Generalized n-tuple colorings of a graph: A counterexample to a conjecture of Brigham and Dutton

In their papers (Technical Report CS-TR 50, University of Central Florida, 1980; J. Combin. Theory Ser. B32 (1982), 90–94) Brigham and Dutton introduce the notion of (n : i)-chromatic numbers of a graph, a generalization of Stahl's nth chromatic numbers (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B20, (1976), 185–203). The (n : i)-chromatic number of a graph G, denoted by χ_nⁱ(G), is the smallest integer m such that each vertex of G can be colored with a set of n colors in {1, 2,…, m} in such a way that any two adjacent vertices have exactly i colors in common. Brigham and Dutton conjecture at the end of loc cit that for all integers n and i with 0 ≤ i ≤ n ? 1, and for every graph G, χ_nⁱ⁺¹(G) ≤ χ_nⁱ(G). We prove this conjecture in some special cases and disprove it in the general case.