An Analysis of Features of English Lyrics from the Perspectiveof Cohesion

Zhang Jingjing

【Abstract】Lyrics are a kind of art form, which consists of quite many language features. Some researches have been carried out on English lyrics from the perspective of stylistics, aesthetics, rhetoric and so on. But this thesis will work on features of English lyrics with grammatical cohesion device. With examples and illustrations, this thesis finds out that grammatical cohesion makes the structure of lyrics concise, compact and clear, and help to express emotions of singers. By the analysis of grammatical cohesion in English lyrics, the appreciators can dig deep into the lyrics and be able to better understand the theme of an English song, and can draw an analogy with the understanding of other kinds of English texts.

【Key words】English lyrics; grammatical cohesion; reference; substitution; ellipsis; conjunction

I. Introduction

Music is one of the most important parts of any culture in the world. It has an ancient history, as long as humans ability of upright walking and language skills. Coming up at the early stage of human history, music is a kind of capability that human gradually cultivates during his evolution, and helps human to survive in a hostile environment. Through its history, music has changed a lot, especially during the recent decades. With the diversity of music types, a large number of new words come to the public, such as Rock, Jazz, Punk, New Music, Rhythm & Blues(R&B;) and so on. Being an important part of music, lyrics are worth mentioning, for lyrics are a kind of art form which is full of original creation and ingenuity.

Lyrics are the visual intermediary that displays a theme of a song. It is known to all that a good song consists of not only numerous beautiful words, but also a good structure arrangement for these beautiful words so as to better express or strengthen the meaning and emotion of the song. Moreover, we receive pleasure and satisfaction from listening to and singing English songs of different styles. But when learning these beautiful songs, many learners soon feel that they do not understand the meaning of lyrics because of the unfamiliar grammatical cohesion. Lacking basic grammatical knowledge will surely prevent learners from understanding the words and expressions. So the analysis of features of lyrics in English songs from the perspective of cohesion will help the song-lover understand the English songs better.

After investigation, we find out that the lyrics of English songs have been applied with many cohesion methods, which not only make the lyrics unique, but also express the theme of a song vividly. Among the cohesion methods, the grammatical cohesion is more notable. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the features of English lyrics from the perspective of grammatical cohesion. With the illustrations of reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction, it can be seen that the cohesion methods bring all the lyrics into a compact and smooth structure.

II. Definition of Cohesion

Cohesion is one of the key concepts in discourse researches. M. A. K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan (2001) were the first to raise the cohesion theory in their monograph, Cohesion in English. They defined that “the concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text…Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up”(Halliday & Hasan 2001: 4).

As Halliday pointed out, the general meaning of cohesion is embodied in the concept of text. By its role in providing “texture”, cohesion helps to create text. Cohesion plays a special role in texture, for it presents the continuity among parts of text. The continuity from cohesion is presented at grammar level with grammar structure, such as sentences, clauses and so on. This continuity helps readers or listeners to figure out the missing information which cannot be found directly from the text, but is essential for better understanding of a text.

III. Analysis of the English Songs

English lyrics are a kind of art form. On the basis of their rhythm beauty and phonology beauty, English lyrics also apply some grammatical cohesion devices so as to sound smooth and deliver aesthetic feeling. The grammatical cohesion devices consist of reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, which play an important part in English lyrics.

1. Reference

Halliday and Hasan pointed out that there are certain items in every language which have the property of reference. Instead of being interpreted semantically in their own right, they make reference to something else for their interpretation (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 31). From the perspective of pragmatic function, reference can be divided into endophoric and exophoric reference. And the endophoric reference enjoys higher frequency in English lyrics. For example:

And as for fortune, and as for fame

I never invited them in

Though it seemed to the world they were all I desired

They are illusions

They are not the solutions they promised to be

The answer was here all the time

I love you and hope you love me

Dont cry for me Argentina

—“Dont Cry For Me, Argentina”

“Dont Cry For Me, Argentina” was the Best Song in the 69th Oscar. In the above lines there comes reference. To be more specific, the reference applied here is anaphora, which is one branch of endophoric. Anaphora is known as the form “…of presupposition, pointing back to some previous item…” “What is presupposed anaphorically may be in the sentence immediately preceding, but it may also be in some earlier sentence” (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 14). The two lyrics “them” and “they” play the role of anaphora, which refer to “fortune and fame” in the first line. Therefore, “fortune”, “fame”, “them” and “they” build up the relation of anaphora, and this relation comes from semantic relation. The lyricist used “them” and “they” to replace “fortune” and “fame” so as to make the lyrics more concise and the structure more compact, making the lyrics into a whole text.

Ive never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight

Ive never seen you shine so bright

Ive never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance

Looking for a little romance

Given half a chance

I have never seen that dress youre wearing

Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes

I have been blind

The lady in red

Is dancing with me

—“Lady In Red”

The above lines of lyrics tell the scene that the first time the singer met a lady in red at a dancing party, who later became his wife. These lines are at the beginning of the song. In the first few lines, the singer only used “you” repeatedly to express his feelings. If we do not keep on reading the rest of the song, we will not figure out that “you” refers to “the lady in red”. This is the use of cataphora, a branch of endophora. In the cohesion device of anaphora, it considers a presupposing item presupposing something that has gone before it. “But the presupposition may go in the opposite direction, with the presupposed element following. This we shall refer to as cataphora” (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 17). In the above lines, “the lady in red” emerges in the last line but one, so it is the presupposition of “you” in the previous lines. The application of cataphora here makes the lyrics like a romantic declaration of love. The transition from “you” gradually to “the lady in red”, indicates that the singers feeling towards “the lady in red” became stronger and stronger, raising his love to a higher level.

The two examples mentioned above are typical applications of reference device in sentence level, making the structure of lyrics tight and the link of lyrics natural.

2. Ellipsis

Ellipsis can be defined as “the omission of an item” (Halliday & Hasan: 88). This item could be “‘something left unsaid”. But “there is no implication that what is unsaid is not understood; on the contrary, ‘unsaid implies ‘but understood nevertheless” (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 142). Ellipsis makes expressions concise, clear and compact. It is commonly used in lyrics, covering various aspects of language, such as phonics, vocabulary and so on. The ellipsis in lyrics mainly refers to omission of items of syntax.

And love (Oh, love)

Ill be a fool for you

Im sure

You know I dont mind (Oh, you know I dont mind)

‘cause you,

You mean the world to me

—“Endless Love”

These lines express a mans deep feeling to his beloved. The man loved his beloved so much that he was even willing to be a fool. In the last but two line, “You know I dont mind” would be followed by “Ill be a fool for you”. The ellipsis used here makes the lyrics concise. Therefore, the line “You know I dont mind” will be more focused on and also gives the readers or listeners a room to understand how devoted the man was and his willingness to do anything for his love.

I guess there are many broken hearts in Casablanca

You know Ive never really been there

So I dont know

I guess our love story will never be seen

On the big wide silver screen

But it hurt just as bad when I had to watch you go

—“Casablanca”

The above lines told the story that the hero and the heroine were parted because of some reason, and once they met each other by accident. So the hero expressed his feeling to the heroine. The line “So I dont know” is very simple, but it has connection with the earlier lines. So the complete sentence should be “So I dont know how many broken hearts there”. But we can tell that the complete line seems to weaken the sadness of the hero, while the incomplete line can give us chance to imagine the sorrow and helplessness.

The ellipsis helps to avoid the components which will lead to repetition. Therefore ellipsis not only plays the role of cohesion in texture, but also helps to express emotions briefly and effectively.

3. Substitution

Substitution is “the replacement of one item by another” (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 88). In a text, substitution plays a role of connecting context, a relation between linguistic items, such as words or phrases. The application of substitution in English lyrics is quite common. When one word appears in the earlier text, it may be replaced in the following text by a word with the same or similar meaning. For example:

Ive never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight

Ive never seen you shine so bright

You were amazing

Ive never seen so many people want to be there by your side

And when you turned to me and smiled

It took my breath away

I have never had such a feeling

Such a feeling of complete and utter love

As I do tonight

—“Lady In Red”

The above lines described the scene that he first met the lady in red and how he actually felt when the lady looked at him. The word “such” in the seventh line is a substitute for the former line “It took my breath away”. So “such a feeling” means the feeling that I cannot breathe when you, the lady in red, turned to me and smiled.

It can be seen that the application of substitution in English lyrics can not only add to the diversity of words in a text, but also links the context in cohesive way.

4. Conjunction

Conjunction is also a kind of device that serves as a connecting link in a context. Conjunction “presupposes the presence of other components in a discourse” (Halliday & Hasan 2001: 226). With the conjunctive words, readers can understand the semantic relations of lyrics, and may even logically predict the meaning of the next line from the previous one. Conjunctive words are often used in English lyrics in order to act as cohesive devices. For example:

He deals the cards as a meditation

And those he plays never suspect

…

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier

I know that the clubs are weapons of war

I know that diamonds mean money for this art

But thats not the shape of my heart

—“Shape Of My Heart”

In the description of the above lines, a man is playing cards. In his opinion, the spade stands for power, the club for war and the diamond for money, which he did not want at all. Then the word “But” indicated that what the man wanted was the shape of heart, which means love to his beloved. The word “But” makes the cohesion of lyrics more compact, helps the transition of meaning more smoothly and highlights the mans pursuit for love.

IV. Conclusion

From the perspective of cohesion raised by Halliday and Hasan, this thesis mainly works on the analysis of grammatical cohesion applied in English lyrics. As is analyzed above, reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction are the major grammatical cohesive devices, and they make the structure of lyrics compact, the transition of meaning natural and smooth, helping the lyrics to form a cohesive and complete text. Moreover, the application of grammatical cohesion enriches the forms of lyrics in writing, helping to better express the emotion of lyricists or singers.

The study of grammatical cohesion in English lyrics can help the appreciators to dig deep into the lyrics instead of just memorizing the lyrics and learning how to sing. With some basic knowledge about grammatical cohesion in lyrics, the appreciators will be able to better understand the emotions delivered by English songs, and also people can draw an analogy with the understanding of other kinds of English texts.

However, this study is still limited in some ways. Firstly, the sample scope is not large enough. Secondly, the study is only confined to the features of lyrics in English songs under the cohesion theory of Halliday & Hasan, leaving other untouched analysis of the features of lyrics in English songs under other theories, which may be very meaningful，since it can help us to appreciate the lyrics of English songs from different aspects. All in all, this study is a preliminary and tentative attempt which remains open to be discussed and improved.

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