A range of explanations have been advanced for the systems of colour names found in different languages. Some explanations give special, fundamental status to a subset of colour categories. We argue that a subset of colour categories, if fundamental, will be coherent - meaning that a non-trivial criterion distinguishes them from the other colour categories. We test the coherence of subsets of achromatic (white, black and grey), primary (white, black, red, green, yellow, blue) and basic (primaries plus brown, orange, purple, pink and grey) colour categories in English. Criteria for defining colour categories were expressed in terms of behavioural, linguistic and geometric features derived from colour naming and linguistic usage data; and were discovered using machine learning methods. We find that achromatic and basic colour categories are coherent subsets but not primaries. These results support claims that the basic colour categories have special status, and undermine claims about the fundamental role of primaries in colour naming systems.

对在不同语言中发现的颜色名称系统进行了一系列解释。一些解释赋予颜色类别子集特殊的基本地位。我们认为颜色类别的子集，如果是基本的，将是连贯的- 意味着一个重要的标准将它们与其他颜色类别区分开来。我们用英语测试消色差（白色、黑色和灰色）、原色（白色、黑色、红色、绿色、黄色、蓝色）和基本（原色加上棕色、橙色、紫色、粉红色和灰色）颜色类别子集的连贯性。定义颜色类别的标准是根据从颜色命名和语言使用数据得出的行为、语言和几何特征来表达的；并且是使用机器学习方法发现的。我们发现消色差和基本颜色类别是相干的子集，但不是原色。这些结果支持基本颜色类别具有特殊地位的说法，并削弱了原色在颜色命名系统中的基本作用的说法。