How language can be changed depending on the audience. (Introduction)

The ways in which language can change depending on the audience, as mentioned in the Communication Accommodation theory (Howard Giles), is a fascinating and lesser known area of language theory. The application of theory areas of life can lead to people unknowingly adapting their language. He makes interesting points on converging with society in their lexical choices to be socially accepted, but equally how they diverge to make themselves stand out.  Using my interest in foreign lyrics, I plan on investigating how Korean music lyrics differentiate itself from other Asian music markets such as Japan. Justin McCurry summarised how Korean lyrics diverge from Asian lyrics with saying “it’s not the sugar-coated home-grown variety that has long clogged the airwaves”*¹.

To conduct this investigation I will take three current bands from the Korean music scene and collect lyrics from one of their albums. As these will be from a similar time period it can give a sense of the language used. I will then take three song lyrics from the Japanese market such to show an example of the lyrics used in Japan. This will be used as a reference instead of a comparison.  I can then see if and when they use convergence and divergence.

Hypothesis

• · Firstly I will find out if Korean lyrics will use more English in songs which would, according to the theory, show divergence as it isn’t something the audience will not understand as much. I will assess how much English is used and the effects of this lexical choice.

• · Secondly I will assess the pronoun, tag questions and lexical fields of their fan base used to converge with the audience and include them. Looking at this I will see how specific examples

• ·  Lastly I will quantify the use of fabricated lexical terms and how they will be used to engage the audience but diverge from other Korean bands. I will quantify the different sounds to find out certain sounds engage the audience.