In the present paper, the potential of corpus-linguistic research is put into action. More specifically, a corpus-based demonstration of the general style used in rock lyrics is formed in order to identify the genre-specific features. A corpus consisting of roughly 53 000 words was created for this research. The focus lies on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the vocabulary as well as of the stylistic markers. The aim of this essay is to investigate the language used in the lyrics of rock music lyrics and the results of the research illustrate in what ways rock lyrics are either more spoken-like or written-like; whether rock lyrics mirror the general word usage in society, and in what ways rock music is comparable to other genres. Using the rock lyrics corpus (ROLC), trends within rock lyrics were retraced diachronically. Results show that rock lyrics, to some extent, follow the general word usage. However, other results also contradict this. Further research in this area is therefore encouraged. Findings show that rock music shares features with other genres, but also that that rock has some unique features. Developments and stagnations were detected in regards to word usage. These features are examined in order to find an explanation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-24249 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Falk, Johanna |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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