Word: sounding
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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NOTHING astonishes a German or a Frenchman, when beginning the study of English, more than our vowel-sounds, unless perhaps our consonant-sounds. The English language abounds in vowels which are little better than grunts. We have hosts of curt little vowels that seem to be the remnants of some full sounds which a continual press of business prevents us from ever completing. One of the most hybrid and unsatisfactory of these - to take an instance - is our short o, as in hot. It is quite interesting to speculate as to what the full sound can be which is swallowed...
Heine had a very keen appreciation of anything extraordinary in sound, as is evident from his humorous treatment of Polish. He wrote a poem on the adventures of Krapulinski and Waschlapski, and he also made public the memoirs of Count Schnabelewopski, introducing the family servant, Prrschtzztwitsch, and other names, of which he says that, though they seem harsh in German, they are extremely melodious in Polish...
...objected that the English language is no more peculiar in its sounds than any other; and certainly a man is inclined to find any language surprising and ridiculous which is not his own. This point is well illustrated by Montesquieu, who makes nis countrymen ask their visitor from the East, "Comment peut-on etre Persan?" But Heine, whom we quoted above, was above the influence of this prejudice, as he knew Italian and French very thoroughly, and never found anything ludicrous in the sound of these languages. Since this is so, we must conclude that there was to him something...
There is a sound of revelry...
...That's where you're sound," hissed out a third...