What is beauty in language?

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Introduction

As described in “The Beauty of Fluctuation – Japanese Painting and Japanese Calligraphy” while Western art is “painting with paint,” Japanese painting is “drawing with lines,” and by extension, there is the art of writing down words with a brush that has written them down.

This kind of calligraphic art will give people feelings of beauty not only in the form of the letters, but also in the content of what is written.

Furthermore, words, even without such visible forms, have an effect on our emotions, such as a line that strikes us like a bolt of lightning, a sentence that moves us to tears just by reading it, or a saying that inspires us with courage just by hearing it.

The beauty behind the words that appeals to people’s hearts is the “What is the meaning? (1) Philosophical Approach to Meaning and Symbols” and “Abstract and Concrete from the Viewpoint of Natural Language” it is an idea influenced by subjective feelings and cultural backgrounds that exists in a world without reality and has not yet been fully clarified as described in “Emotion Recognition, Buddhist Philosophy, and AI.

In this article, I would like to discuss this word and beauty. First, let us reconsider what beauty is.

What is beauty?

The question of what beauty is has a very long history in the world of philosophy, as described in “What Philosophy Aims for” from the Special Lecture “Socrates’ Defense“. .

In “On the Common Beauty of Art and Programming” beauty was generally defined as including harmony, balance, good design, the power to evoke emotion, originality, and the ability to bring out the essential characteristics of an object, although there are aspects of beauty that are subjective and vary from person to person.

It can be argued that beauty is a subjective concept, interpreted differently by individuals and cultures.

What is beauty in language?

When we consider this concept of beauty versus what is the beauty of words, we can obtain the following interpretations from various perspectives.

<Acoustic and rhythmic perspectives>

The acoustic elements of words and sentences constitute beauty, and these include musical rhythm, rhyme, assonance (the sound of vowels), consonance (the sound of consonants), and so on. The sound and rhythm of language influence the pleasantness and attractiveness of the sounds and rhythms perceived when hearing or reading words, and these elements are particularly emphasized in poetry and musical lyrics. The following elements of the beauty of the sound and rhythm of a language are considered

1. sound and word sense: The sound and word sense of the language itself is an important aesthetic element, making some words sound soft and beautiful when heard, while others can be perceived as powerful, dynamic, and beautiful. In addition, certain sound combinations and resonances stimulate emotional empathy and imagination.” Haiku, waka, and poetry, as described in “Reading Haiku from the Perspective of Haiku History and Communication,” are representative examples of beauty through sound resonance and word sense.

2. Rhyme and rhythm: Rhythm and prosody of words and sentences are particularly prominent as elements of beauty, especially in poetry, music, and recitation. Rhyming patterns and rhythmic sequences of words bring comfort and emotion to the listener or reader, such as scans in poetry or beats in music.” The simple rhymes and rhythms of call-and-response, work songs, field hurrahs, etc., described in “History of Blues and Automatic Generation by Clojure” can be considered their simplest manifestations.

3. assonance and consonance: Vowels (assonance) and consonants (consonance) are important in the beauty of language, and certain vowel and consonant sequences can produce aesthetic effects. For example, the repetition of the same vowel creates a soft and beautiful sound. These are especially found in poetry. For example, in the poem by American poet Robert Frost

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

In this poem, an example of consonance is the repetition of the “s” and “d” consonants in words such as “woods,” “lovely,” “miles,” and “sleep,” where the repetition of these consonants creates rhythm and emphasizes the sound of the poem.

4. rhetorical figures: Rhetorical figures (e.g., metaphors, phonetic repetition, anaphora) are used to enhance the sonority and rhythmic beauty of language. These elements enrich the expression of words and sentences and help convey emotions and images more clearly.

Examples of these include metaphors (metaphor), such as “Time is a thief,” which directly connects two different things, such as thief and time, and creates a new meaning in which time becomes a thief and takes something, and “The wind whispered the trees.” (wind whispered the trees); personification, which gives human characteristics and actions to non-living things and enriches their expression, as in “I have a dream. Anaphora, which creates emphasis and rhythm by repeating the same word or phrase, as in “One day, I have a dream…”; the structure of a sentence that continues on to the next line without breaking in the middle of the line, as in “The sun rises, a new day begins, bringing hope,” creating flow and continuity, This structure creates flow and continuity, and is an enjambment that produces an impressive effect.

<Perspectives on a rich vocabulary>

A rich vocabulary enriches the beauty of language, and the use of a variety of words and expressions enriches linguistic expression, making writing and dialogue more attractive and improving the richness and expressiveness of communication. The following factors are relevant with respect to vocabulary diversity.

1. diversity: A rich vocabulary includes diversity, where many different words and expressions can be used to express the same idea or feeling in different ways. This allows for greater flexibility in communication and the ability to convey intentions more accurately.

It is also important that beautiful words be appropriate to a particular context and cultural background, and beauty in language is something that resonates with the reader or listener and evokes shared cultural values and feelings. Thus, beauty in language is subjective and context-dependent, and words and expressions that are beautiful to different people and cultures may differ.

2. elaboration: A rich vocabulary can include precise word choice appropriate to a particular situation or context. Elaborate use of vocabulary ensures that information is conveyed clearly and reduces misunderstandings. Beauty through elaboration of language also improves the quality of documents and speeches through a high degree of sophistication of words and sentences, appropriate word choice, grammatical accuracy, stylish expressions, and the use of literary techniques, which are attractive and inspiring aesthetic elements.

The beauty of language through elaboration is valuable in a variety of cultural contexts, including literature, poetry, rhetoric, advertising, speech, and journalism, where elaboration makes a deep impression on readers and listeners and helps to enhance the effectiveness of communication.

3. expression of emotions: Vocabulary richness is also related to the expression of emotions. Words and phrases that adequately express a variety of emotions and sensations create emotional richness and empathy, and poetry and literary works use a wide variety of words to express emotions.

The use of words to evoke emotion includes storytelling, which expresses emotions through characters and situations and creates emotional empathy in the story for the reader or listener; poetic expression in poetry and literature, poetic word choice and the beauty of resonance connected to music; and social emotional empathy through speech and other means. There are.

4. expressive language: A rich vocabulary enhances expressive language. Expressive words and expressions have the power to convey things and ideas in an appealing way and to engage listeners and readers, which is an important element in all forms of communication, including literature, poetry, stories, criticism, advertising, and speech.

5. literature and the arts: A rich vocabulary supports creativity in literature and the arts. Writers, poets, and artists use the diversity of vocabulary to enrich their works and express new ideas. In literary works, the use of vocabulary has a significant impact on the quality and artistic value of a work.

A rich vocabulary in a language improves the quality of communication, is a powerful tool for effectively conveying information and ideas, and enriches creativity in literature and the arts, enriching emotions and imagination.

Summary

These aesthetic uses of language serve to evoke emotional empathy and aid in the effective communication of information and ideas. The contextual and empathetic beauty of language also improves the quality of communication, fostering deeper empathy through words and sentences that resonate with people’s emotions and values, and the aesthetic elements of context and empathy are very important elements in various forms of communication, including literature, poetry, stories, advertising, and speech The following are some of the most important elements.

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