Hypothesis

Korean lyrics will use more complex and deeper lexical language and language features to show that it is more sophisticated than Japanese lyrics.

My hypothesis is based around the article that was mentioned in The Guardian, and written by Justin McCurry, that the Korean lyrics and bands that are becoming popular in Japan are “not the sugar-coated home-grown variety that has long clogged the airwaves”. Therefore I want to study the Communication Accommodation theory which suggests that people change their behaviour and language depending on the context and who they are interacting with.

Using this theory I would have to look at the adjectives that are used in these lyrics and how they are adapted for the teenage audience. Similarly I would have to see how using these adjectives can vary throughout the lyrics and be used in different contexts to influence the audience. Such as how they influence in a positive or negative way. I would have a short comparison to see if the ways these are used are the same as Japanese. However the main focus is on the way it’s used in the Korean lyrics.

To see if the impact is that the behaviour of the audience can be changed I will look at pronouns and see how they include or exclude to have an effect. By using inclusive pronouns such as ‘we’ or synthetic personalisation, this is mentioned by Norman Fairlcough, to see how the lyrics try to influence the behaviour or thoughts of the audience.  By trying to create a relationship with the audience the band have the power to make the audience think or behave in a certain way. Also convergence in the way they speak such as slang would help make the audience feel like they are the same as the band.

The topics that are mentioned will also be a factor in my investigation.  If the songs have a more serious topic or even a sad message, this would show that Korean lyrics are not always ‘sugar-coated’.  However they will have to accommodate the topics for the audience. Therefore one area I could look at are abstract nouns such as ‘love’ or ’anger’ are used and find out how often these are used to show the proportion of data that uses this.