Russian native speakers. Color names were elicited in 2018–2020 in an ongoing web-based psycholinguistic experiment (https://colournaming.com). An unconstrained color-naming method was employed. A final dataset contained responses of 1,967 native Russian speakers (1,280 females, 677 males, 10 non-binary), from various locations of the Russian Federation, aged 16–98 years. Participants were stratified into seven age groups (years): 16–19 (M=17.59 ± 1.19), 20–29 (M=24.86 ± 3.11), 30–39 (M=35.04 ± 2.89), 40–49 (M=45.18 ± 2.86), 50–59 (M=55.63 ± 2.90), 60–69 (M=65.05 ± 2.87) and ≥70 (M=78.20 ± 4.97). To estimate heterogeneity of color lexicon in each age group, we applied the Margalef and Simpson indices broadly used for measuring ecological diversity. The indices enabled gauging richness of color lexicon, i.e., the number of word types in the dataset, and color-term evenness, i.e., the relative abundance of different color terms. Our analysis of synchronic variability provides evidence that color vocabulary develops actively throughout the entire adult life and remains relatively stable in both richness and diversity up to the old age. Respondents of the three younger groups, under 40 years, revealed the greatest color lexicon diversity. In comparison, in the 40–59-yearold the diversity index was lower, and decreased dramatically in respondents of 60 years and older. The apprehended dynamics reflects intergenerational differences as such, but even more so dramatic changes of sociocultural reality in the post-Soviet era (after 1991).
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