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Are some languages better than others? To ask a linguist such a question is akin to blaspheming to a priest. It is a cornerstone belief in academic linguistics that all human languages are terrifically complex, and given sufficient vocabulary, any language can express any thought. There are no low-quality languages.

And yet a few linguists have dared to ask such questions, albeit in a scientific way. In one example, a team of scholars looked into whether some languages are seen as more beautiful than others (by ordinary folk, not experts). The researchers played identical scenes from a film, in dozens of different languages, to a big group of volunteers from around the world. The surprising result was that nearly all languages were rated close to each other in the middle of a scale of attractiveness. Nor could the researchers find any particular features—the presence or absence of certain sounds, say—that predicted which languages would be rated as (slightly) prettier. The strongest result was that people prefer familiar languages, and female voices.

Linguists may not like to rank languages, but laypeople are interested in such things. And the answers that the researchers come up with, far from entrenching stereotypes, are often surprising as well as enlightening.

Lane Greene, Language columnist and Spain correspondent

Editor’s picks

What is the world’s loveliest language? 

Johnson, our language columnist, reviews the attractiveness of speech

Which is the best language? 

The answer, in the end, is in the ear of the beholder

Like biological species, languages evolve 

There are parallels between the two processes—as Charles Darwin saw

Why are some languages spoken faster than others? 

New research suggests that different tongues, regardless of speed, transmit information at roughly the same rate

The advantages of speaking a second language 

They are hard to measure. But it is a good idea anyway

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