In reply to:

He thought the word sounded, to an ear accustomed to English, too clunky, definitely ungraceful.

David Crystal wrote an article in English Today called "Phonaesthetically Speaking", comparing which words sound beautiful in English, quite apart from their meaning. He came up with ten features, and the more of them a word had, the more beautiful the word sounded. The features were:

3+ syllables
stress on the first syllable
uses m
uses l
uses s, n, r, k, t, or d
doesn't use other consonants
3 or more different manners of articulation
only short vowels
more front vowels than centre or back vowels
more low than middle or high vowels

So, what words sound beautiful? What words sound beautiful but the meaning drags them down?

Bingley


Bingley