Perceiving, Naming and Using Colours in Ladakh1
Résumé
Naming colours is a rather risky business. In fact, it is society that "makes" the colour, that gives it its definition and meaning, that constructs its codes and values, and that organizes its customs and determines the stakes involved. In an attempt to describe the hue categorization and colour naming phenomena in Ladakh, this paper examines the definitions and the local terms given for “colour” in dictionaries and encyclopaedias, then discusses the colour terms used by people in everyday life, as well as those used to express colour in medical and hippiatric or in painting treatises. Finally, using a few examples, this paper shows how a colour takes on meaning, how it fully "functions" from a social and symbolic perspective insofar as it is associated with or opposed to one or many other colours.