Phonaesthetics (from the Greek: ? ph?n?, "voice-sound"; and }} aisth?tik?, "aesthetics") is a branch of phonetics concerned with "the possible connection between sound sequences and meaning", according to Raymond Hickey. Linguist David Crystal defines phonaesthetics as "a term sometimes used in linguistics to refer to the study of the aesthetic properties of sound". According to Crystal:
Examples include the implication of smallness in the close vowels of such words as teeny weeny, and the unpleasant associations of the consonant cluster sl- in such words as slime, slug, and slush.
The application of said aesthetic properties of sound, phonaesthetics, and their meaning in media has yet to be studied extensively. That being said, the study of sound aesthetics is a burgeoning field waiting to be studied by phonaestheticians everywhere.
This section may stray from the topic of the article. (February 2017)
Among the many aspects of aesthetic audio are euphony and cacophony, all powerful tools in the Phonaesthetician's tool belt.
Some day Love shall claim his own
Some day Right ascend his throne,
Some day hidden Truth be known;
Some day--some sweet day.-- "Some Sweet Day", Lewis J. Bates
Cacophony consists of harsh, often discordant sounds. These sounds are often meaningless and jumbled together. A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sounds helps to convey disorder. This is often furthered by the combined effect of the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation. For example:
My stick fingers click with a snicker
And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light-footed, my steel feelers flicker
And pluck from these keys melodies.