Interesting (yet unrealistic) colour system

[mira]

I just came up with a neat little colour naming system that would give lots of colour names and is very versatile. It's based on RGB colour.

To demonstrate, let's imagine a language has the following in its phonology: /r g b i e a o u/

The colour "root" is "rgb". Different vowels are added to show how much of each there is, starting at "i" for none and "u" for lots.
So to demonstrate:
This nice orange would be called "rogebi"
This dark cyan-ish colour would be called "regebo"

Then one could go further and remove the syllable when there is none of any of the colours:
This nice orange would then be called "roge"

This creates 125 distinct colour names which may get confusing. To avoid this, fewer vowels could be used. The number of distinct colour names is just the number of vowels cubed.

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

[elemtilas]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

[Frislander]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

. If you want you're conlang to be realistic and human - usable, you'd be better off making basic colour terms (black, white, red, yellow) and then compound for mare specific terms. Alternatively, you could have a derivational suffix meaning 'colour of X', which could get very specific (e.g. 'colour of blood' or 'colour of the summer sky').

[mira]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

. If you want you're conlang to be realistic and human - usable, you'd be better off making basic colour terms (black, white, red, yellow) and then compound for mare specific terms. Alternatively, you could have a derivational suffix meaning 'colour of X', which could get very specific (e.g. 'colour of blood' or 'colour of the summer sky').

That's where I like this system. I really don't do realistic at all. I seem to have a lot of opinions that most people here don't (I like the regularity of auxlangs and I like how organised philosophical languages (philosolangs?) are with vocab).

[Frislander]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

. If you want you're conlang to be realistic and human - usable, you'd be better off making basic colour terms (black, white, red, yellow) and then compound for mare specific terms. Alternatively, you could have a derivational suffix meaning 'colour of X', which could get very specific (e.g. 'colour of blood' or 'colour of the summer sky').

That's where I like this system. I really don't do realistic at all. I seem to have a lot of opinions that most people here don't (I like the regularity of auxlangs and I like how organised philosophical languages (philosolangs?) are with vocab).

That's OK, it's just that most of us here are interested in naturalism, partly because for most of us it's the irregularities and exceptions which make language interesting.

I'd also add that I think philosophical and auxiliary languages frequently have a strongly European bias in many areas (why do you need voicing? Why do you need five vowels? Why do you need case marking? Why do you need several subordination strategies?) There's nothing wrong with Euro-langs, but it's always good to be honest when you make one.

[Sglod]

Even if it's not natural it's still pretty cool. Nice one, OtheB!

[mira]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

. If you want you're conlang to be realistic and human - usable, you'd be better off making basic colour terms (black, white, red, yellow) and then compound for mare specific terms. Alternatively, you could have a derivational suffix meaning 'colour of X', which could get very specific (e.g. 'colour of blood' or 'colour of the summer sky').

That's where I like this system. I really don't do realistic at all. I seem to have a lot of opinions that most people here don't (I like the regularity of auxlangs and I like how organised philosophical languages (philosolangs?) are with vocab).

That's OK, it's just that most of us here are interested in naturalism, partly because for most of us it's the irregularities and exceptions which make language interesting.

I'd also add that I think philosophical and auxiliary languages frequently have a strongly European bias in many areas (why do you need voicing? Why do you need five vowels? Why do you need case marking? Why do you need several subordination strategies?) There's nothing wrong with Euro-langs, but it's always good to be honest when you make one.

That's another thing where I just don't fit. I'm not really sure if my languages would fit any Euro-bias at all. I don't really take inspiration from any languages. About 90% of Inyi was just stuff I liked the idea of. The other 10% was just the only thing I could think of that wasn't English.

[Frislander]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If only the mighty philosophical glossopoets of old knew of this system! It would fit very nicely into such a conlang, and I'm actually surprised no one has done it before. Leastways, not that I've ever seen.

. If you want you're conlang to be realistic and human - usable, you'd be better off making basic colour terms (black, white, red, yellow) and then compound for mare specific terms. Alternatively, you could have a derivational suffix meaning 'colour of X', which could get very specific (e.g. 'colour of blood' or 'colour of the summer sky').

That's where I like this system. I really don't do realistic at all. I seem to have a lot of opinions that most people here don't (I like the regularity of auxlangs and I like how organised philosophical languages (philosolangs?) are with vocab).

That's OK, it's just that most of us here are interested in naturalism, partly because for most of us it's the irregularities and exceptions which make language interesting.

I'd also add that I think philosophical and auxiliary languages frequently have a strongly European bias in many areas (why do you need voicing? Why do you need five vowels? Why do you need case marking? Why do you need several subordination strategies?) There's nothing wrong with Euro-langs, but it's always good to be honest when you make one.

That's another thing where I just don't fit. I'm not really sure if my languages would fit any Euro-bias at all. I don't really take inspiration from any languages. About 90% of Inyi was just stuff I liked the idea of. The other 10% was just the only thing I could think of that wasn't English.

The thing is that not thoroughly thinking about things in depth often leads people to making relexes and Euro-clones (if they're Indo-European speakers, of course): as always it pays to research thoroughly.

[mira]

Here's another aspect that could be added: The more significant colour could be the emphasised syllable e.g.:
"roge" > "ˈroˌge"
"regebo" > "ˌreˌgeˈbo"

[shanoxilt]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If I remember correctly, Ygede does color taxonomy in a similar manner. However, I can not seem to find the links to it.

[Ebon]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

[mira]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

[Ebon]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

Don't mind me borrowing the idea for the robot language I will inevitably create some day then.

[mira]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

Don't mind me borrowing the idea for the robot language I will inevitably create some day then.

Not at all. If you have 16 vowels (or individual bits that can be paired up) then you can create all of hexadecimal colour!

The first two digits are the red, second are green, and last two are blue. In base 16. So #123456 would be 18 units of red, 52 units of green, and 86 units of blue, all out of 255.
Just in case you were curious as to why this strange string of numbers means such a colour.

[Ebon]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

Don't mind me borrowing the idea for the robot language I will inevitably create some day then.

Not at all. If you have 16 vowels (or individual bits that can be paired up) then you can create all of hexadecimal colour!

The first two digits are the red, second are green, and last two are blue. In base 16. So #123456 would be 18 units of red, 52 units of green, and 86 units of blue, all out of 255.
Just in case you were curious as to why this strange string of numbers means such a colour.

I know how RGB works, but thanks for doing the math for me, I was too lazy. XD
Hmm, if it's possible to use geminated vowels in diphthongs (and I don't see why it wouldn't be, but correct me if that's wrong) then that should be easy, even a basic five vowel inventory would be ten combinable bits then...

[mira]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

Don't mind me borrowing the idea for the robot language I will inevitably create some day then.

Not at all. If you have 16 vowels (or individual bits that can be paired up) then you can create all of hexadecimal colour!

The first two digits are the red, second are green, and last two are blue. In base 16. So #123456 would be 18 units of red, 52 units of green, and 86 units of blue, all out of 255.
Just in case you were curious as to why this strange string of numbers means such a colour.

I know how RGB works, but thanks for doing the math for me, I was too lazy. XD
Hmm, if it's possible to use geminated vowels in diphthongs (and I don't see why it wouldn't be, but correct me if that's wrong) then that should be easy, even a basic five vowel inventory would be ten combinable bits then...

If you have 4 vowels and a glottal stop then you can have VVʔVV for the two digits. So if your low to high goes /i e a u/ then #123456 would be "rieʔia giuʔei beeʔea" as you can get 16 with 2 digits of base 4.

[Ebon]

This would be interesting for a language of AI/robot people. You could expand on the range of colors by adding diphthongs and gemination, too. Maybe even as an addition system of sorts; say that e is a little and a is medium, ae would be "a little plus medium". You'd have to define what exactly a little and a medium etc. would be, of course. The maximum would be uu, and maybe only ii is none and i is a tiny tiny bit instead.

Yeah. Though I think a version with fewer vowels would not be too difficult for a human language - it would just not be realistic at all. And for that reason, I'm putting it in my next language

Don't mind me borrowing the idea for the robot language I will inevitably create some day then.

Not at all. If you have 16 vowels (or individual bits that can be paired up) then you can create all of hexadecimal colour!

The first two digits are the red, second are green, and last two are blue. In base 16. So #123456 would be 18 units of red, 52 units of green, and 86 units of blue, all out of 255.
Just in case you were curious as to why this strange string of numbers means such a colour.

I know how RGB works, but thanks for doing the math for me, I was too lazy. XD
Hmm, if it's possible to use geminated vowels in diphthongs (and I don't see why it wouldn't be, but correct me if that's wrong) then that should be easy, even a basic five vowel inventory would be ten combinable bits then...

If you have 4 vowels and a glottal stop then you can have VVʔVV for the two digits. So if your low to high goes /i e a u/ then #123456 would be "rieʔia giuʔei beeʔea" as you can get 16 with 2 digits of base 4.

Oh, that's right, I didn't think of glottal stops! Nice. I like that, thanks. :D

[elemtilas]

What are people's opinions on this? It really doesn't seem like a realistic way of naming colours, but it would certainly be useful.

If I remember correctly, Ygede does color taxonomy in a similar manner. However, I can not seem to find the links to it.

I remember Ygyde. Oh, the discussions stirred up by that little gem of the auxlanger's peculiarity! You are quite right, and more: have a shufty at the colour table here at the grammar page. I don't recall colours being discussed years ago, but it looks as though OTheB more or less reinvented this particular square wheel!

[Khemehekis]

I'd also add that I think philosophical and auxiliary languages frequently have a strongly European bias in many areas (why do you need voicing? Why do you need five vowels? Why do you need case marking? Why do you need several subordination strategies?) There's nothing wrong with Euro-langs, but it's always good to be honest when you make one.

How is a five-vowel system European, any more than it is Asian, or Middle Eastern, or South Asian, or African, or Austronesian, or Latin American, or Amerind, or Papuan, or Australian?

[GrandPiano]

I'd also add that I think philosophical and auxiliary languages frequently have a strongly European bias in many areas (why do you need voicing? Why do you need five vowels? Why do you need case marking? Why do you need several subordination strategies?)

Having five vowels is European?