The current study aimed to investigate how 23 English adjectives were used to describe human skin colours by English and Vietnamese people.. English Adjectives Used to Describe Human Ski
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Color is one aspect of the physical world that human eyes can recognize, yet it also resonates with human perception and emotion, making life more vivid and beautiful While color exists in the physical world, the way we experience and interpret it is closely tied to culture and meaning The color vocabulary varies across cultures, and people in different cultures use color terms in distinct ways As Charles Darwin noted in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), "Of all the differences between the races of man, the colour of the skin is the most conspicuous and one of the best marked…"
Many studies have been conducted to compare and contrast the use of colour in English and Vietnamese currently, but there has been no research carried out in Vietnam as well as in overseas countries to compare and contrast the adjectives used to describe human skin colours in English and Vietnamese The number of adjectives in both English and Vietnamese used to describe human skin colours is not much, but Vietnamese people do not use the English adjectives to describe skin colours correctly, especially when communicating in English with people from other cultures
Vietnam's geography in Southeast Asia leads to a climate that varies dramatically from north to south Generally, the weather in Vietnam is hot with abundant sunshine, reflecting its tropical climate By contrast, the United Kingdom experiences cooler temperatures and less sunshine, highlighting the distinct climate patterns between Southeast Asia and Europe.
Page | 2 sunlight during the year These geographical differences can significantly influence human skin colours in the two countries
Secondly, in terms of anthropology, Vietnamese people are described as
“yellow” and have a darker skin colour, whereas English people are known as
“white” and their skin colours are much lighter In general, Vietnamese people prefer lighter skin colours than darker one
Because of the above differences, Vietnamese people may not usually use the right English adjectives to describe human skin colours Furthermore, even when they know the right words, they may not always use these words culturally correctly
Thu Dau Mot University (TDMU) is the only public university in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, located about 30 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City With a staff of 732, the university trains around 15,000 undergraduates across 37 programmes and 1,000 graduates in 9 graduate programmes English is the largest programme, with over 3,000 students In the Faculty of Foreign Languages, 22 lecturers oversee all English programmes; two hold doctoral degrees in linguistics and twenty hold master's degrees in English language teaching All these lecturers are native speakers of Vietnamese and work at the university as full-time staff There are very few foreigners living and working in Thu Dau Mot City and there is no native speaker of English.
Page | 3 currently working for the school, the Vietnamese lecturers of English have almost no opportunity to communicate in English with foreigners, including the use of English adjectives to describe human skin colours.
Statement of the Problem
Vietnamese speakers often describe skin color with English color adjectives, using "white" or "black" in a way that mirrors their Vietnamese terms trắng and đen In contrast, English-speaking cultures do not primarily use white and black to describe individual skin tones in everyday speech, since these terms carry broader racial and cultural connotations and are used with different nuance This cross-cultural difference in skin-color terminology matters for translation, communication, and content about color perception across languages, highlighting how language shapes the way people describe complexion.
Furthermore, Vietnamese people may pay more attention to skin colours than do English people As a result, someone’s skin colour can be an interesting topic for a group of Vietnamese people, but it may lead to serious communication failure with English speaking people.
Significance of the Study
This study provides theoretical foundations for researching basic color adjectives in English and carries out a comparative analysis of the adjectives used to describe human skin color across two languages within the framework of semantic linguistics, systematically identifying the similarities and differences in skin-tone descriptors and showing how semantic categories, cultural context, and lexical choice shape how speakers in each language refer to complexion.
The findings of the study can be useful for many English users In the field of English language teaching, the study helps Vietnamese teachers and students
Page | 4 to use the right English adjectives to describe human skin colours and to use these adjectives properly In publishing, the study helps book and dictionary writers to use these adjectives correctly.
Aims and Objectives of the Study
The current study has two research aims Firstly, it figures out the similarities and differences in the use of English and Vietnamese adjectives used to describe human skin colours Secondly, it provides Vietnamese people with some applications of English adjectives to describe human skin colours correctly
In order to achieve its aims, the study is designed to succeed in the following objectives Firstly, it describes all English and Vietnamese adjectives of basic colours and the adjectives used to describe human skin colours by native speakers in each culture Secondly, it compares and contrasts the adjectives used to describes human skin colours in the two languages and show the possible similarities and differences between them Finally, it collects data from two groups of Vietnamese lecturers and English lecturers in two higher education institutions to learn how these adjectives are used to describe human skin colours in each culture.
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Based on descriptive research from reliable dictionaries and data from educated native speakers of English and Vietnamese, three research questions are
Page | 5 recursively designed to focus a discussion on patterns that emerge from the research data The three research questions are:
1 How often do English and Vietnamese people address the skin colours of other people?
The first question is designed to measure the degree of frequency English and Vietnamese people talk about the skin colours of other people Its findings are expected to remind Vietnamese users of English to address the skin colours of other people to a proper extent, which helps enhance communication success with English speaking people
2 How English adjectives are used to describe human skin colours by English and Vietnamese people?
The second question is concerned with the similarities and differences in the use of English adjectives which are used to describe human skin colours by the two groups of participants It underpins helping Vietnamese people to use the right English adjectives in communication related to human skin colours
3 How should Vietnamese people use English adjectives to describe human skin colours?
Prioritizing the data from native speakers of English, this concluding question targets the second aim of the study It suggests how native speakers of Vietnamese use the English adjectives to describe human skin colours in a nativelike way
Scope and Limitations of the Study
The current study has two hypotheses: a directional hypothesis and a nondirectional hypothesis
As stated by Salkind (2018) that “a directional research hypothesis reflects a difference between groups, and the direction of the difference is specified” (p
Jablonski (2012) states that populations living closer to the equator tend to have darker skin, while those farther away have lighter skin due to differences in UV exposure and melanin production Since the United Kingdom lies farther from the equator than Vietnam, the study begins with a directional hypothesis that English people have lighter skin than Vietnamese people This latitudinal gradient in skin pigmentation guides the research design and interpretation of geographic differences in human skin color.
It is a reality that English and Vietnamese people have different skin colours Therefore, they may be a difference in the use of adjectives to describe human skin colours in their cultures As stated by Salkind (2018) that “A nondirectional research hypothesis reflects a difference between groups, but the direction of difference is not specified” (p 33), the researcher proposes the nondirectional research hypothesis of the study as follows
Due to differences in language and culture, native speakers of Vietnamese may not use English adjectives to describe human skin colours as do native speakers of English
By the end of the study, these above hypotheses will be tested based on research data collected from the materials and the participants
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
Human skin colours can be described using different parts of speech such as noun, adjectives, or even a phrase The current descriptive study investigates only English and Vietnamese adjectives used to describe human skin colours The research data was obtained from a group of twenty English lecturers working for EIU and a group of twenty Vietnamese lecturers of English at TDMU in Binh Duong Province The adjectives are mainly collected from Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary by Hornby (2020) and Từ điển tiếng Việt (Vietnamese Dictionary) by Hoang (2018) Few adjectives and their analysis cited from elsewhere are indicated clearly
This study has several limitations that affect its interpretation and generalizability Although the English participants were native speakers, their varying nationalities may reduce the reliability of the results; ideally, all participants would come from the same country, preferably the United Kingdom The use of convenience sampling may have introduced some bias and limited the findings’ robustness, suggesting that a more rigorous sampling method could yield clearer conclusions Additionally, the researcher’s residence in Binh Duong Province and familiarity with some Vietnamese participants could have introduced unintended bias into the data To enhance usefulness, future research should employ a more robust sampling strategy, such as random sampling with a larger sample size, and be conducted in a setting where the researcher has no prior acquaintance with participants.
Research Framework
Within the context of research, a framework for research is seen as a structure that provides “guidance for the researcher as study questions are finetuned, methods for measuring variables are selected and analyses are planned” (Liehr & Smith, p 13)
The current study was carried out with the implication of Jablonski’s (2012) claim about the distribution of human skin colours around the world Jablonski concluded that people living near the equator have darker skin than those in colder climates According to Quang (2020), the distances to the equator between the United Kingdom and Vietnam were different Based on Jablonski’s (2012) and his own findings, Quang (2020) claimed that “Compared to the United Kingdom, Vietnam is closer to the equator, resulting in Vietnamese people generally have darker skin than English people” (p 86) Due to linguistic and cultural differences, Vietnamese people might use different language units to describe human skin colours in the way native speakers of English do.
Thesis Structure
The thesis is organized in five chapters Chapter 1 - Introduction has introductory elements of the study including the background, the statement of the research problem, the significances, the aims and objectives, the research questions and hypothesis, scope, research framework, and limitations of the study Chapter 2 - Literature Review covers all theoretical concepts related to the conceptual implicature, definitions of terms It also discusses relevant studies in the field of the study and withdraws the gap which is worth researching
Chapter 3 - Methodology describes detailed components in which the study is
Page | 9 implemented These components are the research design, the population and sample, the methods of data collection, data collection, and the data analysis
Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussion presents the findings collected from
Chapter 3 and gives critical discussions based on relevant literature Chapter 5 -
Conclusion and Implications arrives at a convincing conclusion, which answers the research questions and confirms the research hypotheses posed in the first chapter This final chapter comes to an end by suggesting new topics in the field raised during the process of conducting the current study for further research
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter defines the linguistic terms used in the study, then analyzes English and Vietnamese basic color terminology It examines all twenty-three English adjectives describing human skin color and proposes their Vietnamese equivalents It reviews prior research on color terminology in both English and Vietnamese and provides an overarching view of current topics and research trends in this bilingual field, highlighting the literature gap this study aims to fill.
Definitions of Related Linguistic Terms
There are various definitions of skin by English and Vietnamese authors According to Hornby (2020), skin is “the layer of tissue that covers the body, [For example], …to have dark skin The snake sheds its skin once a year.” (p 1459) McIntosh (2013) gives a more specific definition of the term McIntosh stated that skin is “the natural outer layer that covers a person, animal, fruit, etc [For instance]: dark/fair/pale/tanned skin” (p 1454) In Vietnamese, Hoang (2018) has an exacter definition of the term than McIntosh’s, detailing that not all animals are covered with skin Hoang stated that skin is “the layer of tissue that covers the body of people and some animals, [For example], …skin colours, smooth skin” (p 297)
Skin is the body's largest organ, covering about 2 m² of surface area in an average adult and accounting for more than 10% of body mass (Harper, 2007) It performs two important roles, including protecting the body from excessive ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Page | 11 and absorbs enough sunlight to trigger the production of vitamin D Essentially, skin has three layers: epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis, which are illustrated in the following figure
Schematic Representation of the Skin Structure (Delgado et al., 2010)
The epidermis is the outermost protective layer of the skin, made of flat dead cells that form a waterproof barrier and determine our skin tone The dermis lies beneath the epidermis and contains blood vessels, glands, and nerve endings The deeper subcutaneous tissue, also called the hypodermis, is made of fat and connective tissue and acts as an insulator, a shock absorber, and an energy store.
Of the three layers, the current study relates to the epidermis only because it contains melanin which decides human skin colours
In the natural world, colour exists everywhere around us and plays an important role in life Through cognizing the objective world, the visual nervous system stores colours and different types of colour are named in different cultures Each culture sees and describes the meaning of colour dramatically differently The number of words about colour depends largely on each culture For instance, the Bassa people in
Liberia has only two words for colour classification, whereas the Inuit (also known as Eskimo) has 17 different words for white only, modified by different snow conditions There are various definitions of colour Colour is seen differently in physics, chemistry, optics, and linguistics In terms of linguistics, Dao (1993) defined colour as
“…an attribute of an object, existing in the natural physical world that human eyes can perceive” (p 113)
Due to cultural perceptions and categorizations of colours, colour naming systems of different languages are different Colour can be indicated by a noun or an adjective Among these parts of speech, adjectives are more commonly used in all languages In an investigation into 98 languages, Berlin and Kay (1969) commented generally on the basic colours of the languages in the table as follows
Basic Colours of Languages (Berlin & Kay, 1969)
- All languages contain terms for white and black
- If a language contains then it contains a term for
8 or more colours chosen from this group (purple, pink, orange, gray) (pp 2-3)
One colour can be a basic colour of this language, but not of another For instance, green is an English basic colour but it is not a Vietnamese one
Berlin and Kay (1969) claimed that ideally a word is a basic colour if it fulfils these four criteria: (1) The basic colour term is monoleximic (non-compositional): Its
Page | 13 meaning is not predictable from the meaning of its parts For instance, olive-tinged is not an English basic colour, (2) The basic colour term signification is not included in that of any other colour term For instance, green, blue are not Vietnamese basic colours because they belong to the basic colour xanh (3) The basic colour term application is not restricted to a narrow class of objects For instance, blond is not an English basic colour because it is included in white (4) The basic colour term must be psychologically salient for informants
Berlin and Kay (1969) identified these 11 English basic colours: white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray
Vietnamese researchers display notable variation in the number of basic color terms used for Vietnamese Dao (1993) proposed five basic colors—xanh, red, white, purple, and yellow—but his conception does not satisfy the first criterion of Berlin and Kay (1969) for basic color terms Similarly, Tran's work underscores ongoing debates about how Vietnamese color terminology aligns with established cross‑linguistic criteria, highlighting the broader challenge of standardizing basic color inventories across languages.
(2000) identified five Vietnamese basic colours: black, red, xanh, white, and yellow
For the purpose of the current study, the researcher agrees with Le (2018) on Vietnamese basic colours Le claimed that Vietnamese had nine basic colours including white, black, red, yellow, xanh, brown, purple, pink, and gray These colours satisfy the criteria established by Berlin and Kay (1969) and distinctive features of basic colours in the Vietnamese culture
English and Vietnamese Basic Colours
The table above indicates English and Vietnamese basic colours Both languages share eight basic colours, which are white, black, red, yellow, brown, purple, pink, and gray English has more basic colours than Vietnamese While three English basic colours (green, blue, and orange) are not Vietnamese basic colours, only one
Vietnamese basic colour (xanh) is not an English basic colour
Human skin colours range in variety from the darkest brown to the lightest hues The following figure represents the range of human skin colours on the continuum
Range of Human Skin Colours
Darwin, a famous scientist, was one of the earliest people in the world to address human skin colours Darwin was given an opportunity to travel aboard a survey ship, the Beagle, as a naturalist in 1871 From listening to explorers and naturalists, he knew that skin colour was one of the most important ways in which people varied He knew that darkly pigmented people were found closer to the equator, and lightly pigmented people like himself were found closer to the pole He was interested in human skin colours but did not write anything about it until much later Mentioning the skin colours of people, Darwin (1871), in his book titled “The descent of man and selection in relation to sex” stated that “Of all the differences between the races of man, the colour of the skin is the most conspicuous and one of the best marked…” (p
Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) studied human skin colour distribution and endorsed Darwin’s view that skin colour is the most conspicuous form of human variation and has been widely used to define races (p 1) They used remotely sensed data on UV radiation levels and gathered new scientific evidence, and their results confirmed Darwin’s 1871 ideas about human skin colour variation.
Page | 16 distribution of human skin colours globally The following figure illustrates human skin colours all over the world
Human Skin Colours Distribution (Jablonski & Chaplin, 2000)
Consistent with the skin-color distribution shown in the figure, Jablonski (2012) explains a latitudinal gradient in human pigmentation: populations near the equator are as darkly pigmented as possible, while those toward the polar regions are generally lighter in skin tone (p 58).
When comparing skin colours of English and Vietnamese people, Quang (2020) claimed that “Compared to the United Kingdom, Vietnam is closer to the equator, resulting in Vietnamese people generally have darker skin than English people” (p
English Adjectives Used to Describe Human Skin Colours and Its
Twenty-three English adjectives used to describe human skin colours are mainly collected from two reliable dictionaries
Hornby, A S (2020) Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (10 th ed.) Oxford University Press
McIntosh, C (2013) Cambridge advanced learners dictionary (4 th ed.) Cambridge University Press
For the purpose of the current study, some adjectives which are not found in either dictionary or in both of them enquire analysis from other sources
The Vietnamese equivalents of the English adjectives provided and precisely examined using the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Hornby, 2010, 8 th ed.) with Vietnamese translation and Vietnamese Dictionary (Hoang, 2018)
1 Black Belonging to a race of people who have dark skin; connected with black people: a black woman writer (Hornby, 2020, p 144); relating or belonging to people with black or dark brown skin, especially people who live in Africa or whose family originally came from Africa: Black Americans (McIntosh, 2013, p
148) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is “thuộc về người da đen” (Hornby,
According to a 2010 source (p 150), this adjective historically carried racist connotations in Western contexts but has since been reclaimed by Black communities and is now widely used When describing human skin colors, it means “having the very darkest colour” (Hornby, 2020, p 144) The Vietnamese equivalent for this adjective is đen.
2 Bronzed Having skin that has been turned brown in an attractive way by the sun
(Hornby, 2020, p 188): If someone is bronzed, their skin is attractively brown because they have been in the sun (McIntosh, 2013, p 189)
The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is rám nắng (Hornby, 2010, p 195)
Hoang (2018) provided an example for this term “da rám nắng sạm đen” (p 1037) meaning bronzed or tanned skin
3 Brown Having skin that is naturally brown or has been made brown by the sun
(Hornby, 2020, p 189); having the colour of chocolate or soil: Both my parents
Page | 18 have curly brown hair (McIntosh, 2013, p 190) The Vietnamese equivalent found in Hornby’s dictionary, 2010, p 196) is có da nâu rám nắng This translated term is not accurate since the term is used mainly to describe natural human skin colours The researcher believes the Vietnamese equivalent for the term should be nâu This belief is supported by Hoang (2018) defining nâu as “having a colour between black and red, or between yellow and dark red, identical to the colour of juice from a kind of a fruit named “củ nâu” (p 839)
4 Dark Brown or black in colour: Even if you have dark skin, you still need protection from the sun (Hornby, 2020, p 387) Nearer to black than white in colour: He was tall, dark (= with black/brown hair) and handsome (McIntosh,
2013, p 380) The Vietnamese translation for the term is either đen or nâu
(Hornby, 2010, p 399) In the context of this study, since đen and nâu have
English equivalents black and brown respectively, the researcher suggests that the Vietnamese equivalent for dark should be sẫm màu Hoang (2018) defined sẫm
[màu] as “đậm và hơi tối” (p 1079)
5 Dusky (literary) not very bright, dark or soft in colour: the dusky light inside the cave (Hornby, 2020, p 479); literary dark in colour: In autumn, the leaves turn a dusky red (McIntosh, 2013, p 473) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is tối, sẫm màu (Hornby, 2010, p 493) For example, her skin turned a dusky gold in the sun
6 Fair Pale in colour: a fair complexion (Hornby, 2020, p.552); pale: My sister is dark, and my brother is fair (McIntosh, 2013, p 544) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is nhạt màu (Hornby, 2010, p 368) As Hornby noticed, the opposite
Page | 19 of fair is dark (đen, as analyzed above) Therefore, trắng is a better equivalent for the term
7 Florid (of a person’s face) red: a florid complexion (Hornby, 2020, p 600); formal (of a person’s face) too red, especially in a way that is unhealthy: a florid complexion (McIntosh, 2013, p 592) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is đỏ [ửng] (Hornby, 2010, p 617)
8 Golden Bright yellow in colour like gold: golden hair (Hornby, 2020, p 763); the colour of gold: golden skin (McIntosh, 2013, p 669) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is vàng óng
9 Gray Especially NAmE, also grey, (of a person’s skin colour) pale and dull because they are ill/sick, tired or sad (Hornby, 2020, p 688) The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary by McIntosh (2013) contains this adjective, only explaining that is the spelling type of North American English for grey as “the colour that is a mixture of black and white, the colour of rain clouds” (p 683) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is tái nhợt
10 Green (of a person or their skin) being a pale colour, as if the person is going to vomit, for example, It was a rough crossing and most of the passengers looked distinctly green (Hornby, 2020, p 687); a colour between blue and yellow, of the colour of grass (McIntosh, 2013, p 681) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is tái xanh
11 Jaundiced Looking slightly yellow in colour because of having jaundice: He was jaundiced from liver disease (McIntosh, 2013, p 833) The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary by Hornby (2020) contains this word, but only explains the
Page | 20 term generally as “suffering from jaundice: a jaundiced patient/liver” (p 840) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is vàng da (Hornby, 2010, p 864)
12 Milky (of skin) White: milky skin (Hornby, 2020, p 983); white, pale, or not transparent: milky skin (McIntosh, 2013, p 976) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is trắng sữa (Hornby, 2010, p 1012)
13 Pale For skin colours, this English adjective has two meanings 1 (of skin colours) white in colour, containing a lot of white (Hornby, 2020, p.111) These Vietnamese equivalent for this adjective is trắng For example, she has naturally pale complexion and dark hair 2 (of a person or their face, etc.) having skin that is almost white; having the skin that is whiter than usual because of illness, strong emotion, etc.: You look pale Are you OK? (Hornby, 2020, p 1111); describing someone’s face or skin if it has less colour than usual, for example when they are ill or frightened, or if it has less colour than people usually have: You’re looking pale Do you feel ill? (McIntosh, 2013, p 1107) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is either trắng bệch (Hornby, 2010, p 1143)
14 Pallid (of a person, their face, etc.) pale, especially because of illness: a pallid complexion (Hornby, 2020, p 1111); very pale, in a way that looks unhealthy and not attractive (McIntosh, 2013, p 1107) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is tái xanh (Hornby, 2010, p 1143)
15 Pasty Pale and not looking healthy: a pasty face/complexion (Hornby, 2020, p
1126); disapproving (of someone’s face or skin) very pale and unhealthy looking: He’s a rather unattractive man with long greasy hair and pasty skin (McIntosh,
2013, p 1123) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is xanh xao or nhợt nhạt
(Hornby, 2010, p 1159) Hoang (2018) defines the terms xanh xao as “có nước da
Page | 21 xanh nhợt, vẻ ốm yếu” (p 1448) and nhợt nhạt as “nhợt (nói khái quát): nước da nhợt nhạt” (p 919)
16 Rosy Pink and pleasant in appearance: She has rosy cheeks (Hornby, 2020, p
1349); having a colour between pink and red: Your rosy cheeks always make you look so healthy (McIntosh, 2013, p 1341) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is hồng hào (Hornby, 2010, p 1388) Hoang (2018) defined hồng hào as “(of skin) có màu đỏ hồng, đẹp, biểu thị trạng thái khoẻ mạnh For example, da dẻ hồng hào (rosy skin), sắc mặt hồng hào (rosy face)”, (p.584)
17 Rubicund (literary) (of a person’s face) having a healthy red colour (Hornby,
2020, p 1356); (literary) having a red face (McIntosh, 2013, p 1346) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is either đỏ ửng or hồng hào (Hornby, 2010, p
1394) Hoang (2018) defined đỏ ửng as “đỏ hồng lên, dịu, nhẹ, ưa nhìn [For example,] gò má đỏ ứng (rubicund cheeks)” (p 413)
18 Ruddy (of a person face) looking red and healthy: ruddy cheeks, a ruddy complexion (Hornby, 2020, p 1356); red: He was ruddy-cheeked from the walk in the cold Her face was ruddy and healthy-looking (McIntosh, 2013, p 1347) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is hồng hào (Hornby, 2010, pp 1394-1395)
19 Sallow (of a person skin or face) having a slightly yellow colour that does not look healthy (Hornby, 2020, p 1369); (of white-skinned people) yellow and looking unhealthy: a sallow complexion/face (McIntosh, 2013, p 1360) The Vietnamese equivalent for the term is vàng vọt (Hornby, 2010, p 1408) Hoang
(2018) defined vàng vọt as “có màu vàng nhợt nhạt, vẻ yếu ớt [For example,] người xanh xao vàng vọt (a pasty and sallow person)” (p 1392)
20 Swarthy (especially of a person or their face) having dark skin (Hornby, 2020, p
Word Frequency
The frequency of colour terms has been repeatedly proposed as one of useful criterion in judging whether or not a term can be regarded as a basic colour term It has been argued that the more frequent the occurrence of a word, the greater the salience of the term it holds Kennedy et al (2000) are among researchers who support this claim The researcher also agrees that this claim is right in the case of skin colour terms, meaning that the more frequently the adjectives in Table 2.1 occur, the greater their salience
By calculating the frequency of each adjective in Table 2.1, using English Corpus at www.english-corpora.org, the salience of these adjectives is presented in the chart as follows
Frequency of Skin Colours adjectives
The above chart shows an overall view of the frequency, for detailed information of the frequency, please see Appendix 3
From a pool of twenty-three adjectives, ten terms show high frequency: white, black, green, dark, brown, fair, yellow, gray, golden, and pale These adjectives include six basic English color terms: white, black, green, brown, yellow, and gray According to Kennedy et al (2000), these ten adjectives are claimed to be important and frequently used to describe human skin colors This claim will be carefully examined in Chapter 4 using data collected from participants.
Reviews of Related Studies
2.5.1 Universal Classification of Skin Type on Skin Colours
The natural colour of human skin is a fascinating topic with regard to its universal aspect Researchers have conducted various studies to classify human skin types all over the world Fitzpatrick (1988) proposed a classification of skin type based on a personal history of sun burning and/or suntanning following 45-60 minutes of exposure to midday sun Fitzpatrick denoted six different skin types, ranging from skin type 1, which is extremely pale, to skin type 6, which is very dark, on skin colours before exposing to sunlight
Classification of Skin Type on Skin Colours (Fitzpatrick, 1988)
Skin Type Skin Colours Image
Ten years later, Goldman’s (2008) experience in treating hundreds of patients of both sexes of various races on various medications suggested that the Fitzpatrick skin classification was not an accurate predictor of pigmentary response to laser, surgical or chemical injury to the skin He proposed a world classification of skin types on skin colours in the following table
Classification of Skin Type on Skin Colours (Goldman, 2008)
Skin Type Skin Colours Origins
2 Light brown Arabian/Mediterranean/Hispanic
It can be inferred that in Goldman’s (2008) classification of skin types on skin colours, people originated from English speaking countries has white skin while
Vietnamese people have yellow skin More accurately, native speakers of English have much lighter skin than Vietnamese people This classification supports Jablonski’s (2012) findings presented in the beginning of the chapter
2.5.2 Studies on Colours and Skin Colours
Researchers have found that bilinguals possess greater colour vocabulary knowledge than monolinguals by conducting an unconstrained colour-naming task Nambiar (2019) conducted a study in which two groups of participants participated:
In a study with 44 monolingual Malayalam speakers and 32 Malayalam–English bilinguals, researchers explored how native Malayalam color labels differ from English color terms, noting that the bilinguals’ first language encompasses rich color labels while English offers only basic terms Nambiar (2019) developed a story narration task comprising eight stories designed with elementary and mixed color conditions to probe these differences The findings revealed clear disparities between the basic English and Malayalam color terms and the labels used by bilingual speakers, who tended to rely on translation equivalents of Malayalam color terms when articulating English colors.
As discussed early in this chapter, a number of basic colours can vary in different languages Together with Italian and Hebrew (a Northwest language native to Israel), Russian has the biggest number of twelve basic colours Native speakers of Russian distinguish between the colour terms sinij (dark blue) and goluboj (light blue) in their culture English people can naturally describe the differences between the two colours
In English, azure can be used to describe light blue The term is defined as “having the bright blue colour of the sky on a clear day” (McIntosh, 2013, p 98) and “bright blue in colour like the sky” (Hornby, 2020, p.92) Native speakers of English do not usually use azure because they may say light blue to describe that colour In order to
Page | 29 explore how native speakers of Russian name basic colours in English, a web-based experiment was carried out by Paramei, Griber and Mylonas (2017) Native Russian speakers participated in the experiment using an unconstrained colour-naming method Each participant named 20 colours Colour names and response times of typing onset were registered The findings of the study revelated that Russian speakers’ colour naming reflected language-specific factors, and interestingly naming colour differences were found between genders, with more refined naming of the
“warm” colours from females than males
By analyzing ten Sudanese basic colours—black, red-brown, white, yellow, green, wheat, red, brown, blue, and dark-blue—Bender (1983) advanced the discussion on the development of Sudanese skin colour terms He concluded that there were eight Sudanese skin colour terms, which are presented in the following table.
Sudanese Skin Colours Terms (Bender, 1983, p 21)
Stage Dark Mid-red Mid-yellow Light
Skin Colours Black, green Red, red-brown, brown
The colours in the table indicates that, with exceptions of blue and dark-blue, all the other eight Sudanese basic colours are used to describe human skin colours in the Sudanese culture Unlike the use of green in the English culture, in Sudanese, it is a natural skin colours An example from classical poetry shows how green skin colours were a mark of pride:
“I am the green for those who know me:
I belong to the Arabs with green skin
Whoever defines me will confront a brave gentleman”
(Al-Jashiz, 1964, as cited in Bender, 1983, p 23)
Chapter overview: it clarifies key terms used in the study—skin, colour, and human skin colours—and maps the worldwide distribution of skin colour It documents an analysis of 23 English adjectives for human skin colors and provides their Vietnamese equivalents The chapter also reviews related literature on color terminology across languages, highlighting cross-linguistic perspectives on how skin colour is described in different linguistic contexts.
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Chapter X presents the study's methodology, detailing the research design, the population and sampling, the data collection methods and procedures, the data analysis approach, and a concise chapter summary Each section is anchored in theoretical literature, linking methodological choices to the study's objectives and the broader scholarly context.
Research Design
If it is generally agreed that all types of research are divided into two categories: experimental and nonexperimental, the current study falls into the second group
Nonexperimental research methods do not aim to establish or test causal relationships between variables Salkind (2018) summarizes this by stating, "Nonexperimental research examines the relationship between variables, without any attention to cause-and-effect relationships" (p 19) In the study, the researcher focused on describing how participants use English adjectives to describe human skin colors, aiming to characterize an existing phenomenon rather than probe any causal links Consequently, no hypotheses about cause-and-effect were proposed or investigated, and the research simply documents the described use of language without asserting causal relationships.
Data analysis in this study incorporated both qualitative and quantitative approaches Qualitatively, data were gathered through interviews and open-ended questions in the survey Quantitatively, statistics were used to categorize 23 English adjectives describing skin colours into groups based on the degree of use by the participants.
According to Salkind (2018), the general purpose of qualitative methods is to study human behaviours with the social and cultural contexts in which they occur In practice, the research used most nonnumerical primary data, and little numerical primary data to answer the research questions Therefore, it was generally a qualitative study
Since the purpose of the study was to provide information about the contents of behaviours (the use of English adjectives) and told almost no information about why they might do what they did (use the adjectives in such a way), it was descriptive The researcher was not trying to understand the motivation for using the English adjectives nor trying to manipulate their use or content of the adjectives or any other outcome of the research
For the above reasons, the current research project was generally a nonexperimental qualitative descriptive study.
Population and Sample
Sampling, or the selection of the participants, is always a big deal of research because it is an important factor in the design and conducting of any research study where groups are compared is how accurately the sample of participants is selected Since the researcher was unable to test all the population, he had to select the sample in a way in which the research outcomes, or results were as reliable as possible
In the research design, a population is “a group of individuals who have the same characteristics” (Creswell, 2012, p 141) In other words, research population is a group of potential participants to whom you want to generalize the results of the
Page | 33 study Therefore, in theory, to ideally answer the research questions to the current study, the researcher needed to collect data from all the population, the native speakers of English and Vietnamese In practice, like other researchers, the researcher of this study was unable to work with the whole population due to limited time and capabilities The researcher could only collect information necessary for the study from a reasonable number of representatives from the population, called “sample”
A sample is a subset of that population, and of course they have the same characteristics Sampling is an important step in research design For the importance of a correct sample, Salkind (2018) states:
Generalizability determines whether research results have meaning beyond the original study setting Only when results can be generalized from a sample to a population do they apply beyond the initial context When findings are generalizable, they can be applied to different populations with the same characteristics across diverse settings Conversely, when results are not generalizable because the sample does not accurately represent the population, the findings are relevant only to the participants in the original sample, not to others.
The researcher collected data for the research from two groups:
Group 1: One group of twenty native speakers of English taught English full-time for EIU in Binh Duong Province The teachers all obtained master’s degrees in English teaching or English literature from their own English speaking countries (The United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada) They all had English language teaching certificates as well
Group 2: One group of twenty native speakers of Vietnamese taught English full- time for TDMU in Binh Duong Province The teachers all obtained master’s degrees in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Vietnamese universities No one in this group had been to a foreign country to study English
Chart 3.1 displays the ages of the participants in the two groups Their ages ranged from thirty to fifty-five The ages in the two groups were roughly equal
As it is shown in Chart 3.2, in both groups, there were more female participants than male ones There was a difference of 10% between the genders in the two groups: For female, English participants accounted for 60% while Vietnamese participants accounted for 70% Similarly, English and Vietnamese male participants accounted for 40% and 30% respectively The researcher should take this difference into consideration because males and females might have difference attitudes towards human skin colours
Since the researcher lived in Binh Duong Province and worked for Becamex Group, the owner of EIU, and have learnt Higher Education at TDMU, he used convenience sampling to select the sample for his study Though this type of sampling did not have a very high degree of generalizability, it was convenient and inexpensive, at least in the researcher’s research context For advantages and disadvantages of convenience sampling, Creswell (2012) stated that “in convenience sampling, the researcher selects the participants because they are willing and available to be studied
In this case, the researcher cannot say with confidence that the individuals are
Page | 36 representative of the population However, the sample can provide useful information for answering the questions and hypotheses” (pp 145-146).
Methods of Data Collection
Throughout the process of data collection and analysis, the researcher made sure his findings and interpretations were accurate The researcher determined the accuracy of the findings using triangulation strategies, collecting information from different sources Triangulation is the process of corroborating evidence from different individuals, types of data, or methods of data collection in descriptions and themes in qualitative research (Creswell, 2012) In the current study, the researcher triangulated among two different data sources (questionnaire and interviews) to enhance the accuracy of the study.
Data Collection
The research data was obtained from questionnaires and interviews
Appendix 1 outlines the questionnaire, with its introduction functioning as informed consent and indicating that participants were adequately aware of the type of information the researcher sought, the purpose of its collection, how the data would be used, how they were expected to participate, and how their participation could affect them directly or indirectly.
The questionnaire was designed to collect two types of information The first section of the questionnaire collected demographic information about the participants including names, ages, genders, and qualifications The demographic information was not related to research questions, but it gave a general background of the participants
Page | 37 in the research setting The second section had both open-ended and close-ended questions This main section attempted to collect data to answer the research questions
There was one version of the same questionnaire for the two groups of participants, which made it convenient for the researcher to compare and contrast data from the two groups of participants The questionnaire was worded by an experienced native speaker of English working for EIU and piloted once before delivering to the participants in the main study To pilot it, the researcher asked a group of five foreign teachers working for EIU and then worded the questions It is necessary to pilot the questionnaire as confirmed by Bell (2005, p 14) that “careful piloting is necessary to ensure that all questions mean the same to all respondents” After piloting the questionnaire, the researcher recognized that some teachers had not understood Question 2 Consequently, the researcher could not synthesize the information Therefore, the researcher added a completed sample answer to the questionnaire so that the questions could mean the same to all of the participants
The questions in the questionnaire had different levels of measurement According Salkind (2018), levels of measurement “reflect the ways in which outcomes are measured or assessed” (p.95) Questions 1, 3, and 4 were nominal since they described variables that were categorical in nature and differ in quality rather than quantity This level of measurement was solely qualitative Question 2 was ordinal because it required the participants to describe the variables (that is, the given 23 adjectives) that could be ordered along some type of continuum (that is from 1 to 23)
The second parts of Questions 3 and 4 were open-ended questions that would give the participants an opportunity to describe more about the variables
Appendix 2 describes the interview, which had two sections designed to mirror the questionnaire Eight participants contributed data through structured interviews that followed the same questions in the same order as the questionnaire, with Question 3 modified to be more comfortable and engaging for interviewees Four interviewees were randomly selected from each participant group using Microsoft Excel (Office 365) The eight interviews were video-recorded by the researcher and subsequently transcribed; the transcripts were cross-checked against the questionnaire data Overall, the interview data were cross-checked with the questionnaire results to verify consistency.
Data Analysis
The researcher organized research data for analysis so as to have possible reliable results As stated by Creswell (2012), from this analysis, the researcher presented the data in the findings through figures, tables, maps, and a detailed discussion of the themes These presentations then informed a broader interpretation of the findings and were discussed as general conclusions and compared with the existing literature
Earlier in this chapter, we noted that the study used both quantitative and qualitative data, and that each data type calls for its own data analysis approach Because different data types require distinct data analysis processes, the specific methods for analyzing quantitative and qualitative data are described in the sections that follow.
Preparing and organizing quantitative data for analysis in the study consists of scoring data, determining the type of score to use, selecting a computer programme, inputting the data into the programme for analysis, and clearing the data
When the researcher collected data on an instrument (that is a questionnaire or an interview), the researcher needed a certain system for scoring the data Scoring data meant the researcher assigned a numeric score (or a value) to each response category for each question on the instrument used to collect data
For instance, native speakers of English responded to a survey asking them to indicate their attitudes about the frequency of their use of English adjectives for human skin colours The question is as in the following table:
Question for the Degree of Use
In your culture (country), how often do you talk about the skin colour of other people?
Percent Adverb Your idea, please check
100% always 90% usually 80% normally 70% often 50% sometimes 30% occasionally 10% seldom 5% hardly ever 0% never
3.6.1.2 Determine the Types of Score to Analyze
In this study, the researcher aimed to examine single-item scores, assigning each participant an individual score for every question A single-item score is the measurement attached to each item for each participant, enabling a detailed analysis of how individuals responded to every question on the instrument.
For example, the following the single-item scores from two of the foreign participants to a question (please see Question 2 in the questionnaire above)
A single-item score further helped the researcher recognize the similarities and differences between different participants to the same question on the instrument
After scoring the data, the researcher selected a computer program to analyze the data The researcher used Microsoft Excel because it was available on his laptop and could analyze the amount of data in the researcher’s database in a short time To save time, the researcher used Google Form (Questionnaire) to collect data from the participants The following figure is an extracted part of the Questionnaire using Google Form
Part of Google Form Questionnaire
Google Form exported the data into Microsoft Excel so that it was very convenient for the researcher to carry out the data analysis
After choosing a statistical program, the researcher’s next step was to enter the data from his instruments into a computer program Inputting the data occurred when the researcher transferred the data from the responses on instruments to a computer file for analysis
3.6.1.5 Clean and Account for Missing Data
In the current study, the researcher realized that there were some errors in the data or missing data Errors occurred when the participants in the researcher’s study provided scores outside the ranges for variables Missing data may result when research data is lost, participants skip questions, or refuse to complete a sensitive question
In the survey results, 19 native English speakers answered Question 3, while one foreign participant did not complete his response; the details are shown in the table below.
Example of an Uncleaned Data
This detail was beyond the researcher’s expectation According to George and Mallery (2001), for ethical reasons, the researcher will report how he handles missing data so that readers can accurately interpret the results The researcher needed to clean the data and decided how to treat missing data Cleaning the data is the process of inspecting the data for scores (or values) that are outside the accepted range For example, a foreign teacher wrote a piece of note for Question 3 in the questionnaire as follows:
For the reason provided, this participant completed the question as follows:
Example of an Uncleaned Data
The researcher believed this participant provided very useful information due to the way he explained his answer to this questions and answers to other questions Therefore, the researcher decided to clean his answer to the question by leaving out the numbers indicating “his three levels of usage” The researcher only used the number after each colon in his answer and have a correct 1-23 order of the adjectives on the continuum
The researcher also needed to examine his database for missing data Missing data would yield fewer participants to be included in the data analysis As the researcher wanted as many participants to be included in the analysis as possible, he tried his best to correct as much as possible for the missing data In the example above, the participant does not supply enough data The researcher cannot clean the data or correct it in any way, he has to exclude this participant in the study This is a pity but, the researcher should not use such information in the study under ethical considerations
Preparing and organizing qualitative data for analysis in the study consisted of collecting data, determining the types of interviews to use and clean the data
While quantitative research used close-ended questions and restricted the views of the participants, qualitative research relied on general interviews by collecting data with opened-ended questions Open-ended questions helped the researcher go deeper into the participants views about the phenomenon For example, the following is useful information from an English participant to Question 5 in the interview
The researcher maintained the information given by the interviewees by audiotaping the conversation and then transcribed the information into words for analysis
3.6.2.2 Determine the Types of Interviews and Open-Ended Questions on the Questionnaires
There are a number of approaches to interviewing and using open-ended questions on the questionnaires
Of different types of interviews including one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews, telephone interviews and email-interviews, one-on-one interviewing was the most suitable for the researcher because he could ask questions to and record answers from only one participant in the study at a time Furthermore, as Creswell
Summary
This chapter outlines the essential components of the study’s research design, clearly detailing how data were collected and analyzed, and it cites pertinent literature to critically support the viewpoints in each section, thereby reinforcing the credibility of the findings and their interpretations.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter analyzes the English adjectives used to describe human skin color and compares their use by English and Vietnamese speakers By contrasting data collected from two participant groups, the study identifies both similarities and differences in how these adjectives are applied An in-depth discussion will follow, built on the study’s findings to illuminate usage patterns and their implications for cross-linguistic semantics and lexicography.
Findings
The adjectives are used to describe human skin colours in varying degrees by both English and Vietnamese teachers
Chart 4.1 indicates how often the group of English teachers talked about the skin colours of other people The units in the chart were measured in cardinal numbers out of the total of twenty English participants
Degree of Use by English Participants
The findings in the figure revealed that English participants did not often talk about the skin colours of other people Accordingly, the majority of the participants,
(8 out of 20, accounting for 40.0%) responded that they occasionally cared about the skin colours of other people Especially, two participants, accounting for 10.0%, hardly ever addressed the skin colours of others Among four participants who reported that they sometimes mentioned the skin colour of other people, one noticed that she only talked about the issue only when someone’s skin looked different than normal or when describing someone’s health
Chart 4.2 provides information about the extent to which the Vietnamese participants addressed the skin colours of other people
Degree of Use by Vietnamese Participants
The data showed that “sometimes” had the highest use level of the adjectives: seven teachers, accounting for 35.0% Especially, one Vietnamese participant, accounting for 5.0 % responded that he normally talked about people’s skin colours
Chart 4.3 showed contrast between the use of English adjectives to talk about the skin colours of other people
Degree of Use by English and Vietnamese Participants
The differences in the chart conclusively demonstrated that the Vietnamese participants were more likely to talk about the skin colours of other people than the English ones The statistics in Chart 4.3 could convincingly reach a conclusion that
Vietnamese people are more concerned about the skin colours of other people than English people
English speakers rely on a notable set of 23 adjectives to describe skin colors Before comparing how these adjectives are used by two participant groups, we first analyze the usage patterns among English speakers themselves.
Because participants’ personal reasons were diverse and beyond the researcher’s control, foreign teachers themselves used the 23 English adjectives to varying degrees The accompanying chart illustrates this variation, showing how each adjective was applied by the teachers to different extents.
Use of Adjectives by Two English Participants
Bro w n Pas ty Wh ite Ru bicund G re en Ye llow Sa llow M ilk y Bro nze d Jau nd ice d Pal e Ros y Bl ack Ta nn ed Pal lid Sw ar thy Fa ir G ra y G o ld en Du sk y Dar k Fl or id Ru dd y
Two English participants, FP1 and FP2, describe human skin color using adjectives from their own culture; they largely use the same adjectives to similar extents, but terms such as brown and black show markedly different frequencies, a finding that prompts the researcher to synthesize and analyze the data carefully to obtain the most reliable results for the study.
Similar to all kinds of vocabulary in general, the 23 adjectives were used to different degrees of frequency In the current study, the researcher applied the three- level (or tier) model for conceptualizing categories of words outlined by Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2013)
Three-Level Model of Vocabulary Development (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2013)
In the chart above, Level 1 words refer to everyday conversation language Level
2 words refer to general academic words, likely to appear in written texts rather than in speech Level 3 words refer to domain-specific words
The frequencies of the adjectives used by the foreign participants were calculated and presented in the table below (for more details, see Appendix 4)
Frequency of Adjectives by English Participants
Order Adjective Total mean Level
The table above and Table 2.1 in the second chapter share six English basic colour adjectives, including yellow, green, gray, black, brown, and white The table also shares five high frequency adjectives with Chart 2.1 including brown, dark, fair, white, and pale In the perception of the English teachers, the other three high
Bronzed, rosy, and tanned did not appear among the high-frequency adjectives in the chart This difference can be explained by the chart reflecting general word usage rather than language restricted to describing human skin colors; these terms occur frequently in broader contexts, which lowers their ranking as high-frequency skin-color descriptors.
The following table indicates the frequency of the 23 adjectives calculated based on the responses from Vietnamese teachers (For details, see Appendix 5)
Frequency of Adjectives by Vietnamese Participants
Order Adjective Total mean Level
The table above and Table 2.1 in the second chapter share five Vietnamese basic adjectives including brown, black, white, yellow, and gray The table also shares five high frequency adjectives with Chart 2.1, including white, dark, green, yellow, and gray
Frequency of Adjectives by English and Vietnamese Participants
Order By English participants By Vietnamese participants Level
Table 4.3 presents how English and Vietnamese participants used English adjectives to describe human skin colours It can be obviously recognized that Vietnamese participants used the adjectives differently compared with English participants
For the case of high frequency adjectives, Vietnamese teachers shared only two of the adjectives out of eight (accounting for 25.0%), which are white and dark, with
English teachers Especially, they used three of the low frequency adjectives (accounting for 42.9%), which are swarthy, green, and yellow, and three of the medium frequency adjectives (accounting for 37.5%), which are golden, florid, and gray, as high frequency adjectives
Among medium-frequency adjectives used by Vietnamese participants with English teachers, pallid, ruddy, and black accounted for 37.5% Milky and jaundiced were also used, comprising 28.6% of the items Notably, bronzed, white, and dark—high-frequency adjectives—were included as well, making up 37.5% of the medium-frequency set.
Discussion
The two groups cared about skin colours but looked at it in different ways Easterners tended to value pale (or white, or fair) skin colours to darker skin tones
Culturally, this was because people who spent all day farming outside had darker skin, whereas people who were “successful” worked inside and thus had paler skin and were therefore “better” The opposite was the case in many Western countries where people who were darker (or tanner) were considered to be more successful because they had more time to go outside and rest in the sun instead of staying inside working all day Both groups cared about skin colours at a subconscious level and would judge people based on their own individual prejudices and beliefs That said in the researcher’s opinion he felt that people in the west generally looked at professions and
In Western contexts, assessments of a person often started with their work ethic, with effort taking precedence over appearance or skin color It was the level of hard work, not looks, that shaped initial judgments By contrast, in Eastern cultures, first impressions tended to be based on appearance, with work ethic considered only after the initial glance.
It is shown in Chart 4.3 that there was a difference of 10% in the gender between the groups, which might lead to a possible fault in the final conclusion, but generally the data in the chart was seen as an answer to the first research question It revealed that Vietnamese people addressed the skin colours of other people more than English people do.
Summary
This chapter presented the results of the study and how research data was analyzed for the findings It pointed out that there were two main groups of adjectives for human skin colours: permanent and temporary skin colours The chapter chronologically presented answers to research questions and compared the results of the study to the previous ones