An Introduction to Linguistics through Popular Music

Download or read book An Introduction to Linguistics through Popular Music written by Patrice Larroque and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-05-15 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook introduces the field of linguistics, demonstrating syntactic categories, morphological structures, phonological/metric structures, syllable structures, and varieties of English in an accessible way by using portions of song lyrics from popular music. The varieties of English covered include Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American, as well as some features of Australian English, southern US varieties, and Scottish English. Drawing on shared characteristics between language and music, including metrical structure, the author suggests a different approach to linguistic analysis and the description of spoken language. The book introduces both students and instructors to a novel and engaging method of description, and provides a fresh vocabulary with which to start thinking about language. It demonstrates complex topics by using music as a fun and familiar starting point, and will be an ideal resource for introductory linguistics courses worldwide.