The colour sequence and naturalness: A case study of Slovenian toponyms

Slovenian toponyms contain various semantic elements, among which are colour terms. Berlin and Kay’s sequence of colour terms is used to explore the presence of these in Slovenian toponyms in combination with the concept of linguistic naturalness. Drawing on data from Veliki atlas Slovenije (The Great Atlas of Slovenia), it is found that standard colour terms imperfectly match the sequence. However, when additional colour terms and the metaphorical term krvav ‘blood(y)’ for ‘red’ are taken into consideration, the data closely approximate Berlin and Kay’s sequence. Following some comments on linguistic motivations for colour terms, the study offers suggestions for further research.