Euphony

Euphony is the pleasant-to-the-ear sound of speech, achieved by the harmonious selection and combination of sounds and the avoidance of cacophonous coincidences. The Ukrainian language has a developed system of means of euphony — the alternation of u/v, i/y, prepositional and affixal variants — which allows heavy clusters of consonants or vowels to be avoided. In poetry euphony is an important component of artistic form: a harmonious sound organisation reinforces the emotional effect of the verse, creating its melodiousness and musicality. Euphony is closely linked to sound-writing, rhythm and the intonation of a work. The opposite concept is cacophony — deliberate or involuntary discordance. Euphony as an aesthetic quality of speech is a subject of phonostylistics and an important criterion of the culture of artistic and oral speech.