Question of the Week, 02.08.2011
The English language together with most indo-european languages makes a clear distinction between blue and green while many languages in tropical regions use the same expression for these two colors. In addition, some languages do not distinguish blue from black either. Possible explanations include the hypothesis that stronger UV radiation in tropical regions causes retinal damage thereby weaking people’s capacity of perceiving colors in the short-wave range of the spectrum.
Read more: The world atlas of language structures online, http://wals.info/chapter/134
Thomas Jagau