Nomenclature Systems of Color and Species A
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WORLD TO WORD: NOMENCLATURE SYSTEMS OF COLOR AND SPECIES A DISSERTATION IN English and History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by TANYA KELLEY M.A., Washington University, St. Louis, 1992 B.A. University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1988 Kansas City, Missouri 2017 © 2017 TANYA KELLEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLD TO WORD: NOMENCLATURE SYSTEMS OF SPECIES AND COLOR Tanya Kelley, Doctor of Philosophy in English and History University of Missouri at Kansas City, 2017 ABSTRACT As the digitization of information accelerates, the push to encode our surrounding numerically instead of linguistically increases. The role that language has traditionally played in the nomenclature of an integrative taxonomy is being replaced by the numeric identification of one or few quantitative characteristics. Nineteenth-century scientific systems of color identification divided, grouped, and named colors according to multiple characteristics. Now color identification relies on numeric values applied to spectrographic readings. This means of identification of color lacks the taxonomic rigor of nineteenth- century systems. Identifying color by numeric value instead of by grouping and naming them, strips color taxonomy of all but one quantitative aspect of a color. I use the case of color taxonomy to argue against a similar trend of numeric identification in the biological sciences. Unlike historically more integrative approaches to taxonomy in biology, genomic sequencing identifies one or few quantitative characteristics to encode an organism. If genomic sequencing becomes the primary means of identification in the biological sciences, just as in numeric systems of color identification, scientific taxonomy would suffer. Basing iii my analysis on theories of perception of division and on theories of language, I use the cases of color and species to argue for the advantages of an integrative taxonomic system of naming and categorizing over a method of identification, which encodes limited characteristics numerically. I hold that language is the most sophisticated tool for systematic taxonomy and that taxonomic nomenclature should be retained. iv The faculty listed below, appointed by the School of Graduate Studies, have examined a dissertation titled “World to Word: Nomenclature Systems of Color and Species,” presented by Tanya Kelley, candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Thomas Stroik, PhD., Committee Chair Department of English Lynda Payne, PhD. Department of History William Ashworth, PhD. Department of History Lindsy Myers, PhD. Department of French Larson Powell, PhD. Department of German v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2. DIVISION AND TAXONOMY: A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ...................10 Real Divisions .......................................................................................................12 Subjective Divisions .............................................................................................14 Created Divisions ..................................................................................................17 Conclusion ............................................................................................................21 3. WHAT IS IN A NAME: A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ...............................23 Language Origins and Evolution .........................................................................26 Relativism ............................................................................................................40 Speech Act Theory ..............................................................................................43 Conclusion ............................................................................................................51 4. COLOR DIVIDED ......................................................................................................52 Division of Color in Ancient Cultures ..................................................................52 Division of Color in Primitive Cultures ................................................................63 Division of Color in Renewed Color Studies .......................................................67 5. NAMING COLORS ....................................................................................................82 A History of Chromotaxonomies..........................................................................84 Color Identification through Technology ...........................................................103 vi 6. SPECIES DIVIDED ........................................................................................................111 Division by the Folk ...........................................................................................114 Division by Descent ............................................................................................128 Division by the Molecule ....................................................................................138 7. NAMING SPECIES ..................................................................................................143 A History of Species Taxonomy.........................................................................145 Species Identification through Technology ........................................................165 8. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................176 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................180 VITA .....................................................................................................................................218 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 2.1 Fresco of Adam Naming the Animals ...............................................................................9 5.1 From Patrick Syme’s Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours ..............................................86 5.2 Haynes’ De Coloribus .....................................................................................................87 5.3. Page from Elias Magnus Fries Sveriges ätliga och giftiga svampar ...............................89 5.4 Page from Saccardo’s Chromotaxia seu nomenclator colorum ......................................92 5.5. Color Standards and Color Nomenclature ......................................................................93 5.6. René Vert Pré from Oberthür, and Henri Dauthenay ......................................................94 5 7. Michel Eugène Chevreul’s Color Wheel, 1861 ...............................................................96 5.8. Charles Henry Cercle Chromatique, 1889 .....................................................................96 5.9. Trade Names from 1891 Renard, Villet & Bananol .....................................................101 5.10 BASF Chemical Company Musterbuch .......................................................................102 5.11. Munsell Books of Color...............................................................................................104 5.12. Munsell Colors for French Fries ..................................................................................105 5.13. 1931 X-Y Chromaticity Diagram ................................................................................107 5.14. 1976 the CIELAB L*a*b* Color Space ......................................................................108 5.15 L*C*h* Color Space .....................................................................................................109 7.1. John Wilkins’ Universal Language for “Fish” ..............................................................158 7.2. John Wilkins’ Universal Language as Applied to the Lord’s Prayer ............................159 7.3. Marakeby Provisional DNA Codes ...............................................................................173 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION By evaluating how we divide and classify our surroundings, especially colors and species, I pose the hypothesis that using finite characteristics as a means of identification, as is currently in favor, does not result in taxonomy. In the case of color nomenclatures, there has been a move away from the integrative systems of color identification and grouping, which was prevalent in the nineteenth century, to the current system of identification of color through spectrographic readings. The use of spectrographic readings as the identifier of color has impoverished the field of color taxonomy because it eliminates aspects of color that are not easily measured, such as a color’s association with things in the natural world, contextual information provided by a color name and description, and a color’s relation to other colors. In the biological sciences, a similar impetus toward identification based on few characteristics is taking place. In the proposed DNA bar-coding system, a miniscule fraction of an organism’s genome is sequenced as the means of identification. Identification