Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The way words sound

I just posted something on my Explorer blog that, in retrospect, might be of interest to my fellow wordsmiths.

It's kind of lengthy to repeat here, so you can just click here and read it for yourself.

I often find myself thinking (probably too much) about the sound of words and sentences and why alliteration works when used well but doesn't when it's forced. Or why I love to listen to someone speaking a foreign language -- I have no idea what the words mean (and this frustrates me to no end) -- but you can hear patterns in the speech, intonation, rhythm, staccato and legato and all those musical things we don't really pay much attention to when we're worried about meaning.

Asian languages seem especially good for this kind of listening.

Does anyone else have instances where you've noticed this?

If so, please share in the comments here so I don't feel like such a freak. Thanks. :)

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