Monday, October 26, 2009

music AND linguistics: what could be better?

The Sounds of our English Words are commonly like those of String Musick, short and transient, which rise and perish upon a single touch; those of other Languages are like the Notes of Wind Instruments, sweet and swelling, and lengthen'd out into variety of Modulation.

Joseph Addison, 135 The Spectator (4 Aug. 1711), in Classics in Composition 76, 77 (Donald E. Hayden ed., 1969).

2 comments:

jessi said...

whoa, that's cool. :)

kenji said...

I like that comparison.