Pop Culture English
Phil BensonLinguistics and Modern Languages
Popular culture English
popular culturethe language of pop songs
creative language
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Popular culture
the culture of everyday life
how we give meaning to everyday activities
Yum cha – eating with meaning
Mediated popular culture
the culture of everyday life as it is represented in and circulated by mass media
‘traditional media’pop music, television, films, magazines,
newspapers, popular fiction, advertising and branding
‘new media’ blogs, reviews, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest,
Facebook, Twitter, MSN, SMS….
Yum cha in the media
Chialin’s blogYumcha Restaurants
OpenRice – dim sum searchCha siu bao…
Popular culture English
Popular culture: circulation of images, sounds and language
How is English used in different popular culture media?
How does popular culture influence everyday English?
Born this way
Born this way – MV(song starts at 3:00)
“…as Lady Gaga would say…”
Guardian Books Podcast. interview with Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the tree
I'm beautiful in my way'Cause God makes no mistakes I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way Don't hide yourself in regret Just love yourself and you're set I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way
What has Lady Gaga contributed to the English language?
Lady……Gagalittle monstersmother monsterTwitter queenGaga monstraparva
Madonna - wannabeJustin Bieber - belieber
What is pop culture English like?
basic vocabulary and grammarrepetitive
spoken / colloquialcreative / playful
formulaic
The language of pop songsStudy of top 50 English song lyrics (13,161)
• Basic: At the level of simplest graded EFL readers• Repetitive: Each word repeated average 3 times per song• Colloquial: 10 words make up 25% of the total:
the, to, a, and; I, me, my, you; gonna, loveQuestions and imperatives are frequent (25%)Conversational (I and you)
• Creative/playful: No• Formulaic: Frequent repetition of short phrases
Murphey, Tim (1992). The discourse of pop songs. TESOL Quarterly, 26 (4), 770-4
I will survive…At first I was afraidI was petrifiedKept thinking I could never liveWithout you by my sideBut then I spent so many nightsThinking how you did me wrongAnd I grew strongAnd I learned how to get along
And so you're backFrom outer spaceI just walked in to find you hereWith that sad look upon your faceI should have changed that stupid lockI should have made you leave your keyIf I've have known for just one secondYou'd be back to bother me
Go on now goWalk out the doorJust turn around now'Cause you're not welcome anymoreWeren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbyeDid you think I'd crumble?Did you think I'd lay down and die?Oh no, not I
I will surviveOh, as long as I know how to loveI know I'll stay aliveI've got all my life to liveI've got all my love to giveAnd I'll surviveI will survive, hey hey
Gloria Gaynor
I will survive…At first I was afraidI was petrifiedKept thinking I could never liveWithout you by my sideBut then I spent so many nightsThinking how you did me wrongAnd I grew strongAnd I learned how to get along
But now you're backFrom outer spaceI just walked in to find you hereWith that sad look upon your faceI should have changed that stupid lockI should have made you leave your keyIf I had known for just one secondYou'd be back to bother me
Go on now goWalk out the doorJust turn around now'Cause you're not welcome anymoreWeren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbyeDid you think I'd crumble?Did you think I'd lay down and die?Oh no, not I
I will surviveOh, as long as I know how to loveI know I'll stay aliveI've got all my life to liveI've got all my love to giveAnd I'll surviveI will survive, I will survive
I will survive…At first I was afraidI was petrifiedKept thinking I could never liveWithout you by my sideBut then I spent so many nightsThinking how you did me wrongAnd I grew strongAnd I learned how to get along
And so you're backFrom outer spaceI just walked in to find you hereWith that sad look upon your faceI should have changed that stupid lockI should have made you leave your keyIf I've have known for just one secondYou'd be back to bother me
Go on now goWalk out the doorJust turn around now'Cause you're not welcome anymoreWeren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbyeDid you think I'd crumble?Did you think I'd lay down and die?Oh no, not I
I will surviveOh, as long as I know how to loveI know I'll stay aliveI've got all my life to liveI've got all my love to giveAnd I'll surviveI will survive, hey hey
Who are we?• 94% of songs have unspecified ‘I’• 86% have unspecified ‘you’• I, me, my = 10%; you = 5% of total words• 94% have no specific time• 80% have no specific place
• ‘I Will Survive’: I, me, my = 15%, you = 7%
Murphey, Tim (1992). The discourse of pop songs. TESOL Quarterly, 26 (4), 770-4
Who are pop songs talking to?
• ‘I’ speaking to ‘you’ (person in the song) Did you think I'd lay down and die? (‘I will survive’)
• ‘I’ speaking to ‘you’, the audience You may say I’m a dreamer… (‘Imagine’ – John Lennon)
• ‘I’ telling ‘you’, the audience, a story about ‘me’I did it my way… (‘My way’ – Frank Sinatra)
• ‘I’ telling ‘you’, the audience, a story about ‘them’Desmond has a barrow in the market place, Molly is the
singer in a band (‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da – The Beatles)
New wordsword meaning origin
amazeballs
babylag
floordrobe
go postal
MSN-ing
New wordsword meaning origin
amazeballs an expression of enthusiastic approval blogging
babylag a feeling of being very tired and sometimes confused because of the lack of sleep caused by looking after a very young baby
marketing
floordrobe a pile of clothes left on the floor of a room ??
go postal become extremely angry film
MSN-ing sending messages through an Instant Messenger internet
New wordsword meaning origin
mummy porn
omnishambles
sick
thx
tiger mother
New wordsword meaning origin
mummy porn a genre of erotic fiction designed to appeal to women
journalism
omnishambles something that is very badly organised and is ineffective in every possible way
television
sick impressive, especially because of being fashionable or attractive
street sports
thx thank you TXT MSG
tiger mother a very strict mother who makes her children work particularly hard and restricts their free time so that they continually achieve the highest grades
parenting literature
Memes* – word and image
facepalm
facepalm compilation
vocal fry
vocal fry epidemic*meme = an idea that spreads very
quickly via the Internet
‘Brand’ new words
Word play
The linguistics of pop culture English
word formation examples
compound nouns amazeballs, tiger mother, vocal fry
compound verbs go postal
item substitution babylag (<- jetlag), mummy porn (<- soft/hard porn)bridezilla (<- Godzilla), cyberbully (<- cyberspace)
blending floordrobe, newphoria, froyolicious
morphological derivation
omnishambles
conversion MSN-ing (noun to verb), facepalm (compound + noun to verb)
respelling thx
semantic change sick
Language play
*$ English
Read: How Starbucks shamed you into speaking its languageWatch: The Starbucks Rap
Q & A
Pop Culture English
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