Re: USAGE: English, Masculine, Feminine
| From: | Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, June 14, 2004, 23:39 |
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Dear Philippe,
As a speaker of "English" English, I thank you! While I don't go along with
all of your observations, I do think that an ear for the 'musicality' of a
language is very important in conlanging (artlanging, anyway). Strangely
enough, I find French a beautiful language - apart from the words "Zidane"
and "Zinedine" obviously - but many people don't, but then I'm a long-time
Francophile. Off to Provence next month, hopefully. Different people will
see 'music' along different lines. It's weird, but I think that part of the
musicality of a language is in its history, not just its phonemes or sound
rules. Could be why you find English English distinct from American English.
Spanish I have never really liked, but Italian is beautiful. Nothing,
however, beats Hawaiian. No consonant clusters...
And French is definitely female. It's a cultural thing.
Mike