з усіх цих різних досліджень, збери мені один розділ куросової “пісні, як текст”. писати на українській мові. писати це потрібно, як лінгвіст. після кожного абзацу, пиши літературу у квадратних дужках. в кінці написати загальний висновок. 


1 дослідження: The Language of Song: Some Recent Approaches in Description and Analysis. Australian Journal of Linguistics. 
Introduction
Singing is an activity that happens in every society. But the ways that texts and music
align with each other and the ways meanings are conveyed, and how the activity fits
into larger contexts vary considerably from society to society. The study of song
draws in not only the discipline of musicology but also many fields of linguistic
inquiry*phonology, poetics, morphology, semantics and pragmatics. Like words and
morphemes, songs are form-meaning units to be included in any complete language
description. The papers in this volume reveal songs to be highly structured art forms
that have the ability to convey complex associations of meaning beyond everyday
spoken language. The papers arise from a workshop that aimed to explore the
linguistic features of song in a cross-disciplinary context with a view to strengthening
ties between linguists, musicologists and anthropologists working in this field.1
The papers relate to two main areas of investigation: (i) the formal properties of
song; and (ii) the meanings of songs. The formal properties of song involve at the
least, a textual component and a musical component.2
The text may be subject to
constraints; it may draw on words from a limited vocabulary, require a set number of
syllables per line or a rhyme in particular positions. The musical component too is
usually organized within a set tonal structure and rhythmic meter, and can also
involve significant contrasts in tempo, dynamic range and voice quality. Accompanying instrumentation may also be part of the musical structure of song. Song may also require text and music to align in a set way, for example stressed syllables to align
with a strong musical beat. Many of the songs considered in this volume are part of a
much larger performance involving dance, gesture, costumes and designs. These may
also be part of the formal properties of song, and their alignment with text and music
should also be considered.
In the area of meaning, songs are of particular interest as they frequently have
distinct readings from that which would be assigned to them on the basis of
straightforward compositional semantic principles, in the same way that phrasal
idioms do. As well, song often conveys more meanings, significances and resonances
than an ordinary speech utterance, and in this respect songs resemble poetry. In
songs, meanings are encoded not only in the text, but also through a complex
interaction of the music, dance, visual designs and their associations with specialized
knowledge, including knowledge about the context of performance. This has led a
number of researchers to perceive songs as a package (Berndt 1965: 247; Tonkinson
1978: 112; Kartomi 1984: 60; Wild 1984: 192; Sutton 1987; Barwick 2000: 329, 2003:
8283; Turpin 2005). A song text itself is often what Sperber and Wilson (1986) call
‘weakly communicative’. This means that the hearer is required to make many
inferences to receive a message, and as a result many interpretations of the message
are possible. Such texts can be described as opaque (Walsh 2007). This contrasts with
various types of ‘strongly communicative’ spoken utterances where the choice of
syntax and words makes explicit the intended message. The ways in which
enculturated listeners derive meanings from songs involve investigating semantic
and pragmatic aspects of the song text,3
as well as specialized cultural and real-world
knowledge, including knowledge of the song performance as a speech event.
Knowledge in all these areas may be evoked when hearing particular songs. The
aesthetic pleasure speakers derive from interpreting songs with opaque song texts
may, in part, arise from the ‘recomposition of something anew’ rather than the
‘composition of something new’ (Fabb 1997: 8).4
1.1. Scope and Context of this Volume
The articles in this volume are concerned with the form and/or meaning of songs,
with a particular focus on the song texts. Viewed as a composite of text and music, a
comprehensive study of song favours a cross-disciplinary approach. Unfortunately,
studies of song do not always travel well between linguistics and musicology since the
same terms can be used in different ways. For example, the terms ‘rhythm’, ‘stress’ and
‘tone’ have different, specific meanings in linguistics and musicology. In order to
manage this issue, we have encouraged authors to define all technical terms to foster
understandings across the disciplines. The definition of song we use in this volume is a sequence of syllables (‘text’) that
is sung,5 where singing is recognized within the relevant community as the most
appropriate method of delivering the text. Song cannot simply be defined as a
musical setting of words, as many songs contain vocables, such as ‘tra-la-la’, which are
not words and yet are part of a song text (the article by Apted in this volume is a case
in point). Sometimes a whole line may have no identifiable words (Strehlow 1971;
Garde 2007: 41). Our definition of song excludes the spontaneous singing of speech,
as, although this may draw on notions of song, often for humorous effect, the text
itself is not considered a song. By ‘singing’ we mean a vocal style with rhythmic and
usually also melodic properties. In some languages what are often translated as
‘songs’ may be delivered through intoning, wailing or reciting where there is rhythmic
but not melodic variation.6 Different linguistic communities may well define the
boundary between speech and song differently. In casting our net widely, our
definition of songs includes those genres that may be performed without an apparent
melodic structure, such as chants.
In the past 20 years there have been a number of collections concerned with
Australian Aboriginal songs (Clunies Ross et al. 1987; Barwick et al. 2005). Most
recently Studies in Aboriginal Song: A Special Issue of Australian Aboriginal Studies
(2007) contains excellent collaborative work between musicologists and linguists on
Australian Aboriginal song.7
The present volume furthers work on Aboriginal songs
and extends the geographic area of research by including articles on songs from a
diverse range of language communities including English, French, Spanish and lesser
known musical genres from the Pacific and South-East Asia.
We turn now to consider the two main areas of exploration in detail. In Section 2
we consider the form of songs and in Section 3, the meanings of songs. In each
section we describe the types of analytical issues that arise and highlight the
approaches taken by the authors of this volume to these areas.
2. Form and Structural Organization of Songs
At the most basic level, a song must involve text and music. Finer-grained analysis
reveals organizational units that combine to form a song. The organizational units
found in many English songs include lines, couplets, refrains, verses, choruses and
stanzas,8
all of which occur in the songs considered by Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez in this
volume. In many languages the organizational units are not named, just as
grammatical units might not be named. Instrumental introductions, musical
interludes, vocal sections (analogous to verses) and text phrases (analogous to lines) are organizational units in the Kaddikkaddik songs of west Arnhem Land identified by
O’Keeffe in this volume. The organizational structure of a song can have scope over
both text and music. A refrain, for example, is a repeated line of text and melody. A
verse, on the other hand, has the same melody but a different text. Sound patterning
such as rhymes often (but not always) occurs at the end of organizational units. In
this volume Morey finds various types of obligatory rhyme in Tai Phake songs of
north-east India, whereas Walsh finds an absence of rhyme in Aboriginal songs,
though he acknowledges other possible types of sound patterning.9
The musical component alone may have its own structure. For example, the
pitches of notes are bounded by the tonal structure of the particular musical genre or
the musical system of the enculturated listeners. In many songs rhythm is organized
into a repeating pattern of isochronous beats where some beats are stronger than
others, i.e. rhythmic meter. The articles by Nancarrow and O’Keeffe discuss meter in
Aboriginal songs. Duple meter is where every second beat is weaker than the first,
while triple meter is where every second and third beat is weaker than the first (such
as a waltz). Meter is often hierarchically ordered so that in addition to the tactus*the
beats to which one taps*it is possible to recognize larger or smaller divisions of the
beat.10 Where the beat divides into two units this is referred to as simple meter, and
where the beat divides into three units this is referred to as compound meter. In
Australian Aboriginal songs, polyrhythmic meters, where the percussion accompaniment is performed at a different meter to that performed by the voice, are also
common (see Nancarrow, in this volume). Similarly, tempo*the speed of the beats
or underlying pulse of the song*may be constrained by the genre of the song. In
many Aboriginal songs tempo is constrained by the particular meter and beating
accompaniment of the song. This cluster of rhythmic features has led to the term
‘rhythmic mode’ (see O’Keeffe, in this volume).11
In addition to the grammar of the spoken language, a song may have specific
textual conventions. Some songs may prefer particular parts of speech or particular
sounds in the same position of a line. Some may draw from a limited vocabulary,
have a reduced syntax, or a different phoneme inventory to that of the spoken
language.12 In this volume Apted finds a greater number of vowels in Inyjalarrku
songs of north-east Arnhem Land than in everyday speech, a finding in common
with songs from other areas (Strehlow 1971: 67; Sherzer 1990: 16; Turpin 2005:
272). It is important to remember that song is an art form that features the voice as
a musical instrument (Fornas 2003: 49) and vowels are the main pitch-bearing unit
of the voice. Particular types of vowels can help overcome the adverse effects of consonant production on tune and tone and allow one to sing softly or quickly
without losing the pitch (Emmons 2002); the voice may thus use sounds purely for
their aesthetic effect. Unlike other instruments, however, the voice also produces
spoken language. We are challenged then to avoid viewing song as a derivative of
speech.
There may also be constraints on the linguistic variety used in song. Recent work
on northern Aboriginal songs has found that particular song genres are associated
with particular languages (Barwick et al. 2007: 8).13 In this volume Apted considers
how Inyjalarrku songs are entirely spirit language and contain no words from
everyday speech. Non-speech words are common in Australian Aboriginal songs, and
researchers have often viewed song texts in terms of their divergence from spoken
language (see, for example, Alpher 1976; Dixon 1984; Donaldson 1984; Merlan 1987;
Sutton 1987; Tunstill 1995). In contrast, the papers by Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez, Crozet,
Morey, Sollis, and Stebbins and Planigale consider songs whose linguistic variety is
primarily that of everyday speech.
Finally, there can be requirements on how text, music and song structure interact.
The length of lines may adhere to a regular count of some aspect of linguistic form.
This is called poetic meter.14 As an example, Dell and Elmedlaoui (2008) find that in
many Berber songs, lines adhere to a repeating four-mora pattern that is referred to as
a ‘foot’.15 In addition, they find that every second syllable of the foot must align with a
strong beat. A similar approach is taken by Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez in this volume. She
compares the extent to which lexical stress must align with strong musical beats in
English and Spanish folk songs, a well-documented requirement for English songs
(Hayes 1983; Hayes & Kaun 1996; Hayes & MacEachern 1998). She also compares the
extent to which the principle of ‘one syllable be set to one note’ exists in English and
Spanish songs.16
Both Morey and Sollis in this volume, consider the way in which lexical tone aligns
with musical pitch.17 To what extent song melodies are constrained by the melody of
speech is a particularly relevant question in relation to tone languages. Morey
observes in Tai Phake songs a trade-off where alignment of one aspect of text to
music provides freedom in how another area of text is aligned. He finds that when
lexical tone and musical pitch align, grammatical units need not match the
organizational units of the song. However, when lexical tone and musical pitch do not align there is strict matching of grammatical units with the half-line unit. In
exploring the relationship between linguistic tone and melody in pikono songs from
Papua New Guinea, Sollis finds that linguistic tone contours and melodic contours
match within the constraints of the melodic structure. A melodic phrase cannot
descend further than an interval of a fifth. Where an intonational decline is over a
long portion of text, this musical constraint forces a misalignment of linguistic tone
contour with melody. In many respects songs show a sensitivity to the relationship
between speech prosody and music. The nature and cross-linguistic variation of this
relationship is the concern of the sub-field of text-setting (Lerdahl & Jackendoff 1983;
Halle & Lerdahl 1993; Kiparsky 2006; Fabb & Halle 2008; Hayes 2008; Hayes & Kaun
1996; Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez 2007, Turpin 2007a).
In general we find that the highly structured nature of songs can force
adjustments to the text not normally seen in the spoken form of the language.
This competition between the desire to adhere to the song structures and the desire
to remain faithful to the spoken language has led to Optimality Theory in
phonology being applied to text-setting in song (Hayes & MacEachern 1998).
Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez, in this volume, uses this methodology to show that constraints
which regulate rhythm in spoken language are also those that determine how words
are set to musical rhythm in stanzaic Spanish and English folk songs. This provides
an interesting comparison to Dell and Halle’s work on text-setting in French and
English songs (2008). Rodrı´guez-Va´zquez finds that in Spanish, a so-called syllabletimed language, different texts set to the same melodic line are more likely to
contain the same number of syllables than in English songs, although often at the
expense of aligning prominent syllables with strong musical beats. The reverse is the
case in English, a so-called stress-timed language, where lines are more likely to
contain differing numbers of syllables but less likely to contain stress mismatches.
Such research supports the view that the relation of lyrics to music in songs is
rooted in the sound structure of the language (Fabb 1997), yet contrasts with the
view that the sound structure of speech, literary language and song might have quite
different explanations (Kiparsky 2006: 7; Fabb & Halle 2008).
The use of language to draw attention to the sound qualities of the message itself
rather than its meaning is what Jakobson calls the poetic function of language (1960,
1987: 71). By selecting equivalent and contrasting aspects of languages to create a
sequence, such ‘parallelism’ (Jakobson 1987) gives a temporal dimension to language,
as each sound relates to what comes before and after it. Parallelism can also be
applied to semantics and syntax.18 Walsh, in this volume, considers various types of
parallelism in applying Friedrich’s theory of polytropy (1991) to Aboriginal songs. A
related feature is the repeated use of formulaic expressions. These may be limited to a
particular position in the song or line, and are often set to the same musical pattern.
In contrast to parallelism, a formula need not occur in a regular sequence. In this volume Sollis, Apted, Walsh and Morey identify formulaic text in the songs they
investigate.19 As well as drawing attention to the song’s own form, parallelism and
formulas may assist in the memorizing of songs.
To ascertain the structure of a well-formed song it is not always possible to identify
‘ungrammatical’ songs in the same way ungrammatical speech can be identified. In
some cases songs may form a finite set, and may be perceived as being created
by spirits rather than living people. In such cases it may not be easy to access native
speaker intuitions about a proposed ill-formed song, as the singer may evaluate the
song in terms of its origin rather than its structure. It may be important to analyse
multiple performances of a song in order to understand what aspects of a song’s
structure do not vary and are thus significant and defining, and what aspects are open
to variation and creativity. Variation may signal features of a particular singer, or a
particular social context of a given performance. Crozet, in this volume, considers
three very different versions of La Marseillaise, where she relates their differences to
the socio-cultural discourse of their times; yet all are regarded as exemplars of ‘the La
Marseillaise’.
3. The Meanings and Significances of Songs
Songs are often much more difficult to translate than speech. In some instances the
difficulties may be due to the text containing words that are not of everyday speech or
because the songs represent concepts that are difficult to grasp. In some communities
certain songs are only translatable to particular members of society (e.g. Keen 1977;
Clunies Ross 1986: 242). Thus the inability to translate a song may be due to its
inherently restricted nature, as discussed by Stebbins and Planigale in this volume.
A key difference between speech and song is the more deeply embedded and
artefact-like status of the text, a feature in common with poetry, proverbs, rhyming
slang, proper names and religious sermons. Yet unlike these purely linguistic forms,
song also includes music. This combination of the song text and musical components
has the ability to convey different types of meanings in complex ways. Where song
performance also involves dancing, painting and adornment of special items, these
non-verbal aspects can also contribute to the meaning of a song. So far we have used
the word ‘meaning’ rather loosely as a term covering many types of meanings and
associations. A complete account of song meaning requires a distinction between
different types of meaning and the ways in which meanings are conveyed. Nancarrow
identifies three ways in which Lardil burdal songs convey meaning: through the text
of a song, through the rhythm (musical meaning) and through interpretations
transmitted independently of the song text, what she calls ‘culturally ascribed
meaning’. In the next section we identify different types of meanings that songs can
convey: lexical or word meaning, song text meaning (the meaning of the words in the context of the particular song), connotative and interactional meanings; and we also
consider the ways in which these are conveyed.
3.1. Word Meaning
All the articles in this volume identify, or are concerned with identifying, the words in
songs and their meanings. Word meaning can also be conveyed through music, such
as the downward interval in ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ which reflects the meaning of
the downward movement to earth (Patel 2008: 342). Such word painting can also be
conveyed through dance. Nancarrow, in this volume, shows how the accompanying
dance emulating a brolga is the only aspect of the song conveying the meaning
‘brolga’ in a Mornington Island song.
It is not uncommon for words to have a different or broader lexical meaning in
song than in speech.20 As well, songs, like poetry, may have multiple competing
lexical meanings. Here, it is necessary to distinguish the meanings intended by the
composer (which may be multiple and intentional), and those constructed by
listeners interpreting the song. Intentional ambiguity (which is the basis of puns) may
be more widespread in orally transmitted song traditions, as the written form
necessarily favours only one lexical form, obfuscating the aesthetic pleasure of
holding two simultaneous interpretations of a text. Stebbins and Planigale note that
the word ame¯che¯linga in a Mali Baining song means both ‘lizard species’ and
‘ceremonial mask’. Walsh, in this volume, argues that ‘(s)he used his/her hands’ and
‘(s)he said/did’ are two distinct meanings of the same segment of text available to
listeners of a Murriny Patha song, although it is not known whether this was the
intention of the composer.
The music and formal requirements of a song can make it difficult to distinguish
the words of a song and can lead to a listener reinterpreting the original text. A classic
example of this in English has provided a name for this phenomenon, ‘mondegreens’.
It is based on a mishearing in the second line of the English couplet ‘... They have
slain the bonny earl of Moray, and laid him on the green’, which was later reinterpreted
as ‘... and Lady Mondegreen’.21 Mondegreens are no doubt more common in orally
transmitted traditions than in written traditions. Schebeck’s warning against making
hasty interpretations about the form of place names based on interpretations by
native speakers who may be ‘pressed for answers under the assumption that there
must be a simple answer’ (2002: 147148) applies equally to song translation.
So far we have considered the lexical meaning of words*their dictionary
definition. It is also important to consider the referential meaning of words. Again,
it is necessary to distinguish the meanings intended by the composer, and those
constructed by listeners interpreting the song. To illustrate the difference between lexical and referential meaning consider a song analysed by O’Keeffe in this volume.
The third line is Kaddikkaddik ka-wokdjanganj, ‘The oyster catcher spoke/sang/cried
out’. Interpreting the lexical meaning of the words in this line involves knowing what
sort of entity an oyster catcher is, including entailments such as it is a type of bird,
and what type of vocal action wokdjangan refers to, and the sorts of entities that
typically perform this action. Referential meaning is, for example, the specific oyster
catcher to which the song refers, which in the case of many Aboriginal Dreaming
songs is a specific ancestral being. Referential meaning is obtained by parsing the
words and constructing an interpretation of them, so a listener may have different
referents from those intended by the composer. For example, the composer of ‘The
bonny Earl of Moray’ had one earl in mind, whereas listeners might have different
referents depending on which Earl of Moray they thought the song was about.
Referential meanings are often more ambiguous in song than in speech. Spoken
explanations about whom or to what a song refers, and knowledge about the song
style or performance context, can play a role in conveying referential meaning.
In societies that recognize composers*individual(s) who are the creators of
songs*these people are often regarded as the legitimate source of meaning, and any
listener’s reinterpretation is regarded as ‘wrong’. In contrast, in societies where songs
are perceived as pre-existing rather than composed by individuals, as in much of
Aboriginal Australia, meanings are legitimized according to the status and genealogy
of the person interpreting the song. A reinterpretation of lexical or referential
meaning is thus of little relevance to the enculturated listeners (see, for example, Wild
1987: 109; Tunstill 1995: 64; Keogh 1996; Turpin 2005: 332).
While words in some songs have multiple lexical meanings, some may have no
lexical meaning. Apted, O’Keeffe and Nancarrow discuss songs where the texts, or
parts of the text, include words that the majority of enculturated listeners cannot
interpret. Where the text makes use of words that are not from everyday speech,
people may perceive the text to involve words whose meaning is no longer known.
Songs are often repositories of archaic words, as they tend to be stable entities due to
their tightly structured form. Alternatively people may perceive the words to involve
spirit language, whose lexical content remains unknown to people, or known only to
specialists of spirit language22 (Apted, O’Keeffe, in this volume). A third possibility is
that the text may contain ‘vocables’*syllables used to fill the structural requirements
of the song or simply for their acoustic properties (Clunies Ross 1986: 242; Koch &
Turpin 2008: 171). Apted observes that non-lexical units are ‘‘‘meaningful’’ in the
more abstract sense of this term’ (see Section 3.3 below). O’Keeffe similarly finds that
the spirit language represents the call of an oyster catcher bird, and a spoken narrative
reveals the oyster catcher to be the subject of the song style; thus the song text
‘encodes the relationship to external narratives’. 3.2. Text Meaning
For some songs it can be difficult to know what a line or the song as a whole means,
even when the lexical meaning of words is known (see also Merlan 1987: 150). This is
often the case with song texts that have anaphoric words or where there is no
semantic link between lines. Stebbins and Planigale refer to this level of meaning as
‘text meaning’. An example of the difference between word meaning and text meaning
can be illustrated with a line of the Mali Baining song whose words Stebbins and
Planigale gloss as ‘maybe I can go with you’. They explain the text meaning of the
song as ‘a man missing his brother and wishing to go and be with him’. However, not
all songs have readily accessible text meanings. Walsh finds ‘The ‘‘pelican song’’ is
almost entirely composed of ‘‘actual’’ words but remains rather cryptic for this
observer’. He suggests exploring different types of tropes*imagistic, modal, formal,
contiguity-based and analogical*in order to elucidate broader meanings and
structures in songs.
Where songs form part of a larger corpus, particular text meanings can sometimes
be obtained in relation to other songs in the corpus. Curran, in this volume, finds
that a Warlpiri song containing the word for a particular type of tree ‘at this point in
the song cycle indicates that the women are no longer in their home country’.
As with word meaning, there may be multiple, intentional text meanings of a song.
A Pitjantjatjara song with the word ‘cup or mound shape’ is said to be about a termite
mound by one singer, a women’s breast by another, and an insulator on a telegraph
pole by another; and the particular textual meaning one derives, or is given, depends
on one’s own level of knowledge (Ellis 1985: 6264). A number of researchers of
Australian Aboriginal songs have suggested that the ability to have multiple text
meanings ensures songs have relevance and applicability to many contexts
(Tonkinson 1978: 102; Marett 2005: 199).23
Many of the articles in this volume show that specialized cultural knowledge is
required to deduce text meanings (Crozet, Curran, Nancarrow, Stebbins and
Planigale, and Walsh).24 In many societies not everyone has access to the same level
of specialized cultural knowledge, and so there can be varying degrees to which a
listener is enculturated in relation to a particular genre or song. Thus the ‘trajectory’
of understanding of a song will vary depending on one’s knowledge (Walsh, in this
volume).
Some songs have accompanying explanations in the form of a narrative or exegesis
(Donaldson 1979, 1984; Strehlow 1971).25 These elucidate not just text meaning, but can reveal word meanings, especially where the text has a highly constrained form.
Such narratives may form a unique type of speech event (Hymes 1970), distinct from
explanations of other types of phenomena. Where the narrator must be of a
particular social status interactional meanings are also encoded in the speech act. In
parts of Australia only an owner of a song can provide an explanatory narrative.
Understanding the communicative behaviour of specific cultural settings, such as
song performance and explanation, is the subject of investigation of ethnographies of
speaking (Hymes 1970; Bauman & Sherzer 1974; Sherzer 1990).26
Nancarrow, in this volume, refers to the meaning of some songs as ‘learnt’ rather
than ‘interpreted through analysis of song text’, and refers to this source as ‘popular
opinion’. This can be compared to the way school children are sometimes ‘handed
down’ the meaning of their Latin school song rather than through textual translation.
The detailed meanings of songs discussed by Curran demonstrate how text meanings
of Warlpiri songs rely on a listener having specialized environmental, ceremonial and
other types of cultural knowledge.
3.3. Songs as Mnemonics
The tightly interwoven nature of text and music enables songs to be used as mnemonic
devices, especially in preliterate societies, where song and poetry has been documented
as a mnemonic aid for events and places (Weiner 1991: 45; Feld & Basso 1996: 109; Basso
1996).27 Even in contemporary literate societies we find songs used as mnemonics
(consider the ‘ABC’ Alphabet song in English). Recently the Bee Gees ‘Staying alive’ has
been promoted by pediatrics as a song to sing while administering CPR to help people
find the correct compression rate.28 It is not difficult to imagine how a song can then
gain additional significances*especially emotional responses*by use in such different
contexts. It has often been stated that Aboriginal songs act as mnemonics for linked
places, and so the song series as a whole is akin to a musical map (Strehlow 1970: 94).
The case studies of Aboriginal songs in this volume (Curran, O’Keeffe, Nancarrow,
Apted, and Walsh) all include songs that stand for particular places.
3.4. Interactional Meanings
Like other kinds of speech acts, songs have interactional meaning. Interactional
meaning refers to the attitude and expectations between the speaker and the hearer. In singing, where the role of the singer is often fixed (not anyone can sing), and the
speech act context-driven (singing can only occur at certain times and places),
interactional meanings are dependent on the genre of the song. For example, by
attending a concert featuring a singer, a listener expects to be moved emotionally*or
at least be aesthetically pleased by the singing. In contrast, the addressee of ‘Happy
Birthday’ interprets this singing interactionally to mean that s/he is a special person,
and that the singers think him/her worthy, especially if followed by ‘For s/he’s a jolly
good fellow’. In the genre of political songs analysed by Crozet, the singer signals as
interactional meaning that they want to spur the addressee into political action,
assuming the role of teacher to the listener. In this genre the addressee is
simultaneously the government (often the subject of the songs) and the everyday
citizen listening to the song. Traditional Aboriginal songs can also have multiple
addressees: fellow performers (usually countrymen), listeners (usually outsiders) and
ancestral spirits. This leads to interactional meanings of identity such as ‘I am from
this country’ (see Curran, in this volume; compare also national anthems), ‘I have a
strong attachment to my spiritual ancestors’, or as Apted states ‘... the potency of
one’s spiritual life, which manifests in one’s ability to receive and sing songs from the
spirits’. In Central Australia, singing particular songs can bring about changes to the
physical worlds (e.g. bring about rain), also a type of interactional meaning.
3.5. Connotive Meanings
Songs can connote particular situations, behaviours and events. Such pragmatic and
associated knowledge is comparable to what McConnell-Ginet calls ‘conceptual
baggage’ (2008). Curran, in this volume, argues that visual images in both the song
text, the dance movements and visual designs connote certain concepts, for example
circular shapes ‘represent home, women and protection’. Walsh, in this volume,
discusses connotative meanings of place names in northern Australian Aboriginal
songs, which act as
a kind of shorthand to invoke a chain of connectedness between one specific place,
the other places in the vicinity and/or on the same Dreaming track, the stories
associated with that place through Dreamings, ancestors and exploits by living
relatives at that place to their country as a whole.
Some connotations may be evoked only in the context of a particular song style
and so are the results of knowledge of the particular song style speech event. This can
be compared to the way English speakers know ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is sung on New
Year’s Eve, and so the song connotes the significance of this annual event and
associated behaviours. Stebbins and Planigale refer to this level of meaning as
‘meaning in context’. While this is similar to other context-dependant speech acts
such as religious services (compare ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust’), music provides an
additional modality for evoking the social context of the songs. Indeed, even without
the text, simply humming the melody of a song can evoke its context. The Dreamings connoted in the songs discussed by Apted are the result of the religious context of
their performance rather than from any lexical meaning of the text.
In the songs discussed by Curran and O’Keeffe, a word for a plant or animal occurs
in a song genre associated with the Dreaming. Through knowledge of this genre a
number of connotations and associated meanings are available to the listener. For
example, in Central Australia a Dreaming song can evoke the place where this totemic
being originated, its activities in the Dreamtime, and the people who own the
particular Dreaming. All this in addition to the non-genre dependant connotations of
the song*such as the cultural uses of the plant or animal and the listener’s/singer’s
own personal experiences with that plant or animal. It may turn out that
connotations of particular flora and fauna may be widespread; for example the
connotation of the peaceful dove with loneliness, noted by Walsh, in this volume, is
also found in Central Australian songs where the emotion relates to the activities of
this bird in the Dreaming and the plaintive nature of its call. Knowledge of the
particular song style speech event may affect the ability to derive not just connoted
meanings but also text meaning, as Stebbins and Planigale find for different styles of
Mali Baining songs.
3.6. Emotional Responses
Music, poetry and other forms of language all have the ability to provoke emotional
responses, yet their means for evoking emotions differ. Crozet, in this volume, argues
that in the French La Marseillaise the combination of march-like music with combat
vocabulary helps put soldiers in an emotional state suited to killing and to selfsacrifice. In Central Australia, Ellis finds traditional wailing begins on a set pitch, and
so for enculturated listeners this pitch can be associated with mourning, even when
the pitch occurs in a different context (1985: 67). While certain broad musical genres
can become associated with particular emotional states,29 specific songs can have
particular meaning through the tight association between text and music, even when
their text is absent or altered. Consider a well-known tune such as ‘God Save the
Queen’, where from the music alone an enculturated listener can derive meanings
related to the text. The ability of a song’s tune to carry associated meanings of its
absent text is the basis of the parody in the songs analysed by Crozet. A related
phenomenon is where well-known songs are used in novel contexts for particular*
often humorous*effect, particularly in news reports, documentaries and in
conversation amongst people who share knowledge about a particular song.
Finally, certain connotations or emotional responses may develop through the
frequency of particular vocabulary or sound sequences occurring in song (see also
Patel 2008: 343). The question raised by Walsh of whether particular vocabulary or tropes are widespread in particular languages or traditions, may also reveal these to
have connotative or emotional significances. A phrase or word uttered in the context
of conversation may connote a song or song genre and all that this song signifies for
an enculturated listener. This use of language can be a source of humour and
intellectual pleasure in everyday interaction.
4. Conclusion
Our understanding of the arrangement of musical components and their effect on
linguistic form is still in its infancy. Song, as a universal genre of language, and one ‘in
which musical and linguistic meanings intertwine’ (Patel 2008: 342) also offers a rich
field for investigations into meaning. Collaborative research between linguists and
musicologists is already underway on Aboriginal Australian songs (Marett & Barwick
2007). We hope that this volume highlights the importance of such collaborative
work on songs from all areas in order to promote a deeper understanding of the
nature of song: how particular cultures use language to create song, how language
and music interact, how songs convey meaning, the sorts of meanings they convey,
their intended audience and how knowledge of songs can further our understanding of linguistic prosody.

2 дослідження:  Another Road: An Intersection of Music and Language. Jiradej Setabundhu
INTRODUCTION
Specialists tend to stay within their field. Knowledgehas become very specific, usually to the point that people outside such immediate circle cannot understand.In a way, this is necessary as we gather moreinformation and dig deeper into its meanings. Thedownside of this world of super-specialty is that we tendto lose touch with the big picture for the lack of anyconnecting mechanism that holds together the different parts of the total knowledge. The connections betweendifferent branches are lost.Things have not always been this way, however. Inearlier times, a learned scholar often possessed skills invarious fields. John Dunstable, a Renaissance Englishcomposer, was also an astronomer and a mathematician but one of the numerous examples. Although he isknown today chiefly as a composer, there is no doubtthat his knowledge in astronomy inspired his music, andthe underlying durations, structures, and symmetries ofhis isorhythmic motets and masses are due in no small part to his prowess in mathematics [1].Perhaps we cannot go back to the way things were, but accepting what other branches of knowledge canoffer will be beneficial for pursuing our own field.Sometimes the cross-pollination between the two fieldsis such that it provides a new perspective for us to seewhat should have been obvious but for some reason wasoverlooked. This study discusses specifically how musicand language intertwine in parallel- and contrary-motiondances that have inspired composers to develop theirartistic ideas. This study also likes to share someexamples of how a simple approach to language provides a springboard for my musical ideas.
2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 2.1. Music and Language
 
A poem, a story, a song, and a sonata are all time- based art. They flow through time from the beginning tothe end as opposed to, say, a painting that a viewer can perceive as a whole. One can argue that time is requiredto appreciate a sculpture in its totality as three-dimensional art, but a viewer can view sculpture in anon-linear fashion and still grasp the effect of the work.On the other hand, the coherence of a story or amovement of a symphony would be destroyed if alistener approached its timeline randomly. To be sure,many authors have experimented with linearity, beginning a story from the middle of the plot and so on, but this is intentional, and the result is still linear,although not in the way the reader might expect.Music is closely related to language to the extent thatit metaphorically adopts some of the languageterminologies. When we hear a group of musicians perform an improvisatory passage, for example, we say
that they are “in conversation”
. In an academic setting,the terms such as
 phrases
,
sentences
, and
 periods
 have been used in classes on musical form and harmony todescribe the various temporal length of a musical unit,although it must be said that the exact definitions ofthese terms can vary from one school of thought to thenext, and are at best a little ambiguous unless applied to very simple musical excerpts [2]. To some, twoconsecutive musical phrases, the former ends with weak punctuation (
cadence
) and the latter strong one, form asentence or a period [3]. A. Schoenberg, on the otherhand, provided a more specific description of a sentencewhere the first part contains two statements of a motive,usually in tonic and dominant, and the second part provides a more developing treatment of the materialsfrom the first, often employing rhythmic reduction andthematic fragmentation, to bring the sentence to aconcluding cadence [4].One can trace back in time to even earlier periodsand still finds the interwoven thread of language andmusic. Around the mid-eighteenth century, a decade before the death of J. S. Bach, a new musical style called
galant 
 emerged that was to be a link between the learned polyphonic work of the Baroque style and the Classicalstyle that focuses on a more balance of the vertical andlinear musical ideas, culminating in the music of Haydnand Mozart. The characteristics of
galant 
 music includea rejection of counterpoint, clear separation of melodyand accompaniment, shorter themes, symmetrical phrasestructure, and strophic, regular rhythm related todancing. The adjectives that perhaps best suit this newstyle are pleasant, free, spontaneous, and attractive. Theorigin of the style was closely related to the ideal of theera that also pervaded other art forms. Goethe wroteabout a similar writing style that was typically feminine,with short phrases and many sentence breaks
 — 
the style
that also appeared in J. J. Rousseau’s epistolary novel
 Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse
 and short statements in the
libretto of Pergolesi’s opera
 La serva padrona
 [5].Despite the apparent difference in communicativecapability between language and music, the former ableto convey specific information while the latter onlygeneral expressions, the difference is simply in degrees.Language, unlike other human institutions such as
customs, fashion, or laws, “is limited by nothing in the
choice of means, for apparently nothing would preventthe associating of any idea whatsoever with just any
sequence of sounds [6].” The linguistic signs and their
meanings are related not naturally but instead sociallyand historically
 — 
therefore arbitrary. Any specificlanguage can never be universal because to understandits code, a participant must immerse him/herself in thespecific cultural, historical, and cognitive backgrounds.Many subtexts and jokes in sitcoms from the US, e.g.,
Seinfeld 
 and
 Entourage
, would be lost to viewers fromforeign countries who have no background on thethemes
 — 
life in New York City in the former andHollywood extravaganza lifestyle in the latter.Many think of music as being more universal, but,like any language, its power to convey the meanings,general as they are require that a listener shares itscultural, historical, and cognitive contexts. In general, itrefers to the lack of precision in describing the physicalworld with the clarity of human language. Of course, wehave to set aside some claims as obvious exaggerationsto make a point, as when R. Strauss boasted that he
could “differentiate musically between a knife and afork” with his composition and orchestration techniques
used in
Symphonia domestic
 [7]. What we see as auniversal response to a melody, harmony, or rhythm isnothing but a learned experience acquired from years ofimmersion in a proper environment. An Indian musicianunaccustomed to western music would likely find the12-equal temperament tuning crude and could not relateto the emotional swells of the nineteenth-centurywestern music. Likewise, a western composer neverexposed to eastern scales would not understand theflexibility of the Thai tuning and hear the music as outof tune. Film composers have learned the craft of
manipulating viewers’ responses to specific formulas
well within a particular environment, and it is nowonder 
 — 
although unfortunate
 — 
that many blockbusterhits share similar thematic, harmonic, and rhythmic
materials. M. Danielewski saw man’s attempt to relate
the concept of echo to God as a reason why the designsof most
churches support ample reverb: “Divinityseemed defined by echo,” he wrote [8], “The hallowedalways seems to abide in the province of the hollow.”
But this is true only to a society where echoes and longreverb time are not common. For a tribe living in amountainous area, with valleys and peaks, and space in between large enough for sound reflections to bedistinguishable from the sound source (longer than 0.1seconds), echoes would be a common occurrence, andthus would not seem fit to describe Divinity.More concrete examples can be found in dance,which, like language, communicates through culturalcodes. H. Bannerman analyzed the western classical andmodern dance and matched linguistic categories,including vocabulary and syntax, the utterance and thespeech act, to dance counterparts [9]. The gestures indances of many Asian countries consist of pre-determined patterns, each of which represents a specificaffection and meaning. Indian dance, a part of a largerdrama, is divided into three categories. Two of these,
natya
 and
nritya,
 
 — 
drama (story or plot) and mime(gestures of the dancer body) respectively
 — 
togetherconvey the meaning of the dance [10]. The dancer/actorcommunicates the story and expressions via numerousstylized gestures using the movement of head, eyebrows,nose, cheek, chin, neck, breasts, eyes, feet, and hands, ofwhich those involving eyes and hands are the mostimportant. A single gesture may signify many different,unrelated meanings, not unlike human language [11]  Without knowing the relevant cultural codes, it will beimpossible for the audience to appreciate the performance.
 2.2. Music and Structure
 
Since music shares many characteristics with literarywork, it is no surprise that many composers control themusical structure with those of poetry or story. Thisseemingly simple action helps to fulfill the logicaldecision for the musical form. The more specificmeaning of language shapes the abstract musicalstructure, leading the sound along with the parallel flow.The evolution of atonal music, i.e., music without atonal center, is a good demonstration of how languagecan be a great aid to composers. The first decade of thetwentieth century saw western art music struggle tomove forwards. Tonality, the driving force of music thusfar based on the attracting force between the tonic (the
tonal center) and the dominant (the tonic’s strongest
overtone a fifth above), was disintegrating, and therewas no other system available. Since tonality governedthe connection of chords, it also controlled the pace (orrhythm) of harmonic changes, in addition to the voiceleading. Therefore, composing atonal music wasdifficult because composers had no access to any self-consistent applicable compositional procedures [12].The only possible guidelines were usually in the form ofnegative rules to tonality, e.g., the avoidance oftraditional chords and conjunct melodies [13].It is understandably symptomatic that early examplesof atonal music tend to be very short, some of whichonly a few minutes long. To extend the length beyondthis miniature scale, composers often employed text tomusic. The prose/poem-turn-libretto provided a strongsense of direction on which the music could be carried.It gave a logical structure to the flow of expressions thatthe composers could hold on. Schoenberg, a leadingcomposer of this period, was able to complete a 30-minutes long
 Erwartung
 in 17 days because of thelibretto. In this expressionist monodrama, the poet andmedical graduate Marie Pappenheim told a psychological story of a woman searching in a darkforest for her lost lover whom she might have killed.The libretto does not have any narrative plot per se but provides a backbone for the music, leading it to a progressively more intense emotional state of the
 protagonist’s mind. The athematic nature ofSchoenberg’s music reflects the text without any
 progressive story. When Schoenberg said to
Pappenheim, “Then write me an opera libretto, younglady… Write whatever
you wish, I need a libretto
,”
 [14]he did not just propose a challenge, but also a request.The astonishing speed which he completed the workindicates the effectiveness of a proper text as acompositional aid.Although Schoenberg implied that his music did notserve merely as a translation of a text into sound,claiming that he was usually inspired simply by thesound of the first words of the text and composed themusic without any regard to the rest of the text, he later backtracked, saying that other composers misunderstoodand took his comment too literally [15]. The textstructure, indeed, gave him some idea about the structureof the music, as apparent in the 1932 discussion of hisown
Four Orchestral Songs
, op. 22, where he statedthat, although his use of text did not rely solely on word painting technique, the text did supply the formalorganization to the music [16]. In the melodrama forcabaret
Pierrot lunaire
, Schoenberg’s seminal work
commissioned by Albertine Zehme for a reciter and fivemusicians, the composer selected 21 poems from a cycle by A. Giraud and organized them into three groups ofseven poems
 — 
the action that decisively led to thecreation of the opening seven-note motive G#-E-C-D-Bb-C#-G that later appeared in various guises in every poem throughout the work.
 2.3. Music and Storytelling
 
The problem exists when trying to integrate a storyinto music. Many musicians would label the work asabsolute music, i.e., music without any associated storyas opposed to program music. However, writing the
music accompanying W. B. Yeats’
Sailing to Byzantium
 can be a solution. The theme of the poem is about ametaphorical journey of a frail old man living in a worldof youth, who decided to sail to the mystical Byzantiumin search of immortality. The transformation of a wasted body into an immortal golden bird provided the idea ofrecycling. Together with the arcana theme, this finallyguided the project into a multimedia work consisting ofa live shadow play and electronic music accompanying a poem reading. The shadow play was a reference to theThai tradition of
 Nang yai
 and
 Nang talung
, whereshadows of puppets made of painted buffalo hide were projected onto the screen. In a piece, wasted objectswere used as puppets to emphasize the recyclingconcept. The obscure images of lights and shadows, theelectronic sound of an analog modular synthesizer withcomplicated cable patches, the dramatic reading of the poem, and the incessant sound of the sea set the tone forthe mysterious quest.
There are four stanzas in Yeats’ poem. The first two
 place the narrator in the land of youth while the last twoare set in Byzantium. Here presents the problem of formthat often occurs when we adopt one art form to another.The bipartite structure based on departure and arrival  
 works well in the poem, but such an epic seafaring journey could not be portrayed musically with a short
“sailed the seas” phrase as in the poem. A longer
duration is needed in the music domain to depict the
narrator’s quest successfully. Therefore, another poem
with a seafaring theme that would not look out of placeto serve as a long musical arch between the two citieswas searched
and S. T. Coleridge’s
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 
 was found. 23 non-consecutive stanzas
from Coleridge’s
were selected and rearranged to form anew cohesive journey. Delightfully, most of the selectedstanzas contained references to time of day, e.g., TheSun came up upon the left, / Out of the sea came he! /And he shone bright, and on the right / Went down intothe sea were discovered [17]. It turned out that thesequence, as indicated by the selected stanzas, suggesteda nine-day journey.Thus, the final form of the work is tripartite as
opposed to the bipartite division of Yeats’ original poem. The placement of the additional Coleridge’s
 poem in between emphasizes the contrast between theland and the sea. This created fluctuation in tension,which was reflected in the treatment of the light play andthe musical texture [18].
 2.4. Music and Syntax
 
Many eastern composers working in the westerncompositional domain feel, at one time or another, the pressure to write in their local idiom. This is not an easytask because Thai music has a unique system andmethod of composing, which is quite different from thewestern counterpart. Finding the unique characteristicsthat define Thai music is a solution so that through them,the Thai compositional techniques from a different anglecan be approached. It turns out that two characteristicsare indispensable: the strict form of centonization andthe hierarchical structure.Centonization is a technique of composing with pre-existing melody types. It shows in some music from theMedieval period and also occurs in Arab-Andalusianmusic [19]. In either case, the technique implies aflexible application of the pre-composed blocks. Thaiusage, however, is quite strict. Instead of using loosestructural pitch sequences as in melody-types of Arab-Andalusian music, centonization in Thai music is basedon
luuk khong
 — 
 building blocks of the same length, eachof which combines a precise pitch sequence and arhythmic pattern. A composer selects
luuk khong
 andconnects them in a specific order to create a newmelody. In performance, one musician plays the melodywhile others perform melodic variations simultaneouslyon top of the melody. Usually, these variationsthemselves also make use of centonization. The melodyand all variations meet on specific notes at a regularinterval, forming a heterophonic texture. (Some
musicologists prefer the term “polyphonic stratification”
since it better describes the distinct characteristics ofeach variation instead of a group of more closely relatedmelodies of the typical heterophonic music) [20].In itself, the melody created from
luuk khong
 contains little information about the rhythmic aspect ofthe piece. It is just a base layer upon which rhythms are built. Above it is a pattern of regularly spaced,alternating open/closed
ching
 strokes. The speed of thestrokes determines one of the three metrical levels. Inlevel 3, a single
ching
 cycle occurs in a span of one
luukkhong
; level 2 corresponds to the speed of two
ching
cycles per
luuk khong
; the music is in level 1 if there arefour
ching
cycles per
luuk khong
. Above the
ching
 is thegong stroke, occurring every two
ching
cycles. Lastly,the drum pattern called
na tap
 is at the top of thehierarchy. There are many drum patterns, but each alwaays contains three sub-patterns for the three levels.The drum pattern is, again, twice as long as the gongstroke.Thus, we can create a new structure based on Thaimusic by utilizing only the Thai concepts of therhythmic hierarchical system and centonization. We begin by considering music as a simple melody, as manyThai repertoires have been conceived. The first thing isto create a new set of melody types in place of the Thai
luuk khong
. If there are many of these, then there isstatistically a potential to create something as complexas the Thai music system. But we also have to establisha logical (and aesthetic) system to put these melodic blocks together. One way to do this is to play with the blocks until we have a sense of what works. After a longenough time, a suitable connection will surely emerge.The other way is to create an artificial and arbitrarysystem dictating the connection. Then, too, we need toestablish the logic of the rhythmic hierarchical system.The problem of creating a new system lies in themerit of the materials and processes. The Thai musicalsystem has not arrived at the current state immediately.The compatibility of all
luuk khong
 and their relation tothe rhythmic system indicates a long period ofexperiments with trial and error. Through this period,any unsuitable
luuk khong
 and rhythmic structureswould already be discarded. The whole system is theresult of the developments by many skilled musiciansthrough generations. This is not the case with a newsystem created by an individual, and it would beimpractical to assume the result to be on the same levelas the Thai system So, we need as a model a system from which we canextract both the strict centonization and hierarchicalstructure, one that is a result of collective ideas over aconsiderable period. Fortunately, there is such a systemthat all of us are well acquainted with, i.e., language.The parallel between characters and pitches, words and
luuk khong
, sentences and phrases/periods, is just one possible interpretation.By basing a musical system on language, we solvemany problems that would occur if we tried to invent anew system. By setting up a mapping method of the pitch/duration pairs and characters, we can construct
luuk khong
 from actual words. The mapping process thatwe use will affect the tonal character of the new
luukkhong
, but the structure of the language will alsodetermine the sound. Assigning p
itch D to the letter “q,”
for example, we will not find many
luuk khong
 with twoDs in succession if the system is applied to the Englishlanguage. In any language, some words occur moreoften than others. Consequently, and naturally, some
luuk khong
 will also appear more frequently than others, just like in the Thai system. As for the rhythmichierarchical system, the relationships between
luukkhong
,
ching
 strokes, gong strokes, and drum patterns inThai music may be translated to those between words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, for example.Bear in mind that we are not trying to representlanguage through music. We simply use the derivedstructure to solve the problem of creating a new systemcomparable to the Thai music structure. In this case,there is no intention to draw a parallel between the two
luuk khong
 created from the
words “Beautiful” and“Pleasing”
. It is enough to see the possibility ofreplacing the former with the latter when a suitable
occasion occurs, i.e., when the word “Pleasing” cansubstitute for “Beautiful.” The mapping system can be
expanded in different ways, covering more parameters,to suit the
composer’s needs. In doing so,
we will findthat our taste has less role in the musical outcome, andthe characteristics of the language model will directlyaffect the result more [21].
 2.5 Music and Lyrics
 
The perplexity of pop music is that it containsnothing unexplainable by the theory of music we havetoday. It is less complicated than most art music, andany music students completing the sophomore year will be able to analyze everything in most pop songs. Andyet, somehow this simple music has moved generationsof people. The feeling is that the power of pop music liesin its harmony, simple as it may be. So, investigating theharmonic concept of western tonal music will begin. Theidea of tonal music is simple enough: it is music with atonal center. This tone, called the tonic, functions as acenter of gravity, pulling in the other notes of the scale.A tone produced by a musical instrument is acomplex collection of pitches comprising of afundamental pitch and related pitches above it calledovertones. We do not perceive the overtones asindividual notes due to their low amplitudes, but they areresponsible for the tone color of an instrument. Asdemonstrated by Schoenberg, a single pitch alreadyimplies, by its overtones, a major scale plus theassociated harmony on all scale degrees [22]. Amongthese, the fifth scale degree, the dominant, is the mostimportant one because it is the loudest overtone. The pull on the dominant toward the tonic is considered themost important driving force in tonal music, which leadsto the harmonic progression V-I. Likewise, the tonicitself is the overtone of the imaginary fundamental afifth below, which is the fourth scale degree or thesubdominant. The three chords
 — 
tonic, dominant, andsubdominant
 — 
are called the primary chords becausethey are the first-order derivatives from the overtoneconcept. The other chords are viewed as the primarysubstitutes. Using this descending fifth movement as amodel, a simple theory of harmonic progression is thusestablished: the dominant (V, viiº) goes to the tonic (I,vi, iii); tonic goes to the subdominant (IV, ii); andsubdominant goes to dominant.It is interesting that while art music is predominantlydominant-tonic driven, the same cannot always be saidabout pop music. Analyze the harmonic progressions ofmany pop songs, and we will see that they are lessdominant-tonic-driven. On the contrary, the dominant-subdominant progressions
 — 
rarely seen in art music
 — 
are very much prevalent. This observation implies twocontradictory explanations: either the harmonic theoriesof art music and pop music are different, or both genresrely on the same theory of harmony, yet somehowinterpret it differently. Since both use the same tonalmaterials, this has led to a tendency toward the secondexplanation. Moreover, the different interpretation iscaused due to the language of the lyrics.Let us now look at pop music briefly in terms ofhistorical development to understand the implication ofthe lyrics. Pop music can be traced far back to the bluesmusic of the African American musicians since the latenineteenth century. Ragtime, then jazz and swing musicin an urban dance setting, and country swing of the 30sare the next evolutionary steps, leading to the rhythm & blues and country music of the 40s, and finally, the rockand roll of the 50s, which would evolve into pop music[23]. In the nineteenth century, all Africans in the USworking as slaves brought their music with them. Bluescan be seen now as a mixture of African music, call-and-response shouts and field hollers of slaves working, andimitation of white man music [24].The 1862 presidential Emancipation Proclamationthat was in effect in 1863 did not change the slave statusovernight, and many African Americans lived in fearand without jobs for many years afterward due toracism. Against this background, blues music prospered.It is not surprising, however, to see that the lyrics of
many early blues songs are about sadness, “personal
woes in a world of harsh reality: a lost love, the crueltyof police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk,hard times
”
 [25]. This sadness was to be combined laterwith the angst and yearning that would define rock androll and pop music.Should it be surprising, then, that pop music has adifferent harmonic progression? The tonal music of theeighteenth century is one manifestation of the Age ofEnlightenment, the time when humans celebrated the power of logic and reason. The descending fifth progression reflects the physics of sound, so to speak,and thus fulfilled the aesthetic need of the period. Butcertainly, this fulfilling progression is not suitable to themusic th
at needs to portray “harsh reality,” “lost love,”and “oppression.” To reflect them, blues musicians
opted for the opposite direction, favoring the dominant-subdominant instead of dominant-tonic progression. Thelove was unfulfilled in the harsh world, so to doanything else would be a lie. Thus, the chord progression of the second half of the twelve-bar bluesform is I-V-IV-I, and the reversal of the standard I-IV-V-I progression of art music. Yes, the theory and physics are still the same, but the mournful lyricsdemand this retrograde progression. And their legacyhas continued to this day in pop music.
3. CONCLUSION
Writers tasked with a cross-disciplinary subject arealways at risk of being overly technical or overlysuperficial regarding the content. Likewise, being amusician discussing music matter among linguists mademe careful of using too technical concepts. With manydouble-degree or dual-major programs in many schoolstoday, perhaps researchers and scholars in the future cancross the boundaries between specialized areas better.This discussion is expected to help in seeing the potential of cross-disciplinary study, especially inrelated fields such as music and language. In addition, itis hoped that this discussion will help in seeing the parallel between the two art forms, whether in terms oflarge-scale structures such as ABA or detailedcomponents as when we compare the syntaxes of musicand language. Most importantly, this research willhopefully aid to see that by taking the time to observeother art forms or any human endeavors, people placethemselves on an unfamiliar path. 

3 дослідження: Music and Lyric Characteristics of Popular Dutch Funeral Songs. Waldie E. Hanser, Ruth E. Mark, and Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets.
Music is an inextricable part of current Dutch funerals. Since the end of the 20th century, the selection of music played during cremations in the Netherlands has become increasingly personalized and thus more diverse (Bruin-Mollenhorst & Hoondert, 2018; Bruin-Mollenhorst, 2020). This development is partly due to technical improvements in crematoria that enable them to meet personal music requests by the deceased and bereaved more easily than before when standard sets of songs were more commonplace (Bruin-Mollenhorst & Hoondert, 2018). Music selection is currently a standard part of most funeral planning. Funeral homes offer advice on how and what music to select and even provide playlists and multimedia links on their websites as examples. The bereaved can experience the music selection process, sometimes after the wishes of or in agreement with the deceased, as comforting (Viper et al., 2020).
Funeral music may serve different purposes during the ceremony. Bruin-Mollenhorst (2020) distinguishes the following (1) those that serve the ceremony itself (background music when entering or leaving the ceremony room, or while watching pictures of the deceased), (2) music in between speeches that illustrates or empowers their contents, (3) music that gives expression to the identity of the deceased (the favorite music of the deceased; music that represents aspects of the relationship of the bereaved to the deceased or aspects of the deceased’s identity), (4) emotional control and evoking emotions (music that allows the bereaved to give in to their emotions, or to regain their composure), and (5) lastly, music that we listen to without any discernible objectives. These goals fit in well with general psychological functions of music (Schäfer et al., 2013), more precisely: music listening (1) as self-awareness (e.g., music expresses or confirms some part of one’s identity), (2) to bolster social relatedness (e.g., to feel connected with other people), (3) as mood and emotion regulation (e.g., to feel relaxed).
Most music in modern funerals in some way represents the deceased and honors their memory. In these cases, it serves as a musical eulogy (Bruin-Mollenhorst, 2020). Bruin-Mollenhorst (2020) argues that, although lyrics may play a role in the music selection process, for the musical praise, the song texts are often less important than the song as a whole and even less so than the way the entire song connects to the deceased. Contrary to speeches, popular song lyrics are not written explicitly for the deceased, implying that, at most, only some words, a mere sentence, the title, or nothing of the lyrics at all may directly associate with the deceased (Bruin-Mollenhorst, 2020). This does, however, not exclude the possibility that there are recurring words, linguistic properties, or themes that are common in the lyrics of popular funeral music that may make some songs particularly suited to serve this function. Furthermore, it does not explain why certain songs are, despite the increasingly personalized nature of funerals (Bruin-Mollenhorst & Hoondert, 2018), used quite frequently during funerals. In addition to investigating musical aspects, a linguistic analysis of the song texts may reveal why some songs more often serve as funeral music than others. The aim of the current study is twofold, (1) we seek to replicate and expand upon previous findings on the characteristics of funeral music, and (2) we analyze the lyrics of a selection of funeral songs popular in the Netherlands.
Music Characteristics and Lyrics
Recently, Mollenhorst and colleagues (2016) examined music characteristics (valence, energy, and tempo) of often-used songs in Dutch crematoria. Based on data from audio analyses, funeral music (N = 3703 songs) was shown to be lower in valence, tempo, and energy than two popular comparison playlists (Top 40 and Top 2000). This resulted in the characterization of funeral music as solemn, serene, and tender. It is, however, unclear which specific parts of a song evoke these emotions since these investigators considered the songs as a whole and did not study the lyrics separately. Analyzing the song as a whole may make sense because, as a listener, it is difficult to separate the impact of the melody from the lyrics. However, considering song texts separately may also prove valuable since the lyrics can substantially contribute to the emotional experience of music and are a way for listeners to relate to songs.
Previous studies have yielded mixed results regarding the question as to whether the melody or the song text is mainly responsible for the emotions reported while listening to music (see Ali & Peynircioğlu, 2006 for an overview). However, the research findings of these authors suggested that a song’s melody is the dominant determinant, though lyrics can contribute substantially to the emotions perceived in the song. More specifically, they demonstrated that emotion in response to sad and angry music accompanied by emotionally matching lyrics is more intense. In contrast, in the case of happy and calm music, emotionally congruent lyrics may reduce the intensity of the feelings. Brattico and colleagues (2011) replicated the finding that happy music without lyrics results in stronger positive emotions than happy music with lyrics. In an fMRI study, Brattico et al. (2011) further found more extensive brain activation, particularly in the limbic system, when listening to sad music with lyrics as opposed to without, and happy music without as opposed to with lyrics. Lyrics seem to play a more prominent role when listening to sad music, while music characteristics may be of greater importance when listening to happy music. Lastly, the processing of lyrics may be deeper when accompanied by sad music than in the case of happy music (Fiveash & Luck, 2016).
Emotionally congruent lyrics thus intensify sad music, while the opposite is true for happy music. This intensification may partly explain the attraction most people have for sad music for mood-regulatory purposes (e.g., Garrido, 2017; Van den Tol & Edwards, 2013; Van den Tol, 2016). Individuals apply mood regulation techniques to improve their moods. When employing music for this purpose, listeners typically prefer music that best reflects the mood they are in (e.g., Van den Tol, 2016). It is mainly the lyrics of sad music that help listeners to relate and connect to it (Eerola et al., 2015; Van den Tol & Edwards, 2013; Van den Tol, 2016). In general, lyrics may thus be particularly salient to the listeners’ mood, and they may strongly reflect the situation the music is heard in (Baltazar et al., 2019). Funeral music’s lower valence, energy, and tempo than popular music (Mollenhorst et al., 2016) suggests it will sound sad (Schellenberg & Von Scheve, 2012). Funeral music lyrics may follow this trend and contain more negative words and more words that express sadness.
Several recent survey and interview studies further exemplify the importance of lyrics to mood regulation through music and specific peak emotional experiences. Song texts are particularly relevant to listeners who seek consolation through music, although the melody and music characteristics are more important (Hanser et al., 2016; Saarikallio & Erikkilä, 2007; Ter Bogt et al., 2017). Lyrics further play a role in the experience of chills (Bannister, 2020) and crying over music (Cotter et al., 2019; Hanser et al., 2021), especially when negative emotions accompany the crying episodes (Cotter et al., 2019). This further exemplifies a connection between sadness and the relevance of lyrics. Personal meaning or memories triggered by a song may contribute more to crying over music than its music characteristics or its lyrics separately (Cotter et al., 2019; Hanser et al., 2021). The studies mentioned above, however, did not investigate the properties of song texts.
Linguistic Properties and Lyrical Content of Popular Music
Song texts thus certainly play a significant role in the emotions evoked by and perceived in music. However, their linguistic properties and content have received little attention from researchers, particularly when considering specific situations, such as funeral rites, or for personal uses like mood regulation. Yet, an analysis of happy and sad song texts with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2015) revealed several intriguing differences. More precisely, sad songs contained more negatively valenced words, particularly expressions of sadness and anger, while happy songs included more positively valenced words. Further, happy songs had more words in the present tense than sad songs (Garrido, 2017, p. 24–25).
The use of specific personal pronouns may be of further relevance to the (social) functions of popular music lyrics. Specifically, more second-person pronouns (you, yours) have been linked to increased song liking and commercial success, primarily when these second-person pronouns refer to “you” as the object of a sentence (Packard & Berger, 2020). The underlying idea is that “you” makes listeners think of a person significant to them, which may, in turn, help lyrics bolster social relatedness (Packard & Berger, 2020). Alternatively, the use of first-person singular pronouns (I, me, mine) in lyrics and personal writing is associated with a focus on the self, while first-person plural pronouns (we, us) are an indicator of emphasis on social relationships (DeWall et al., 2011; Rude et al., 2004; Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). DeWall and colleagues (2011) showed an increase in first-person singular pronouns, a decrease in first-person plural pronouns, and a reduction in positive and social words in lyrics between 1980 and 2007. This finding suggests that song texts became more individualistic and less positive as popular music evolved. First-person plural pronouns are, however, in general not used very often in song texts of popular music (DeWall et al., 2011; Packard & Berger, 2020).
Thematically, the lyrics of most popular music deal with romantic relationships (Christenson et al., 2019), while only roughly 10% of songs cover topics surrounding family and friends. Songs that explicitly mention death and dying are rare, although these topics are dealt with more frequently as popular music evolves. Funeral music is likely to contain references to romantic relationships or family and friends.
The Present Study
The present study looks at both the music and linguistic characteristics of frequently used songs during Dutch funerals. We compare the properties of funeral song texts to a control selection that consists of popular songs by the same artists. To this end, we formulated the following research questions and related hypotheses:
1. The first focus is on music characteristics. We expect to replicate findings by Mollenhorst et al. (2016) on music characteristics. We thus expect to find lower valence, energy, tempo, and danceability values and higher values of acousticness for funeral music than for control songs. Funeral music will further consist of more songs in major than minor key. These values on music characteristics correspond more to sad than to happy music.
We additionally analyzed the lyrics. Regarding linguistical properties, we assume lyrics of funeral music to resemble lyrics of sad music. Given the social role of music during funerals, we further expect pronouns, temporal focus, and specific topics to reflect this function.
2. Funeral music contains more negative and less positive words than control songs. Funeral music further focuses less on the present and more on the past than control music.
3. We hypothesize that funeral music contains fewer first-person singular pronouns and more first-person plural and second-person pronouns than control songs. Family and friends, as well as topics surrounding death and religion, are expected to be mentioned more often in funeral songs.
Lastly, since popular music often focuses on romantic relationships, we anticipate frequent words related to this subject. We have no reason to expect a difference between these words for funeral or control songs.
Method
Materials
Song Selection and Lyrics
The selection of songs was based on lists of frequently used songs during funerals, burials, and other farewell rites. These lists are from Dutch websites1 of (insurance) companies (Dela, 2021; RVS Grafmonumenten, 2021; Uitvaartverzekering Vergelijken Loont, 2021) that provide services to organize or finance funerals. We consulted these websites in 2017, 2020, and 2021. We limited our selection to songs with Dutch or English lyrics.
The control selection contained songs by the same artists as the funeral song selection. This selection was based on a song’s popularity on Spotify: we picked (according to Spotify) the most popular song by the same artist. If this piece of music was also present in the funeral selection, the second-most popular was chosen. We have attempted to always use a target and a control song by the original artist in the case of cover songs. Our primary focus was on English songs since they formed a more significant part of the popular funeral songs than Dutch ones. The complete selection consisted of 206 songs with lyrics in English (103 funeral and 103 control) and 94 songs with lyrics in Dutch (47 funeral and 47 control).
We gathered the song lyrics from Genius.com (Genius, 2021) or comparable lyric depositories if the texts were not available from this website (e.g., Muzikeum.eu; Muzikum, 2021). Texts were manually spell-checked and prepared for analyses through LIWC and tidytext (e.g., goin’ was changed into going). The total number of words was: English funeral 22098, English control 26563 (Total 48661), Dutch funeral 11531, Dutch control 12445 (Total 23976)
Software
Music Characteristics
Data on music characteristics were collected from the Spotify website (Spotify for Developers, 2021) through the Application Program Interface (API). Similar to the Mollenhorst and colleagues (2016) data, these audio analyses consider songs as a whole. The API was accessed through the R-package spotifyR (Thompson et al., 2017). We collected information on a track’s acousticness (‘a measure from 0.0 to 1.0 of the degree to which the track is acoustic’), danceability (‘a value from 0.0 to 1.0 that measures how danceable a track is based on several factors, including tempo, rhythm, beat’), energy (‘perceptual measure from 0.0 to 1.0 on how intense and active a track is'), tempo (‘the overall estimated track tempo in beats per minute (BPM)’), mode (‘track modality 0 = minor, 1 = major’), and valence (‘measure from 0.0 to 1.0 on musical positiveness conveyed by a track’) (Spotify for Developers, 2021).
Lyrical Properties
Lyrics were analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC2015; Pennebaker et al., 2015). LIWC counts words based on classifications in a dictionary with reliable psychometric properties and returns these values as percentages of the word total (Pennebaker et al., 2015). This program has been used before in the analyses of song lyrics (e.g., DeWall et al., 2011; Garrido, 2017; Packard & Berger, 2020; Petrie et al., 2008). We used the in-built English dictionary to analyze English lyrics (Pennebaker et al., 2015), whereas Dutch lyrics were assessed with the available Dutch dictionary (Boot et al., 2017). Due to these dictionary differences, we considered Dutch and English songs separately. The word categories we investigated were: pronouns (first-person singular/plural, second-person), temporal orientation (past, present, future), emotional valence (positive, negative), discrete emotional categories (anger, anxiety, sadness), and specific topics (friends, family, death, religion).
We explored word sentiment with the R-package tidytext (Silge & Robinson, 2016) and the NRC Word-Emotion Association Lexicon (Mohammad & Turney, 2013). Tidytext assigns words into emotional categories based on a lexicon and returns these values as word frequencies. Our focus with tidytext is on words responsible for positive and negative affect.
Statistical Analyses
We performed a series of independent sample t-tests to look for differences between the two selections. We additionally report the effect-size Cohen’s d (small 0.2, medium 0.5, and large 0.8; Cohen, 1988). Analyses were carried out using IBM SPSS 23.0 and R 4.0.4 (R Core Team, 2021).
Results
Music Characteristics
The analyses of the music characteristics (see Table 1) revealed several significant differences between funeral music and control songs. Valence, energy, and danceability were significantly lower for the funeral songs than for the control selection. Funeral songs were also more acoustic and more often in a major key than control songs. The effect-sizes varied from medium to large. There were no statistically significant differences in tempo.
Table 1. Overview of the music characteristics of funeral and control songs.
 	Funeral	Control	t	df	p	Cohen’s d
English	N = 103	N = 103	 	 	 	 
Music characteristics
 Valence *	0.28 (.16)	0.54 (0.24)	−9.19	177.56	<.001	−1.28
 Energy*	0.39 (0.18)	0.56 (0.24)	−5.85	192.11	<.001	−0.82
 Tempo (BPM)	113 (29.10)	118 (26.23)	−1.44	201.84	.151	−0.20
 Acousticness*	0.51 (0.32)	0.34 (0.30)	4.00	203.58	<.001	0.56
 Danceability*	0.44 (0.14)	0.55 (0.15)	−5.22	200.89	<.001	−0.73
 Key: % Major key	85.44%	69.90%	 	 	 	 
 	Funeral	Control	t	df	p	Cohen’s d
Dutch	N = 47	N = 47	 	 	 	 
Music characteristics	 
 Valence*	0.34 (0.18)	0.57 (0.27)	−4.90	81.02	<.001	−1.01
 Energy*	0.40 (0.20)	0.52 (0.22)	−2.74	90.82	.007	−0.57
 Tempo (BPM)	114 (29.47)	116 (30.81)	−0.33	91.82	.739	−0.07
 Acousticness	0.51 (0.32)	0.47 (0.28)	0.72	90.41	.474	0.15
 Danceability*	0.51 (0.12)	0.57 (0.13)	−2.50	90.50	.014	−0.52
 Key: % Major key	83.98%	85.11%	 	 	 	 
Note. 1) The music characteristics except for tempo and key have a range from 0 – 1, 2) BPM = beats per minute, 3) Mean values, SD given in parentheses, 3) Cohen’s d: small 0.2, medium 0.5, and large 0.8.
Music characteristics of the Dutch selection followed a similar pattern as the English-sung tracks. However, most effects were smaller: Dutch funeral songs also scored lower on valence, energy, and danceability. Acousticness and tempo did not differ significantly, although a similar pattern as in the English selection with funeral music being more acoustic was observed. There was no difference between the distribution of major and minor key for Dutch songs.
Analyses of Lyrics with LIWC
We investigated the total word count, pronouns, sentiment, temporal focus, social connections, and topics using the LIWC software (Tables 2 and 3). Funeral lyrics in both English and Dutch songs contained fewer words than the control songs, but this difference was only significant for the English songs. In both languages, there was substantial variability in lyric length. Moreover, most personal pronouns were first-person singular, followed by second-person pronouns. First-person plural pronouns were rare. First-person singular and plural pronouns did not differ significantly between selections. In contrast, second-person pronouns were significantly more common in English funeral lyrics compared to control songs. A comparable, non-significant pattern was present for Dutch lyrics.
Table 2. Overview of the results of the linguistic inquiry and word count-analyses of english funeral and control lyrics.
 	Funeral	Control	t	df	p	Cohen’s d
Words per song*	215 (80.24)	258 (110.38)	−3.22	186.27	.001	−0.45
Pronouns
 First-person singular	8.54 (5.39)	8.61 (5.09)	−0.11	203.29	.915	−0.01
 First-person plural	1.25 (2.06)	0.93 (1.58)	1.27	191.42	.206	0.18
 Second-person*	6.08 (4.28)	4.91 (3.41)	2.18	194.46	.031	0.30
Emotion
 Negative emotion	2.11 (1.77)	2.12 (2.49)	−0.02	184.33	.987	0.00
 Positive emotion	4.57 (2.91)	4.24 (3.06)	0.79	203.58	.428	0.11
 Anger	0.30 (0.58)	0.47 (1.11)	−1.38	154.13	.170	−0.19
 Anxiety	0.20 (0.42)	0.33 (0.94)	−1.27	141.64	.205	−0.18
 Sadness*	1.14 (1.43)	0.74 (1.10)	2.28	191.84	.024	0.32
Time orientation
 Focus past	3.27 (3.06)	3.66 (3.38)	−0.85	202.02	.395	−0.12
 Focus present	15.05 (5.07)	15.11 (4.96)	−0.09	203.90	.930	−0.01
 Focus future*	2.38 (2.36)	1.79 (1.70)	2.06	185.31	.040	0.29
Social
 Friends	0.34 (0.90)	0.25 (0.47)	0.95	153.35	.345	0.13
 Family*	0.18 (0.43)	0.67 (1.65)	−2.93	115.48	.004	−0.41
Topics
 Death	0.24 (0.45)	0.35 (0.89)	−1.14	151.10	.256	−0.16
 Religion	0.55 (1.06)	0.71 (1.46)	−0.91	186.67	.366	−0.13
Note. 1) Mean values, SD given in parentheses, 2) Word categories are percentages of total, 3) Cohen’s d: small 0.2, medium 0.5, and large 0.8.
Table 3. Overview of the results of the linguistic inquiry and word count-analyses of Dutch funeral and control lyrics.
 	Funeral	Control	T	df	p	Cohen’s d
Words per song	245 (83.33)	265 (82.05)	−1.14	91.98	.257	−0.24
Pronouns
 First-person singular	8.12 (5.43)	7.09 (5.19)	0.94	91.82	.351	0.19
 First-person plural	0.84 (1.71)	0.61 (.1.12)	0.76	79.23	.452	0.16
 Second-person	6.15 (3.81)	5.59 (4.21)	0.68	91.10	.499	0.14
Emotion
 Negative emotion	2.03 (1.63)	2.00 (1.83)	0.08	90.85	.933	0.02
 Positive emotion	2.87 (1.90)	3.70 (2.25)	−1.93	89.50	.057	−0.40
 Anger	0.47 (0.86)	0.33 (0.70)	0.84	88.40	.405	0.17
 Anxiety	0.29 (0.53)	0.15 (0.28)	1.55	69.67	.126	0.32
 Sadness	1.42 (1.34)	1.65 (1.54)	−0.77	90.34	.443	−0.16
Time orientation
 Focus past	2.67 (2.44)	2.81 (3.13)	−0.25	86.91	.806	−0.05
 Focus present	11.37 (3.88)	10.95 (3.39)	0.56	90.35	.577	0.12
 Focus future*	1.21 (1.12)	0.77 (0.99)	2.04	90.54	.045	0.42
Social
 Friends	0.22 (0.50)	0.31 (0.91)	−0.60	71.80	.552	−0.12
 Family	0.45 (0.98)	0.32 (0.63)	0.74	78.82	.460	0.15
Topics
 Death	0.26 (0.59)	0.10 (0.21)	1.73	57.93	.090	0.36
 Religion*	0.31 (0.55)	0.10 (0.29)	2.35	69.78	.022	0.48
Note. 1) Mean values, SD given in parentheses, 2) Word categories are percentages of total, 3) Cohen’s d: small 0.2, medium 0.5, and large 0.8.
Positive words were more frequent than negative words for both languages in both funeral and control songs. Words specifically related to discrete categories of anger, anxiety, and sadness were uncommon. English funeral lyrics contained significantly more words related to sadness than controls. Dutch funeral lyrics showed a trend towards less positive emotion words compared to Dutch control lyrics. Overall, Dutch lyrics were less, albeit not significantly, positive and contained more words in discrete negative emotion categories than the English selection.
Regarding temporal focus, lyrics in both selections focused on the present with fewer words relating to the past or future. Nevertheless, both Dutch and English funeral lyrics contained more words associated with the future than control songs. However, it should be noted that the English 2015 dictionary (Pennebaker et al., 2015) uses a slightly different algorithm than the Dutch 2007-dictionary to determine words related to temporal perspectives. This may partly explain the fewer overall words related to temporal focus in Dutch song texts.
Words referring to family and friends, as well as words related to the topics of religion and death, were rare for both funeral and control songs in both languages. On the other hand, there were significantly more family-related words in English control songs than in the funeral lyrics. Dutch funeral lyrics contained significantly more words related to religion than controls, and there was a similar, although non-significant, trend for death-related words. Significant effects for word categories were small to medium in size.
Analyses of Lyrics with Tidytext
Lastly, we investigated which words contributed to lyric sentiment in the English funeral and control selection only (Table 4) through the R-package tidytext with the NRC Lexicon. As in the LIWC-analyses, positive words were more prevalent than negative words for both funeral and control. Positive words reflected more warmth and positivity, while negative words were colder and expressed loneliness. Although Love is the most common positive word in both conditions, it occurred more frequently in the funeral songs. When combined with the derived loving, it makes up over 25% in the funeral songs instead of 16% in the control songs.
Table 4. Most frequently used positive and negative words in funeral and control lyrics.
Funeral	Control
Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
N = 1147	N	N = 642	N	N = 1464	N	N = 921	N
Love	252	Words	33	Love	207	Leave	30
Sun	53	Feeling	31	Baby	123	Lord	27
Loving	37	Cry	20	Dance	71	Words	23
Feeling	31	Lonely	20	Good	43	Feeling	22
Baby	27	Leave	19	Alive	32	Pain	20
True	26	Cold	15	Master	29	Blind	19
Star	21	Darkness	14	Lord	27	Cry	17
Darling	20	Fall	14	Sun	27	Dust	17
Word	20	Lost	13	Loving	26	Alien	16
Good	19	Wait	13	Beautiful	25	Lonely	16
Discussion
This study aimed to gain insight into the music and linguistical characteristics of songs popular at Dutch funeral rites. To this end, we explored and compared music and linguistic features of funeral songs and popular control songs by the same artist. To our knowledge, there has been no previous research into the linguistic characteristics of funeral songs. Nevertheless, based on investigations into the song texts of English popular music in general, we expected the use of pronouns in funeral lyrics to show a focus on others and less so on the self (DeWall et al., 2011; Packard & Berger, 2020; Rude et al., 2004; Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). We further hypothesized them to be negative, less positive, and less focused on the present (Garrido, 2017) and to contain more words concerning relationships and death-related topics (Christenson et al., 2019).
As expected, funeral songs scored lower on valence and energy, and there was a trend for them to be lower in tempo than control songs. They were also often in a major key. These results corroborate previous findings on funeral music characteristics (Mollenhorst et al.,2016)2, thus confirming funeral music’s characterization as sounding solemn, serene, and tender. Moreover, funeral music scored higher on acousticness and lower on danceability than control songs. The higher acousticness emphasizes vocals and lyrics (for example, Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven). Differences in these measures were less substantial for Dutch songs compared to English ones. Future work may wish to consider if cultural differences contribute to this discrepancy.
The findings further support our hypothesis that funeral lyrics are more social and sadder than control song lyrics. Regarding pronouns, first-person pronouns (I, me, mine) were the most common personal pronouns in funeral lyrics, but their frequency is not exceptionally high compared to findings in popular music in general (DeWall et al., 2011, p. 202). Given the frequent use of second-person pronouns (you, yours; Packard & Berger, 2020), it can be concluded that funeral lyrics are, as expected, more focused on others than on the self. This was particularly the case for English funeral songs, which contained more second-person pronouns than the artist-matched control songs. As stated before, frequent use of second-person pronouns has been linked to an increase in song liking and commercial success (Packard & Berger, 2020), particularly when the second-person pronoun serves as the object in a sentence (e.g., “Still loving you”). In these cases, it is suggested that listeners do not interpret the content of the lyrics as addressed to themselves by the artist. Instead, they transfer this lyrical content from themselves to a significant other (Packard & Berger, 2020). This seems particularly relevant for funeral music, in which the lyrics may serve as final words or as a farewell from the bereaved to the deceased. Here, song texts may help give voice to what the bereaved are feeling and empower them. Interestingly, this transference does not seem to be limited to sentences containing second-person pronouns but may also apply to sentences with first-person singular pronouns, as exemplified in qualitative research by Viper and colleagues (2020, p. 11): listeners may apply these first-person singular song texts to their own situation, or the lyrics in first-person become more likely essential when sung by a significant other. Additional research may also consider if the bereaved experience parts of the song lyrics as addressed to them when the music was chosen by the deceased and was meant to reflect the relationship with them.
Lastly, as in previous research on popular music lyrics in general (DeWall et al., 2011; Packard & Berger, 2020), first-person plural pronouns (we, us) are less common. The frequency of these words in our funeral selections did not differ significantly from the frequency in the control songs, although a non-significant trend was observed. Interestingly, we found less use of first-person singular pronouns in Dutch control songs than in funeral lyrics, but sources for comparison are unavailable. The pattern for first-person plural and second-person pronouns in Dutch lyrics is like English lyrics but less substantial for second-person pronouns.
The music characteristics of the funeral songs (i.e., low valence and energy) point towards funeral music sounding “more negative.” Nevertheless, we failed to find substantial differences in the prevalence of negative words between funeral songs and controls, and words of discrete emotional categories of anger and anxiety were rare. Words of the sadness category were significantly more frequent in English funeral lyrics than in controls, thus supporting the idea that funeral lyrics express more sadness. Both English and Dutch selections contained more positive words than negative ones, although, in Dutch, positive words were less frequent in the funeral than in the control selection. Overall, the Dutch lyrics were somewhat less positive and contained more words in the anger, anxiety, and sadness categories, pointing to potential differences in the selection process of songs in a native and foreign language. The emotional valence and discrete emotional categories of lyrics, and thus the song texts themselves, may matter more when choosing funeral music in a native tongue. Cultural differences may further play a role and deserve further study.
The current results on the emotional word categories thus do not fully match previous research findings on lyrics of happy and sad music (Garrido, 2017): funeral lyrics are not necessarily emotionally negative lyrics. Further support for this conclusion comes from the temporal focus of the song texts. We found no difference in focus on the past between funeral and control songs. While, overall, there was a greater reference to the past than to the future in general and an even greater focus on the present, we instead found that funeral lyrics, both in English and Dutch, focused more on the future than their artist-matched controls. Examples of this future focus, according to LIWC, are “I will always love you,” “You’ll never walk alone,” and “We’ll meet again.” These examples combine our findings on first and second-person pronouns with a future focus, and further demonstrate the potential social-bonding nature of song texts. We speculate that these parts of lyrics, which are likely to be found in the song’s title and chorus, convey strong emotional messages that may be central as to why some songs are more suitable as funeral music than others. This connects with Bruin-Mollenhorst’s concept of the musical eulogy (2020), in which only part of the lyrics may apply to the deceased or a funeral setting. We further suggest that the emphasis and repetitive nature of these messages as chorus may play an additional role in the choice for these songs. Future research should look further into the musical and linguistic properties of a song’s chorus, specifically in relation to specific uses. Future studies may also wish to consider the meaning of this future focus within the funeral setting: does it, for instance, provide listeners with hope of an afterlife, or does it perhaps help them come to terms with the finality of death?
Lastly, references to death, religion, and friends or family were rare. This could be anticipated based on the thematic analyses of popular songs by Christenson and colleagues (2019). There are not many songs that explicitly deal with these topics. Romantic relationships are, by far, the most common theme in popular music, and words responsible for the affective quality of both English funeral and control songs dealt with this topic. Explicit mentions of “love” (we made no distinction between love as a noun or verb) or a derivative are the most common in both selections, however, more so for funeral lyrics. Follow-up analyses should determine if there is a difference in the type of love, for instance, love of a more spiritual, emotional, or physical nature.
To conclude, we found considerable differences in music and linguistic characteristics of funeral and non-funeral music that may contribute to the choice of these songs for this specific function. Differences in music properties are more substantial than those for linguistic features. It may thus be easier to relate music characteristics to specific uses and functions of music than features of the lyrics.
Limitations
Several critical comments can be made regarding the applied method. Word count software does not look at the context of words or specific relationships between them. We further only considered some specific word categories, while others may also be important, for instance, words relating to cognitive processes (“never,” “always”), and questions (i.e., “Who wants to live forever?”). Future studies may wish to focus on other categories and word relationships.
For our selection of control songs, we depended on their availability on Spotify. A possible issue of concern regards the values of the music characteristics since it is not clear how the results provided by Spotify for Developers (2021), such as danceability, valence, and acousticness, are compiled (see Howlin & Rooney, 2020 for a discussion), stressing the need for more empirical research into their construct validity. Other studies that have used these measures have, however, found differences and patterns that correspond to what one might expect given previous knowledge on music and its uses (e.g., Baltazar et al., 2019; Baltazar & Västfjäll, 2020; Howlin & Rooney, 2020; Vidas et al., 2021).
A further limitation is our small sample size, especially of Dutch lyrics. Word count software becomes more reliable when more data are available (Pennebaker et al., 2015). We focused on the most frequently used funeral songs instead of on a full funeral home songbook. A full songbook would provide more songs, but it is unclear how popular these songs are as funeral music in general. Including more songs may reveal more differences between funeral songs and (artist-matched) controls. Mollenhorst and colleagues (2016), for example, used a funeral home songbook and compared this to the Dutch Top 2000 and Top 40 popular song lists. It appeared that many of the most frequently used funeral songs, as well as of the control songs were also included in the annual editions of the Dutch Top 2000. Specific artists, music characteristics, as well as linguistic properties, may make these songs particularly popular for multiple functions. This may explain some of the minor differences in terms of linguistic categories. However, this can also be considered a strength of our current study; our selection of popular songs showed apparent differences depending on their specific use. This bolsters the idea that musical and linguistic features also contribute to this choice despite idiosyncratic listener preferences to use songs for particular functions.
Lastly, in the present work, we considered funeral music as a homogenous category of songs. Still, there is sufficient reason to assume that subcategories exist that may depend on, for example, the preference of the deceased, the bereaved, the moment the music is played during the ceremony, culture, as well as various specifics related to the deceased such as their age, relationship to the bereaved and more. Future studies should investigate these more detailed subcategories further.
In conclusion, the current study confirms and expands the modest present knowledge on the characteristics of funeral music based on musical and textual features. The terms solemn, serene, and tender are indeed the keywords to describe the musical properties of this music. Specific word categories may also play a role in determining the utility of songs to serve as funeral music. However, the role of personal preferences and musical features may be more significant than the role of lyrics. Our findings on lyrics underscore their importance in expressing social connections with others (Schäfer et al., 2013). The current study stresses the importance of considering musical, linguistic, and personal properties when relating music to specific (emotional) uses and functions. As such, we hope that our study stimulates other researchers to continue this line of research to achieve a greater understanding of the role of music in funeral rites and the possible determining mechanisms.

4 дослідження: METAPHORS OF DEATH IN THE LYRICS OF SENTENCED. Bachelor’s thesis Paula Hirvonen.
Death is going to a final destination
For the fourth category, Death is going to a final destination, there is again example from the song
“We Are but Falling Leaves”. “Eventually all the paths will lead to the cemetery” is quite an
explicit statement of people’s immortality and how all life will eventually come to an end. Death
is inevitable for people, and in this metaphor, life or life path has been replaced with “the paths”,
and death has been replaced with “the cemetery”. In this way, we can interpret the metaphor in a
way that eventually all lives will end to death. “The cemetery” as a final destination implies grave  in earth and being buried after death, and not just a place to visit. “Eventually all the paths will lead
to the cemetery” could also be seen as an intertextual reference to a common saying “all roads lead
to Rome”. Here “roads” have been replaced with life paths and the city with the cemetery, but the
same idea is still behind that no matter where life takes us, we all will eventually end up in one
specific place.
Another example of this category can be found in the song “Lower the Flags”: “Lower the flags /
A good man has passed / He has reached the last of frontiers”. A flag lowered to half mast is a
common custom honouring someone who has died and frontiers are boundaries or boarders
between two things. Here, the first two lines describe in a rather straightforward manner that
someone has died. In the last line, the lyrics present an idea of line between life and death and that
the person the lyrics are discussing has passed this line from life to death. The word “reached”
implies that this “last of frontiers” is something people head for in a way that death is something
we all are going towards to in our lives.
4.5 Death is the end of life’s journey
The fifth category, Death is the end of life’s journey, is derived from the metaphor Life is a journey,
which can be understood in a way that being born is the start of life’s journey, living is the progress
of this journey, and the end of the journey is death. The song “No One There” has an example “The
feeling I have come to the end of my road”. Here we can interpret that the narrator feels that their
death is drawing near in a sense that life has lost its meaning and the narrator is considering suicide.
For this interpretation to make sense, it is helpful to look at the preceding lyrics:
“The axe, the bottle and the rope / The feeling there really is no more hope / The thought of the
great unknown / And facing it all alone / The dark, the silent and the cold / The feeling I have come to the
end of my road / Yes, these are the things I spend / my remaining moments with”.
The axe, the bottle, the rope, and the feeling of hopelessness can be interpreted as indication of
suicide, as these are common tools and mindset for committing suicide. “Facing it all alone” can
be considered as another hint of dying alone, as “it” can be seen to refer to “the great unknown”,
which is a common metaphor for death. “Yes, these are the things I spend / my remaining
moments with” is another indication that the narrator seems to be aware of death that is impending,
and that he knows how limited the time is before death. In the song “No One There” we have another example “The feeling of finally coming back home”.
This is an example with similar idea between Death is the end of life’s journey and Life is a flame,
as we can understand life’s journey the same way as candle that is lit. First not being alive before
we are born, on the second stage being alive after we are born, and then again on the last stage not
being alive after we have died. With this life cycle idea in mind, we can consider “finally coming
back home” being a metaphor for returning from life’s journey into nothingness that is before and
after life. If we understand this excerpt as a metaphor of death, the word “finally” implies that this
impending death is anticipated and relieving just like returning home from a long journey. If we
keep this idea of comparing coming home after a long journey to dying after life’s journey comes
to an end, we see that there is another category this example can be divided into: Death is going
home. This category was my own creation and as this was not the only occurrence of the home
being death theme, I felt that this was significant and needed a subcategory of its own. The
combination of Death is the end of life’s journey and Death is going home can also be seen in the
song “Aika multaa muistot [Everything is Nothing]” where we have an excerpt:
“For my name is sorrow and I’m friend of misery / I deprived myself of love for eternal agony /
And I don’t even dare to try – I know I can only lose / Between this life I live and nothing I have to choose
/ Take me home / To the one I belong”.
In this example, the melancholic and discouraged description of life reveals the narrator’s attitude
towards life, and we can interpret that the narrator has chosen “nothing”, that can be understood as
death or suicide, over living. Here, “Take me home” can be seen as a wish to die and that the
narrator feels that death is the only option in his position. There is a similar sense of longing and
relieving as in the previous example with the word “finally”, and a sense of returning to something
one has waited for.
Death is the end of life’s journey has two other examples which combine also other metaphors. The
song “Lower the Flags” has a metaphor “Your journey’s over, night descends”. This example
combines A lifetime is a day and Death is the end of life’s journey metaphors. Here we can interpret
that “your journey” is a journey of life that has come to an end and therefore indicates death. “Night
descends” also implies that death is upon, as in A lifetime is a day metaphors death is the night.
The second example of combining this category with another one is in the song “End of the Road”:
“Here we are, now lay the burden down / We’re coming to the end of our road”. The latter part is obviously in Death is the end of life’s journey category as it is very similar with the previous
examples, but the first part represents the metaphor Life is a burden. According to Lakoff and
Turner (1989, 25), this metaphor is coherent with Life is a journey if we comprehend it through the
metaphor Difficulties are burdens; life’s difficulties can be compared to physical burden on a
journey, and if we think of life as one constant difficulty, then we can see the whole life as a burden.
Looking at how the lyrics continue, we can see that letting go of this burden of life is implied to be
comforting and welcome:
“Here we are, now lay the burden down / We’re coming to the end of our road / Sorrowful yet
glorious somehow / To be humming this one last ode / So calm and still…it wasn’t all that bad or was it
now? / Fulfilled… it doesn’t only hurt to end it now / The funeral”.
This excerpt can be understood as being relieved from or letting go of the burden of life and dying.
The imperative form of the verb “lay” and the first person plural pronoun indicate that death does
not have to be lonesome and forceful but a welcoming and comforting end. This example gives
death a sense of relief and comfort after carrying the burden of life through the long journey of life.
“Sorrowful yet glorious somehow / To be humming this one last ode” can be interpret as the final
moments before death and how death is at the same time something to wait for and yet still to feel
wistful of.
5 CONCLUSION
The main aim in this thesis was to study the metaphors of death in the lyrics of Sentenced and
answer my two research questions: “What kind of metaphors of death are used in the lyrics of
Sentenced?” and “How can these metaphors be categorised?” The questions turned out to be rather
difficult to answer straightforwardly as there were such a diverse set of metaphors of death. Besides
the main categories A lifetime is a year, A lifetime is a day, People are plants, Death is going to a
final destination and Death is the end of life’s journey I found two other categories Life is a flame
and Life is a burden and created one new category Death is going home. These last three categories
had only examples that were combinations with the main categories. The analysis demonstrates clearly that there are numerous metaphorical expressions for death in
the lyrics of Sentenced. Most of the examples that I presented discuss death from a neutral point of
view but there is a sense of finding death welcoming and relieving without encouraging suicide.
Altogether many of the examples have a sense of accepting death as the end of a life cycle and it
is only natural and inevitable for people.
What I found in my analysis is that categorising the metaphors from the data was not as
straightforward as I had presumed. Overall, I was able to identify 27 metaphors from the selected
lyrics, yet there were several occasions where the categories overlapped and the metaphor had two
or three categories that it could be applied into. A lifetime is a year, People are plants and Death
is going to a final destination had all only two examples and there were no combinations in the
examples. Death is the end of life’s journey seemed to be the most frequent of the categories but
surprisingly this was only due to the combinations; this category had only one example that was
solely in this category and the four other metaphors where combinations of Death is the end of
life’s journey and other categories. A lifetime is a day category was also rather few in numbers as
there was only one example metaphor that could be placed only in this category and two other
examples that combined with Life is a flame metaphor. There were also metaphors that needed
more surrounding lyrics as the metaphors or interpretations did not make sense without the broader
view and the mindset that the other lyrics gave for that metaphor. Some of the categories were also
used in Leikola’s (2009) thesis and for this reason and the similarity of the topics, some of the
findings were the same.
These metaphors of death that I presented in my research can be analysed through Lakoff and
Turner’s (1989) research and some of them were rather similar to what they had presented as
examples. Lakoff and Turner (1989) initially used these categories to analyse poems and everyday
language and with this analysis, rather surprisingly, these categories proved to be applicable also
in metal music lyrics. Thus, these categories seem to be applicable in other literary genres than
what they were initially used for.
This study adds to the linguistic study on lyrics (see also Leikola 2009) but focusing on one band
has its limits and this study on metaphors of death does not provide results that could be generalized
to the entire metal music genre and its lyrics. The scarce amount of studies on metal music lyrics
is already a reason in itself to study the field more. The popularity of metal music proves that there is increasing interest on the topic, and metal music needs to be considered as a relevant field of
study also in linguistics (also Leikola 2009), and not just in musicology. Linguistic study on lyrics
can give the lyrics more prominent place both in music and in linguistics and they are not only seen
as subordinates or servants for the music or inferior to poetry but more as an entity and a valuable
genre of literary.