An analysis of english adjectives describing human skin colours and their equivalents in vietnamese

PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCE
THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

QUANG VAN VIET CUONG

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING
HUMAN SKIN COLOURS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN
VIETNAMESE
MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS

BINH DUONG - 2020


PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCE
THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

QUANG VAN VIET CUONG

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING
HUMAN SKIN COLOURS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN
VIETNAMESE
MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS

SUPERVISOR:

LE THANH HOA, PhD

BINH DUONG - 2020


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and neither any part of this
thesis nor the whole of the thesis has been submitted for a degree to any university or
education institution.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon
anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques,
quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis,
published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard of
referencing practices.

SIGNATURE

QUANG VAN VIET CUONG

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Mr. Le
Thanh Hoa (PhD), for his guidance and continuous support during this process. His
motivation, advocacy, and knowledge insight have helped me develop, organize, and
persist in producing this product that first started as an idea. I would also like to thank
all the faculty of the foreign languages at Thu Dau Mot University, Binh Duong
Province for giving me the tools to look critically at the world and participate as a
change agent through education.

The final thesis would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support
and encouragement from my friends, especially those in Cohort 4 of English language,
Thu Dau Mot University. I am particularly grateful to all foreign lecturers of English
at Eastern International University and all Vietnamese lecturers of English at Thu Dau
Mot University for their participation in the study. Without their support, the study
would not reach such a convincing conclusion as it should.
Finally, to my mother, my wife, and my sons, who have made all things possible
in my life and inspire me through their love, compassion and wholehearted support.
This is for you.

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ABSTRACT
The current study aimed to investigate how 23 English adjectives were used to
describe human skin colours by English and Vietnamese people. The research data
was collected using questionnaires and interviews with a group of 20 English lecturers
working for Eastern International University and another group of 20 Vietnamese
lecturers working for Thu Dau Mot University in Binh Duong Province. The findings
of the study revealed that Vietnamese people addressed the skin colours of other
people more than English people and they did not use the 23 English adjectives to
describe human skin colours to the degree of frequency as English people did. The
findings of the study also supported Jablonski’s (2012) claim that people living in
places closer to the equator had darker skin than those living in the colder climates.
Based on the analysis of the 23 English adjectives collected from linguistic
dictionaries, the researcher suggested the equivalents in Vietnamese. The study has
implication in terms of the usage of these adjectives for English teachers, learners,
translators, dictionary writers, and machine translation.
Keywords: human, skin colours, English, Vietnamese, frequency

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.............................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................ vi
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................viii
LIST OF CHARTS ...................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1

1.1. Background to the Study ................................................................................ 1
1.1.1. Theoretical Background ............................................................................ 1
1.1.2. Practical Background ................................................................................ 2
1.2. Statement of the Problem ............................................................................... 3
1.3. Significance of the Study ................................................................................ 3
1.3.1. Theoretical Significance ............................................................................ 3
1.3.2. Practical Significance ................................................................................ 3
1.4. Aims and Objectives of the Study.................................................................. 4
1.4.1. Aims ............................................................................................................ 4
1.4.2. Objectives .................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Research Questions and Hypotheses ............................................................. 4
1.5.1. Research Questions .................................................................................... 4
1.5.2. Hypotheses .................................................................................................. 5
1.6. Scope and Limitations of the Study ............................................................... 6
1.6.1. Scope of the Study ...................................................................................... 6

1.6.2. Limitations of the Study ............................................................................. 7
1.7. Research Framework...................................................................................... 7
1.8. Thesis Structure .............................................................................................. 8
CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 10

2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Definitions of Related Linguistic Terms ..................................................... 10
2.2.1. Human Skin Colours ............................................................................... 10
2.3. English Adjectives Used to Describe Human Skin Colours and Its
Vietnamese Equivalents ......................................................................................... 16
2.4. Word Frequency ........................................................................................... 24
2.5. Reviews of Related Studies ........................................................................... 25
2.5.1. Universal Classification of Skin Type on Skin Colours ......................... 25
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2.5.2. Studies on Colours and Skin Colours ................................................... 28
2.6. Summary ........................................................................................................ 30
CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 31

3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 31
3.2. Research Design ............................................................................................ 31
3.3. Population and Sample ................................................................................. 32
3.3.1. Population ................................................................................................ 32
3.3.2. Sample ...................................................................................................... 33
3.4. Methods of Data Collection .......................................................................... 36

3.5. Data Collection .............................................................................................. 36
3.5.1. Questionnaires ......................................................................................... 36
3.5.2. Interviews ................................................................................................. 38
3.6. Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 38
3.6.1. Quantitative Data ..................................................................................... 39
3.6.2. Qualitative Data ....................................................................................... 43
3.7. Summary ........................................................................................................ 46
CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................... 47

4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 47
4.2. Findings .......................................................................................................... 47
4.2.1. From Questionnaires ............................................................................... 47
4.2.2. From Interviews ....................................................................................... 60
4.3. Discussion ......................................................................................................... 62
4.4. Summary .......................................................................................................... 63
CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ....................................... 64

5.1. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 64
5.2. Implications ...................................................................................................... 66
5.3. Suggestions for Further Study ....................................................................... 67
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. i
PUBLISHED WORKS ................................................................................................ iv
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... v

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TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
Order Abbreviation

Full form

1.

EIU

Eastern International University

2.

TDMU

Thu Dau Mot University

3.

FP

Foreign Participants (used in tables, charts, and
figures for the purpose of convenience)

4.

VP

Vietnamese Participants (used in tables, charts,

and figures for the purpose of convenience)

Notes:
1. In this thesis, italics are intentionally used to highlight key terms.
2. American Psychological Association (APA 7th edition) referencing is applied in
the thesis.

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LIST OF TABLES
Order

Content

Page

1.

Table 2.1. Basic colours of languages

11

2.

Table 2.2. English and Vietnamese basic colours.

12

3.

Table 2.3. English adjectives describing human skin colours and

22

Vietnamese equivalents
4.

Table 2.4. Classification of skin type on skin colours

25

5.

Table 2.5. Classification of skin type on skin colours

26

6.

Table 2.6. Sudanese skin colour terms

28

7.

Table 3.1. Question for the degree of use

38

8.

Table 3.2. Scores of English participants

38

9.

Table 3.3. Example of an uncleaned data

41

10.

Table 3.4. Example of an uncleaned data

42

11.

Table 4.1. Frequency of adjectives by English participants

51

12.

Table 4.2. Frequency of adjectives by English participants

52

13.

Table 4.3. Frequency of adjectives by English and Vietnamese

53

participants

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LIST OF FIGURES
Order

Content

Page

1.

Figure 2.1. Schematic representation of the skin structure

10

2.

Figure 2.2. Range of human skin colours

14

3.

Figure 2.3. Human skin colours distribution

15

4.

Figure 2.4. The degree of darkness of the adjectives

23

5.

Figure 3.1. Part of Google form questionnaire

39

6.

Figure 3.2. Example of participant answer

41

7.

Figure 3.3. Example of participant answer

42

8.

Figure 4.1. Three-level model of vocabulary development

50

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LIST OF CHARTS
Order

Content

Page

1.

Chart 2.1. Frequency of skin colour adjectives

23

2.

Chart 3.1. Participant Age

33

3.

Chart 3.2. Participant gender

33

4.

Chart 4.1. Degree of use by English participants

47

5.

Chart 4.2. Degree of use by Vietnamese participants

48

6.

Chart 4.3. Degree of use by English and Vietnamese participants

48

7.

Chart 4.4. Use of adjectives by two English participants

49

8.

Chart 4.5. Three-level model of vocabulary development

50

9.

Chart 4.5. The percentage of correct usage by Vietnamese

55

participants
10.

Chart 4.6. Participant skin colours

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Quang Van Viet Cuong

CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1. Introduction

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study
Colour is one of the aspects of objects existing in the world around us that

human eyes can recognize. Colour exists in the physical world, but they are very
closely related to human spiritual life, making life more exciting and beautiful.
The number of words indicating colour is different in each culture and people in
different cultures also use these words in a different way. In the book titled “The
Descent of Man and selection in relation to sex ” published in 1871, Darwin
wrote: “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. 232).
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.
1.1.1. Theoretical Background
Firstly, because of its geography, the climate in Vietnam, a country which is
located in the south-east Asia, varies greatly from north to south. In general, it
can be said that the weather is usually hot and there is a lot of sunlight in
Vietnam. Unlike Vietnam, the United Kingdom has lower temperature and less

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.1.2. Practical Background
TDMU is the only public university in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong
Province, which is approximately 30 kilometers to the east of Ho Chi Minh City.
With the staff and officers of 732 people, the university is training 15,000
students in 37 undergraduate programmes and 1,000 graduates in 9 graduate
programmes. Of all the programmes, English is the largest with over 3,000
students currently studying at the school. In the faculty of foreign languages,
there are twenty-two well-qualified lecturers in charge of all English
programmes. Two of them obtained doctoral degrees in linguistics and the other
twenty lecturers have master’s degrees in the field of English language teaching.
All these lecturers are native speakers of Vietnamese and have been teaching
English at the school as their full-time job. There are very few foreigners living
and working in Thu Dau Mot City and there is no native speaker of English

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
When describing human skin colours, Vietnamese people tend to use English
adjectives in the way they use their Vietnamese in their culture. For example,
they may describe the colour of someone’s skin colour by saying he or she is
white or black, which means trắng or đen in Vietnamese respectively. Actually,
in the English culture, the English adjectives white and black are not mainly used
to describe human skin colours in the way Vietnamese people use them.
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.
1.3. Significance of the Study
1.3.1. Theoretical Significance
Generally, the study contributes theoretical basics to research in adjectives of
basic colours in English. Particularly, it figures out the similarities and
differences of the adjectives used to describe human skin colours in the two
languages under the light of semantic linguistics.
1.3.2. Practical Significance
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

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.4. Aims and Objectives of the Study
1.4.1. Aims
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.
1.4.2. Objectives
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.
1.5. Research Questions and Hypotheses
1.5.1. Research Questions
Based on descriptive research from reliable dictionaries and data from
educated native speakers of English and Vietnamese, three research questions are

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.5.2. Hypotheses

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
34). According to Jablonski’s (2012), people live in places closer to the equator
have darker skin than those living closer to the poles. As a matter of fact, the
United Kingdom is farther to the equator than Vietnam is. Based on this, the
study firstly directionally hypothesizes that English people have lighter skin than
Vietnamese do.
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
1.6.1. Scope of the Study

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.6.2. Limitations of the Study
This study has some constraints owing to the followings. Firstly, for the
participants, though the English participants are native speakers of English, their
nationalities are different. The results of the study could have been more reliable
if all of these lecturers had come from the same country, ideally from the United
Kingdom. Furthermore, the use of convenient sampling might have little
negative influence on the findings from the research data. Finally, the researcher
lives and works in Binh Duong Province and knows some of the Vietnamese
participants, which may cause some unexpected influence on the data from them.
Therefore, the study could be more useful if the researcher used a better sample
method, such as random sampling and a bigger sample participated in the study,
which was conducted in another setting in which the researcher knows no
participants.
1.7. Research Framework

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.
1.8. 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

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Chapter 1. Introduction

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.

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CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2. Literature Review

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction
This chapter firstly provides definitions of linguistic terms related to the current
study. It then investigates English and Vietnamese basic colours and analyses all
twenty-three English adjectives used to describe human skin colours and suggests
their Vietnamese equivalents. Next, it reviews previous studies about colours in
English and Vietnamese and has an overall view about all the aspects and research
trends in the field about this group in English and Vietnamese in order to point out the
gap in the literature which this study has to fulfil.

2.2. Definitions of Related Linguistic Terms
2.2.1. Human Skin Colours
2.2.1.1. Skin
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 largest organ of the body and with a surface area of 2m2 (for an
average adult) and accounting for more than 10% of mass body (Harper, 2007). Skin
plays two important roles. It protects people from excessive ultraviolet (UV) radiation
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Chapter 2. Literature Review

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.
Figure 2.1
Schematic Representation of the Skin Structure (Delgado et al., 2010)

The figure shows that the epidermis is the outermost protective layer of skin. It
consists of flat dead cells, provides a waterproof barrier and creates our skin tone. The

dermis is beneath the epidermis. It contains blood vessels, glands, and nerve endings.
The deeper subcutaneous tissue, also called hypodermis, is made of fat and connective
tissue. It acts as an insulator, shock absorber, and energy store.
Of the three layers, the current study relates to the epidermis only because it
contains melanin which decides human skin colours.
2.2.1.2. Colour
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
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Chapter 2. Literature Review

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.
Table 2.1

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

3

red

4

either green or yellow

5

both green and yellow

6

blue

7

brown

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
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Chapter 2. Literature Review

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.
For different research purposes, Vietnamese researchers have a significant
difference in the number of Vietnamese basic colours. Dao (1993) suggested five
basic colours including xanh, red, white, purple, and yellow. His perception of basic
colour does not satisfy the first criteria of Berlin and Kay (1969). Similarly, Tran

(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.
Table 2.2
English and Vietnamese Basic Colours.
English
1. White

Vietnamese
1. White
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Chapter 2. Literature Review

2. Black

2. Black

3. Red

3. Red

4. Green

X

5. Yellow

4. Yellow
X

5. Xanh

6. Blue

X

7. Brown

6. Brown

8. Purple

7. Purple

9. Pink

8. Pink

10. Orange
11. Gray

X
9. Gray

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.
2.2.1.3. Human Skin Colours
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.

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