An analysis of lexical and contextual meanings in the lyrics of bob marley’s songs

2018 – 2020 (1) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE M.A THESIS AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING IN THE LYRICS OF BOB MARLEY’S SONGS NGUYỄN THỊ NHUYN (Phân tích nghĩa từ vựng nghĩa văn cảnh hát BOB MARLEY) Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Hanoi - 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING IN THE LYRICS OF BOB MARLEY’S SONGS (Phân tích nghĩa từ vựng nghĩa văn cảnh hát BOB MARLEY) NGUYEN THI NHUYN Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Le Dung Hanoi - 2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING IN THE LYRICS OF BOB MARLEY’S SONGS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Nguyen Thi Nhuyn Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:……………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A completed thesis would not be done without any assistance Therefore, the author who conducted this research gratefully gives the acknowledgement to their support and motivation during the time of doing this research First of all, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisor, Tran Thi Le Dung, Dr Her kindly support and continuous advice went through the process of completion of my thesis Her encouragement and comments had significantly enriched and improved my work Without her motivation and instructions, the thesis would have been impossible to be done effectively I am extremely grateful to my parents for their love, prayers, caring, preparing me for my future Also I convey my thanks to my brothers, sisters for their support, encouragement and care spiritually throughout my life As last, my deep thanks come to all the lecturers of the Faculty of English who gave me a chance to carry out this thesis ii ABSTRACT Semantic is the branches of linguistics This branch is the important one, and there are lexical meaning and contextual meaning By listening to the songs, we can get knowledge about appreciates literature and the background of the song Therefore, the researcher was interested in analyzing the kinds of meaning used in Bob Marley’s songs The researcher dedicated to give the title of this research “An Analysis of Lexical and Contextual Meanings in the lyrics of Bob Marley’s Songs” The problem of this study is: (1) What are the lexical meanings in the lyrics of Bob Marley’s Song? (2) What are the contextual meanings in the lyrics of Bob Marley’s Songs ? The writer takes three songs from different album This study uses a descriptive qualitative method because the writer would analysis and interpret the research object of Bob Marley’s Song Lyrics The result of this research is as follows: (1) related to the lexical meaning, while (2) related to the contextual meaning The researcher expects that this research will be useful for the other researchers who are eager to know more about semantics Moreover, semantic is an important branch of linguistics that is interesting to be studied, especially when it is applied to literary works, such as songs or poem iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Stanza: S Line: L iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.3.1 Data collection 35 Figure 3.3.1 Data analysis 35 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality…………………………………………… Acknowledgements………………………………………………… Abstract…………………………………………………………… List of abbreviations ……………………………………………… List of tables and figures …………………………………………… Table of contents…………………………………………………… i ii iii iv v Chapter I INTRODUCTION………………………………………… 1.1 Rationale of the study……………………………………………… 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study…………………………………… 1.2.1 Aims of the study………………………………………………… 1.2.2 Objectives of the study…………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions………………………………………….……… 1.4 Methods of the study………………………………………………… 1.5 Scope of the study ……………………………………………….… 1.6 Significance of the study …………………………………………… 1.7 Design of the study ………………………………………………… 3 3 4 Chapter II LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………… 2.1 Review of previous studies………………………………………… 2.2 Semantic…………………………………………………………… 2.3 Kinds of meaning…………………………………………………… 2.3.1 Lexical meaning………………………………………………… 2.3.1.1 Synonymy……………………………………………………… 2.3.1.2 Antonym ………………………………………………………… 2.3.1.3 Polysemy………………………………………………………… 2.3.1.4 Hyponymy……………………………………………… ……… 10 11 12 14 14 15 2.3.1.5 Homonym……………………………………… ……………… 2.3.1.6 Ambiguity…………………………….………………………… 2.3.2 Context…………………………………………………………… 2.3.2 Authorial context……………………………………………… 2.3.2 Socio-historical context………………………………………… 2.3.2 Philosophical context………………………………………… 2.3.2 Literary context………………………………………… 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 vi vi 2.3.2 Critical context………………………………………… 16 2.3.3 Contextual meaning ………………………………………… 17 2.3.4 Grammatical meaning………………………………………… 19 2.3.5 Denotative meaning………………………………………… 2.3.6 Connotative meaning………………………………………… 2.3.7 Conceptual meaning………………………………………… 20 21 22 2.4 Word ………………………………………… 2.4.1 Meaning of word ………………………………………… 2.4.2 Class of word ………………………………………… 23 24 25 2.4.2.1 Noun ………………………………………… 2.4.2.2 Determiner ………………………………………… 25 25 2.4.2.3 Verb ………………………………………… 2.4.2.4 Adverb ………………………………………… 2.4.2.5 Adjective ………………………………………… 2.5 Phrases ………………………………………… 2.6 Song………………………………………… 26 26 26 27 28 2.7 Lyrics………………………………………… 2.8 Message 2.9 The biography of Bob Marley……………………………………… 29 30 31 2.10 Summary………………………………………… Chapter III METHODOLOGY ……………………………………… 3.1 Research approach………………………………………… 3.2 Methods of the study………………………………………… 3.3 Data collection and data analysis …………………………………… 3.3.1 Data collection ………………………………………… 3.3.2 Data analysis ………………………………………… 3.4 Summary………………………………………… 32 34 34 34 34 34 35 36 Chapter IV AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING IN THE LYRICS OF BOB MARLEY’S SONGS …… 4.1 Research Findings ………………………………………… 4.1.1 Data presentations ………………………………………… 4.1.1.1 The first data ………………………………………… 4.1.1.2 The second data ……………………………………………….… 4.1.1.3 The third data ………………………………………… 37 37 37 37 41 43 vii 4.1.1.4 Summary ………………………………………… 47 4.2 Discussion of the data ……………………………….……………… 47 4.2.1 Lexical meaning…………………………………………………… 48 4.2.1.1 Synonym…………………………………………………… 4.2.1.2 Antonym…………………………………………………… 4.2.1.3 Homonym…………………………………………………… 48 48 49 4.2.1.4 Hyponym…………………………………………………… 4.2.1.5 Denotation…………………………………………………… 4.2.1.6 Connotation …………………………………………………… 49 49 50 4.2.2 Contextual meaning……………………………………………… 4.2.2.1 Context of situation……………………………………………… 51 51 4.2.2.2 Context of purpose ……………………………………………… 4.2.2.3 Mood context of speaker or listener…………………………… 4.3 Summary…………………………………………………………… Chapter V CONCLUSION …………………………………………… 5.1 Recapitulation……………………………………………………… 51 52 52 54 54 5.2 Concluding remarks………………………………………………… 5.3 Limitation of the research…………………………………………… 5.4 Recommendation…………………………………………………… 54 56 56 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… 58 viii lexical meaning and contextual meaning The researcher finds that the lexical and the contextual meanings used in the lyrics of Bob Marley’s Songs The lyrics should have been comprehended not only lexically but also in an obvious contextual terms The researcher discusses the lyrics of the song Bob Marley told about the smallest story After the researcher finds out the lexical meaning and contextual meaning, the researcher gives a short story about this song Not all people have known about the lexical and contextual meaning but also, they have known about the short story Besides, the researcher gives to know about the theme of this song Theme of patriotism in a song today while demand among the young Hence, in this research, the researcher chooses the theme of patriotism because the researcher feels that the current youth is more interested in this theme 5.3 Limitation of the research This study is only limited in three songs of Bob Marley The researcher expects for further researches to examine the messages on the other songs of Bob that have not been done in this study There are many people who have not been able to understand correctly about the intent of Bob Marley songs For example, No, Woman, No Cry song, many people interpret this song as No Woman, No Cry that without a lover (Woman) he remains tough Actually, the song means that Bob strengthens a woman to be strong in facing all conditions The researcher realizes that this research was still far from being perfect Hence, the researcher will listen to all of good criticism and suggestion about this research in under to be more perfect That is the case that the researcher expects for further research This thing needs to be straightened by the next researcher 5.4 Recommendation After finishing this thesis, in this part stated several points that could be used as recommendation, as followed: * For the hearers of the songs, it is to understand the meaning of the lyrics * For the students who study semantics, especially on lexical meanings (denotative, connotative, polysemy, hyponymy, synonymy, hyponymy, and antonym), are expected to have a good comprehension on the context and contents of the songs by reading the whole text It will be able to help them avoid having wrong 56 interpretation, especially in determining lexical meanings (denotative, connotative, polysemy, hyponymy, synonymy, and antonym) * For the teachers of semantics, in order that their students can easily comprehend the lexical meaning theory, it is also suggested that they should take examples from available researcher, not only in written but also in spoken texts *In addition, it is also recommended for the next researchers who are interested in doing further research in this area to use these findings as a starting point in conducting the research Using the same theory of semantics, the next researchers are suggested to use different data, such as daily conversation which can be formal or informal dialogue or in any literary work such as the spoken dialogue in movie and drama The researches should consider how a language used influences the meanings 57 REFERENCES In English Abbott, B (1999) The formal approach to meaning: Formal semantics and its recent developments, Journal of foreign languages, 119: 1, 2-20 Amindudin, J (2011) Literature, An introduction to fiction, poetry and drama Bostoi: Little Brown and Company Bernard, O'Dwyer (2006) Modern English structures: form, function and position Broadview Press Bloomfield, L (1930) Language London: Allen and Unwin 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