A person may not like specific sounds in a language. For example, lots of Americans find the French “R” (also seen in German) or the German “ch” sound ugly, because, to them, it makes the language sound gutteral-sounding, “harsh,” or just plain weird. However, while that is important for a person in determining whether or not they like the sound of a language, I think the speaker themself is also important.
For instance, take the Bassa/Gbor language in Liberia and Sierra Leone for instance. When I first heard it, I literally had to do a double take, because I thought the language sounded like the definition of unappealing. When hearing it for the first time, it easily fit the bill for me in terms an ugly language. I’ll include the video I heard it in for the first time. You’ll see what I mean after listening for a little bit.
However, the next time I listened to it, I thought it sounded kind of pleasant, and really not ugly at all. Here’s another example of it:
Update (06/26/20):
- It’s come to my attention that the language in the video below is actually not the Bassa/Gbor language, but is actually the Gio/Dan language. The video title is now distinctly different from when I sourced it (May 2018). My guess is the uploader made a mistake in writing the name of the language, eventually realized it, and corrected it. Notwithstanding, the point I have about the perceived ugliness has a degree of subjectivity still stands. I will also leave the link and text below for anyone still interested in continuing and listening to a sample of the Gio/Dan language, which, again, is not the language I chose as the subject of my answer. Promise Troah, thank you for pointing this information out.
For the next video I heard the language in, I was pretty neutral toward it. I didn’t find it beautiful or necessarily ugly. It just sounded like a foreign language. You be the judge:
The language does have sounds I wouldn’t necessarily consider beautiful, but I’d hesitate to call it simply ugly anymore.
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