It has long been known that songs help share thoughts, spread information, reveal feelings and, surprisingly, contribute to language learning, in particular thanks to the lyrics. It can become especially useful if a person listens to songs in a foreign language that they are learning. Depending on the level of proficiency in a foreign language and the percentage of knowledge already acquired, listening to songs turns into a combination of both entertaining and educational ways to spend time. Focusing on song lyrics is often used as it is an excellent way to get acquainted with a certain linguistic and cultural community and the collocations and grammatical structures in context [4].
However, one cannot blindly rely on song lyrics, because for a number of reasons they may not correspond to the language standard, have differences with the rules or even errors that are perceptible to listeners, but can lead to false knowledge on a particular topic and misunderstanding in real communication. The length of the line, the characteristics of the music track, the combination of poetic and literal meanings a songwriter wants to add to the track, the different moods of the composition and other factors can all together cause the song creator to make a choice in favor of the quality of the song or the so-called “correctness” of the language used, where most often the former is chosen, which allows the songwriter to preserve the idea and at the same time deviate from the language standard in some ways.
The most common deviations from the rules in song lyrics are the following: repetition of negation; inconsistency between the auxiliary verb and the person and number of the subject; and simplified tenses. While in Ukrainian the negation can be used several times per sentence, it is characteristic of English speakers to use only one negation. The usage of several negation particles not is considered to be a mistake, especially common in the speech of language learners-beginners, but from time to time it can be found in various dialects of the English language either, especially in different dialect variations of American English [2]. In songs, this trick can be used for better rhyming, melodiousness, focusing attention of the listeners on the specific place of negation, emphasizing a carefree attitude to something, etc. A vivid example of this technique is the Pink Floyd song Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 and its famous lines: we don't need no education, we don't need no thought control... [5].
Even more common in song lyrics is the discrepancy between the form of the auxiliary verb and the number and person of the subject. This is especially common when the auxiliary verb do is used for the third person singular or are for the first person singular. Examples include The Police's Everything She Does Is Magic, where in the second line of the chorus does is changed to do: everything she do just turns me on [7], or Ed Sheeran's Shape of You, where he sings: we push and pull like a magnet do, using do instead of does [3]. An example of the second inconsistency can be found in the line now that I've become who I really are from Ariana Grande's song Break Free [1].
Another change in favor of a more accurate reflection of the meaning and subtexts is the simplification of the tenses used in the lyrics of a song, which in itself is not a significant error, but rather a deviation from the standardized language that in a way repeats the tendency to simplification in spoken English. For instance, in the line what the hell just happened? of the song with the same title by the band Remember Monday [6], the girls sing about the events of a party that has recently ended, even using the marker just but still resorting to using the Past Simple tense instead of Present Perfect, thereby emphasizing the lightness and playfulness of the song.
Separately, all the above-mentioned pitfalls of song lyrics do not interfere with understanding the meaning of the music piece and may even seem imperceptible when constantly listening to a song, however, people who rely on lyrics to learn a language may be tempted by such variants of language usage and ignore the correct ones, arguing that singers use them; or they can memorize incorrect variants, without understanding that this is just a technique used by the author of the song, and then implement it in inappropriate contexts, especially when the quality of their language command is still low. Therefore, it is extremely important for teachers to draw language learners’ attention to these moments, explaining the peculiarity of their use, which will allow them to form “immunity” to such songwriting techniques and will not take away the pleasure of learning interesting word combinations and patterns through songs.
References
1. Ariana Grande – Break Free Lyrics. URL: https://genius.com/Ariana-grande-break-free-lyrics. (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
2. DOUBLE NEGATIVE definition and meaning. URL: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/double-negative (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
3. Ed Sheeran – Shape of You Lyrics. URL: https://genius.com/Ed-sheeran-shape-of-you-lyrics. (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
4. Learning Language through Music: Science and Songs. URL: https://lingopie.com/blog/learning-language-through-music/ (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
5. Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall Lyrics. URL: https://genius.com/Pink-floyd-another-brick-in-the-wall-lyrics (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
6. Remember Monday – What The Hell Just Happened? Lyrics. URL: https://genius.com/Remember-monday-what-the-hell-just-happened-lyrics. (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
7. The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic Lyrics. URL: https://genius.com/The-police-every-little-thing-she-does-is-magic-lyrics. (Last accessed: 20.05.2025).
|
Голосування 
Ця робота ліцензується відповідно до Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Знайшли помилку? Виділіть помилковий текст мишкою і натисніть Ctrl + Enter