On the Beauty of Languages

Istvan Simon writes: Dick Payne has stated something to the effect that beauty seems to be arbitrary in the context of language. Perhaps he meant to say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think that there is some truth to what Dick said, but I agree with Cameron Sawyer that there is much objective about beauty. Though the perception of beauty is influenced by  culture, it is  certainly not arbitrary. There is an innate sense of aesthetics in human beings. The propositions that "Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata , or Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus are extraordinarily beautiful"  are not arbitrary statements. 

RH:I could not agree more. A language should be clear and harmonious. Of all the languages I know, Spanish meets these tests best.  Today I watched a documentary about Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, a region of Peru I visited a very long time ago before it became a tourist attraction. It was interesting to see how the Indians are reviving ancient ceremonies as a political statement and a tourist attraction.  However, the commentator was a young Englishman of limited education. I could scarcely understand what he was saying, and his speech grated on my ears.  He failed on both scores.

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