Abstract: The article considers conceptual ideas of color categorization as a cultural practice. Color categorization is the process of dividing the color continuum into discrete color groups (color categories) and fixing them in the human mind through the cutural sign system. In modern color studies, this process is viewed from the ecocentric perspective. According to ecocentrism, humans and other living being are equal parts of nature, and they should coexist in harmony and peace. In this regard, it becomes important to search for ecological motivation not only in the human body, but also in human activity, especially in cultural practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze conceptual ideas of color categorization from the ecocentric perspective.  The systematization of the indicated conceptual ideas allowed us to identify three key directions based on ecological motivation: (1) nature-centered, (2) body-oriented and (3) socio-cultural. The mentioned directions are formed on the basis of such concepts as "environment", "corporeality" and "sociality", respectively. Acting as the main factors that determine the content and structure of color categories, environment, human body and culture form the main vector of color categorization. The environment comprises a set of objects with chromatic characteristics. They are the material for color categorization, and their configuration sets examples of color combinations. The physiological and biological features of the human body determine the process of color perception and its cognitive processing resulting into color categories. As the color categories become a part of human activity, their cultural semantics is created in the form of cultural meanings and connotations.

Abstract: The relevance and novelty of this study is determined by its purpose, which is to analyze color categorization as a cultural schema. Color categorization is understood as a way of dividing the color continuum into discrete areas (color categories), which society then endows with cultural connotations and includes in the general system of cultural knowledge. According the mentioned purpose, the concept of “cultural schema” was considered, the structure of color categorization as a cultural schema was designated and an analysis of its consistent inheritance and genesis in culture was presented. To reveal the main stages of the color categorization genesis and its typological characteristics, the ternary model of culture by A. V. Kostina and A. Ya. Flier was used. Based on the identified specificity of the interaction of three functional types of culture (consumer, traditional and creative), two types of color categorization are distinguished: natural and artificial. Natural color categorization is the historically first way of classifying color, which develops as nature is imitated (natural classes of colors) and dyes available to people are mastered. An important result of the accumulation and production of new knowledge in the field of color is the formation of a taxonomy of color terms in natural language, as well as the establishment of color categorization in everyday human consciousness in the form of cultural norms and customs, for example, the division of colors into “male” and “female” or into “festive” and “everyday” in religious clothing. As cultural practices associated with color develop, artificial color categorization arises against the background of natural color categorization. Its main distinguishing feature is a completely controlled process of obtaining color and codification of color relations in the form of atlases and color systems.