A question of color
In the arid Kunene Region of northern Namibia, a series of cognitive experiments with the semi-nomadic Himba people showed evidence for the theory of linguistic relativity. This theory suggests that the language a person speaks influences their perception of the world. Researchers, including Jules Davidoff and Debi Roberson, investigated how the Himba language shapes the way its speakers see color. The English language identifies eleven basic color categories, such as red, green, and blue. The Himba language has only five.
One of the Himba color categories, buru, is used for many shades of green, blue, and purple. Another, dambu, includes greens, reds, and yellows. To test the effect of these linguistic categories, researchers presented Himba individuals with a simple visual task. An arrangement of twelve colored squares was shown, with eleven of one color and one of a different color. When presented with eleven green squares and one blue one, the Himba participants took a long time and made more mistakes identifying the unique square. To many, the blue square was not obviously different from the green ones because their language does not make a firm distinction.
The world in five colors
The second part of the experiment reversed the challenge. This time, Himba participants were shown a circle of eleven green squares of the same shade and one square of a slightly different green. To most English speakers, the difference is almost impossible to see without close inspection. The Himba, however, could identify the unique green square almost instantly. Their language, while having only five basic color terms, has a more specific and varied vocabulary for different types of green.
These results demonstrate a core principle of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: language is a tool for describing the world as we see it; it can also be a filter that shapes what we perceive in the first place. The Himba language has terms like zuzu for dark colors and vapa for some yellows and white. Their specific vocabulary for greens, developed in an environment where distinguishing between types of vegetation is important, gives them a perceptual ability that many outsiders lack. The studies do not suggest that the Himba are physically unable to see blue, but that their linguistic categories make the distinction between blue and green less relevant and harder to notice quickly.