Phonosemantics

I've added an essay which introduces the subject of phonosemantics - the study of the way vocal sounds are meaningful. To my mind this is a very exciting area of linguistics which may provide insights into how and why mantras affect us. I serendipitously found Margo Magnus's Magical Letter website many years ago and almost instantly became fascinated with her research and it's conclusions.

There are a small number of linguists prepared to take the subject seriously and they are making slow progress in describing the phenomenon - an essential first step in understanding it! It is a minority interest, and progress is slow, because the major paradigm in operation in linguistics denies the possibility that individual syllables can bear meaning. Because it is held to be impossible, very few people are prepared to even examine and comment on the data. Such is the way of scientific revolutions!