Native and non-native description of emotions in English pop song lyrics.
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2023-07-17
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en
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This paper investigates the use of degree words and adjectives as emotion descriptors in song lyrics and whether there is a difference between non-native and native English speakers. Potential differences between the Dutch non-native use of English (DNNE) and US and UK English singers’ song lyrics were analyzed. This research was performed to discover whether Dutch non-native English speakers would use the English language differently than native English speakers would. It was deemed as relevant to research to add to previous research findings and to find out more on how non-native speakers use a language compared to native speakers. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that DNNE speakers would use more degree words and adjectives than native speakers and that US English speakers would use more degree words and adjectives than UK speakers. These ideas were deemed relevant to research to gain greater knowledge on and understanding about possible differences or similarities within recent US and UK English and DNNE song lyrics. A total of 150 pop songs with 50 from each category (DNNE, US, and UK) was researched to find the percentage and relative number of degree words and adjectives. It was also investigated which degree words and adjectives were most common per category and whether there were significant differences between the usage of those type of words. There were no significant differences between DNNE and both US and UK English in terms of the number of degree words and adjectives. However, the words that were used most frequently were slightly different. There were also no significant differences between US and UK English in terms of the number of degree words and adjectives. The words that were used most frequently were slightly different. These results seem to be incongruent with some previous research, but seem to concur with recent research regarding the Americanization of UK English song lyrics, which might explain that the current research did not find significant differences between US and UK English.
Keywords: Native US and UK English, Dutch non-native English, song lyrics, emotion descriptors, degree words, adjectives, pop songs
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