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A method of assigning non-scale reponse patterns in construction of a Guttman scale is presented. A previous technique, in which a minimum-error criterion was used to assign non-scale patterns to a particular scale pattern, is discussed. Using as a standard Lazarsfeld's latent distance model, it may be shown that the technique can sometimes lead to error. An example of a 4 item test in which non-scale response patterns appear is presented. The technique for assigning these to one or another scale pattern is used, and a latent distance model is constructed. The latter is then used to determine the amount of error Involved in assigning the non-scale patterns to a scale pattern. It is suggested that despite the added work involved, the best procedure is to compute a latent distance model and assign scale positions from its results. J. Coleman.

Eleven focal colors are named by basic color terms in many languages. The most salient colors (black, white, and perhaps red) are named in all languages; the least salient of the set are named in fewer languages. Salience correlates with earliness of introduction, as measured by a scale of social evolution; with brevity of expression, as measured by phonemic length of basic color terms; with frequency of use, as measured by frequency of basic color terms in literary languages; and with frequency of mention in ethnographic literature. None of these correlations are established in the pioneer study of Berlin and Kay (1969), a study whose defects are well exposed by Durbin (1972) and Wescott (1970). The first two were documented respectively in Naroll (1970) and Durbin (1972); the last two are documented here. These four correlations independently support the Berlin‐Kay color salience theory. They furnish a sound basis for further research on color term salience in particular and indeed on salience phenomena in general. We speculate that salience may be an important general principle of cultural evolution.