Grammar, Word, Lexis: Clines of Language in Popular Songs

Popular songs can have great music and simple lyrics or great lyrics with unspectacular music. Sometimes, however, there is more to a pop song than first meets the ear. Systematic and attentive listening in a wide variety of genres of popular music reveals a number of songs that have music and lyrics of equally high quality. The lyrics of these well-crafted popular songs usually pattern out in three basic ways. First, lyrics can feature dazzling displays of predominantly grammatical patterns. In such songs, the choice of lexical patterns and individual words recedes before the choice of grammatical structures. Second, lyrics can feature a highly selective choice of words. A word list or a dense clustering of a particular part of speech stands out against a background of repetitive grammatical or lexical forms. Third, song lyrics may feature a greater emphasis on lexical patterns； grammatical structures and individual word choices are entailed in the larger phrase and sentence patterns. The lyrics to well-crafted popular songs can thus be laid out on a cline of grammar–word–lexis, with an overwhelmingly emphasis on grammatical forms at one end, a preponderance of lexical patterns at the other, and a heightened attention to the choice of individual words in the middle. Since English songwriters are speakers of the language and their lyrics participate in the general system of English, such a cline shows that grammar, word, and lexis are inseparable and interdependent. Grammar cannot be taught at the expense of lexis or vocabulary, since even the most grammatical of songs will entail some lexical patterning and grammatical forms that will influence the choice of specific words. Nor can lexis be taught at the expense of grammar and vocabulary, since lexis entails the choice of both grammatical form and individual words. In the same way, new words cannot be taught in isolation from the grammatical structures and lexical patterns in which they occur. The increased awareness of the interdependent qualities of English provided by popular songs ensures a more balanced presentation of the language in the classroom. Carefully chosen, well-crafted songs provide compelling supplemental documentation of course book language from the world beyond the book, e.g., patterns of grammatical use, patterns of word use, lexical patterns and their uses,narrative and conversational discourse templates, and the socio-cultural concerns of the society in which the song was written. In addition, such songs provide a thematic tie-in to each lesson that is both esthetically pleasing and viscerally engaging. Music can induce a positive response to English that course books often do not. This paper details the process of finding those songs that are equally rich in music and language from initial audition to final compilation, demonstrates how songs pattern out along the language cline, and shows how to present song lyrics in a way that preserves this more complete, interdependent view of grammar, word, and lexis. 流行歌曲具有兩種特色，不是很棒的旋律配上簡單的歌詞，就是很棒的歌詞配上普通的旋律。然而，有時候一首流行歌曲比聽到的更有深度。如果能有系統且廣泛而專注地聽各種流行音樂，會發覺很多歌曲是同時具有高品質的旋律與歌詞。通常這些細膩的流行歌曲中，歌詞是以三種基本的方式形成：一、歌詞的文法組織結構縝密；在這些歌曲中，注重語法架構更甚於注重字詞和辭藻的選擇。二、歌詞中的字詞能呈現出多面性的意涵。在重複的文法與詞形中，字表或是詞性的整合是相對性的顯著。三、歌詞也許會以辭藻優美為特色，而文法組織和單詞的選擇會嵌入較長的片語與句型當中。因此，在細膩的流行歌曲中，歌詞能由文法、字詞、辭藻的鋪陳來表現；一方面是著重在文法組織，另一方面是著重在詞形，以及強調單詞的選擇。因為歌曲作者是說英語的人，他／她們的歌詞來自慣用的英語語言系統，其歌詞的鋪陳顯示出文法、字詞、以及辭藻是密不可分的。即使歌曲中大部份的文法架構本身就有特定的詞彙，文法組織也會限制一些字詞的選用，畢竟文法是不能跳脫辭彙而獨立存在的。辭彙是不能跳脫文法結構，而單獨成為句子的。因此，文法架構及詞語中所出現的新字，也是不能單獨成立的。體會流行歌曲中的英語語言元素間的相輔相成，可以讓課堂中語言知識的傳授更完整。細膩的歌曲可以在教科書之外，提供更豐富的語言知識，例如：文法句型、字型、辭彙以及其用法、敘事和會話言談模式、以及社會層面上的社會文化議題。此外，這些歌曲皆能提供主題式的課題，是具有美感又能深入人心。音樂能激勵英語學習動機，而這種效果是教科書無法達成的。此文詳細陳述了從接觸到整理這些歌曲的過程，發現旋律與歌詞是同等重要的，也描述了這些歌曲是如何由語言所鋪陳的，更顯示了歌詞是以完整的文法架構、字詞、和辭藻所相輔相成的。