Data Analysis Thoughts

            My investigation is based on the thoughts that Korean lyrics have a more sophisticated and edgier feel to them compared to those in Japanese. Therefore the data in which I have collected is of three Korean albums by different bands which would allow me to study and see the lexical and grammatical choices which could agree. Then I would print of one example of Japanese lyrics to show an example of.

The sample of data in which I have collected, which includes a translated album from three different Korean bands, I feel would be sufficient in representing the data pool in which it comes from.  Korean lyrics and music has, just like any type of music, every band has slight variations from others, so when it comes to choosing which bands in which I sample I have simply chosen three in which I take preference to as this will show bands which are currently promoting and producing music at the moment.

The amount of data that I have collected consists of three albums of an average of eight songs per an album. For all of the songs on these albums I have found the translated versions.  All together there will be twenty four songs that I have used and this allows me to see a mixture of lyrics and the different techniques that are used. By using a lot of data it means that the chance of anomalies affecting my investigation becomes less. Similarly having a lot of data in this investigation won’t be overbearing as it’s not texts which are hard to read or have information that’s hard to take in. Lyrics are easy to read so this enables me to observe more data and allow me to evaluate more of it.

There are many things, in the data in which I have collected, that I could use to quantify or count how many times and why it has appeared. How many times techniques have been used such as how many times a certain topic in mentioned in songs or how many times a certain technique is used. By seeing, linking and counting how many times techniques are used it allows me to see how often they are used in lyrics and gives a stronger argument for or against the theory in which I am using.

The theory in which I am using is stating that the Korean lyrics written have a deeper meaning and content is edgier than the lyrics written in Japan. Therefore the lexical language choices will be more complex, and use more techniques such as metaphors and abstract nouns will be used to express greater detail.

New Methodology

For my investigation I have chosen to take two views on lyrics and combine them to see whether this would still be true. I have researched the topic of lyrics and have found the following quote. ‘I wanted to write lyrics that had meaning to them, lyrics that were meaningful and hopefully people can take something from that’. Adam Rich, who was a musician and record producer in America, had quoted this. This quote mentions how artists try to be influential and inspiring and change the audience’s feelings and actions, which therefore is having influential power over the audience. This places the writing in asymmetrical power relationship with the audience. Another quote that is based on music in general which was said by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was a poet and professor, ‘Music is a universal language’. This has caused me to wonder if lyrics written in other countries, such as South Korea, would the lyrics as a way of influence and how they would try to portray this.

            In my investigation I will use four currently active bands in South Korea and use all of the odd numbered songs on an album from each band, and use this data to analyse and see how and if the power relationship is present in the lyrics. To help make this project more comparable I will use an album from each band that has been released in the same year or as close as possible, so all of the lyrics would have been in the same time span. Similarly to get a wider spread of data I will use two boy bands and two girl bands to see if the power relationship is still present. I have chosen to do this as I want to see generally if music in South Korea has this relationship as my quotes doesn’t mention gender I think to help the reliability I should have both genders’ lyrics in the data. If I had just one sex I would only be testing half of the music produced.

            Therefore my hypothesis is that there will be an asymmetrical influential power relationship in data I will analyse but the amount of techniques found in the song will differ depending on the gender. I will the female lyrics will use less obvious techniques where as the power techniques in the male lyrics will be more assertive with the power. But overall I feel that the lyrics will still have the influential power despite being written in a different country.

            The only problem with this project is that the lyrics that would have to be gathered would have to be translated into English. However this is the way in which non Korean speaking listeners and readers would connect and see the lyrics in a way in which they understand. If I gather the translations from the same site then they will be translated in the same way and keeps the variation at a minimum.

Methodology

          For my coursework I have decided that the area of interest I would do my coursework on would be how language is used in English lyrics compared to how Koreans may use language to convey a message in their lyrics.  When listening to these songs, I feel that the lyrics of Japanese songs can be about more subjects whereas English lyrics tend to speak more about love.  However, I also predict that Japanese will use more comparisons and metaphors with more meaningful words compared to English lyrics which would use the majority of simple words and sentences. To test this theory I have got the lyrics of every other song on an album called Chapmen Square by Lawson, then got the translated lyrics of every other song on an album called Code Name Blue which is by a Japanese band Cnblue.

The type of data that I have collected is in the form of lyrics. To help keep the results reliable I have researched and found an album from each that was release in a similar time. The English album was released on the 22^nd of October 2012 whereas the Japanese album was released on the 29^th of August 2012. This ensures that they were released in less than a month of each other so it is a more accurate representation of what music was like in these two countries at the same time. Another factor I had tried to keep the same was the genre of the band and the members that are involved. When deciding what bands to choose I tried to find ones with the same amount of members who were the same sex as this could change the type of music that is produced. Equally they have a similar popularity level as this could also change the way in which they would use language and therefore makes the two bands I have chosen comparable as they are very similar in these respects.

            I feel that comparing every other song on each of the albums adds reliability as the time frame is the same and the songs are not chosen at random and are set on each. If I included more albums they would be from different times which could affect the type of lyrics produced as different times could lead to different styles of writing which could disrupt the results I get.  Therefore the data I could get from this particular investigation is limited but still enough to compare how the language is used.

                One problem that I am aware of is the fact that translated lyrics may not be exactly the words used in the songs; however this is the way in which I choose to understand and learn about what is being said. Therefore I feel that the translated lyrics is sufficient enough to use as the meaning and techniques will still be seen in these translations and is the only way in which people who don’t speak Japanese would see the lyrics. Therefore the comparability is still manageable.

Analysis of the YouTube clip called All Male Fox Panel Laments Female Breadwinners

            I  have chosen to transcribe this video clip and from this I am going to analysis the types of language used and how this could be linked to a possible investigation. With using theories that could be used to show how the language can affect the meaning and portrayal of particular groups, and in this case women but particularly women who are the breadwinners or the working women of America.

          

            A meaning that is strongly portrayed in this clip is that women are of a lesser social status and this is shown through the language which is based on folk linguistics, or stereotypical assumptions. One such example of this is in the phrase ‘something is going terribly wrong in American Society (.) it’s hurting our children’ This phrase implies that women should be at home looking after the children whilst the men are the ones who should be the ones out at work earning the money. Juan who is person B on my transcript is the main person who uses these stereotypes or at least emphasises them the most. He does this by combining this with the use of emotive language and using negative verbs such as ‘hurting’ so persuade and create emotion the viewers. Especially as children have been used as they are considered to be a vulnerable group in society it creates an image of women abandoning this group.

            Juan is also very aware of the audience and knows that it is these people that he needs to convince and therefore he has thought about what he is going to say and used certain techniques to include them in is argument. One way he has done this is by using inclusive pronouns such as ‘our’ in the previous quote ‘our children’. This makes the audience feel included and that what they think is a problem affects anyone’s children so they all should do something about this. Similarly, Eric feels that each gender has it’s certain roles but he uses nature back up his thoughts, but he also is aware of the audience and uses flattery to influence the audience of his opinion. ‘We as people in a smart society’. This quote again uses the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ but it combines this with the adjective ‘smart’ which means he is saying the he and he viewer are smart people, therefore should share the same opinion.

            Lastly, Juan tries to appeal to the audience and create sympathy for men. ‘Disintegration of marriage, men who were hard hit by the economic recession’. This quote implies that men can’t find work as women are the ones who are hit most as women are taking up jobs men should have.  The use of ‘hard hit’ tries to show that all men were hard hit and it was specifically this group. My making this sympathy it’s trying to show this group as a group you should help and therefore agree with what he is saying. However a man wanting sympathy goes against the theory that is presented by Deborah Tanning as she argues that typically it’s the women who wants sympathy.

           

           There are other types of data that could be collected to be compared with this transcript. One type of data that could be collected could be other transcripts of television interviews or discussions that are based on the roles or generally about females’ positions in society. Perhaps even have some that have females involved in the discussion so a point of view from a female can show the opposite opinion to the one shown in the transcript I have analysed as it has only male views that all have similar opinions on the roles of women.   

Another type of data that could be used to compare is the way in which females are treated compared to males on unscripted shows such as game shows which can show if there is a difference in the way women are treated in unplanned situations. Lastly another way in which other data could be compared would be by seeing how women are portrayed in newspapers and seeing the difference in the language that is used to describe them compared to a male equivalent.

       

            If I were to do my investigation on this subject I would use a title such as ‘How does the roles of women in society get conveyed in unplanned situation’ or if it was comparing this transcript against newspapers it could be a more general title of ‘An investigation into how women’s roles get conveyed through the media’ and this could be newspapers, the news and on television as well.  For these investigations there is real life data that can be collected to help in the investigation. I could record discussions that are on television and then transcribe them and compare these ones to the one I have already transcribed. Equally I can transcribe game shows to see the difference in the language used for men and women, and I could also record conversations that people have about the roles women have and what they think about their roles in society. I could also collect newspaper articles from different types of papers to show  the different views on women I think a more highbrow paper may have a different view of women then a lesser brow paper. Collecting these and comparing them may also be another type of data I could collect that real and not just clips from You Tube. 

 Websites used for images 
http://adv91alonsoaye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/racial-stereotyping-in-world-of.html
http://www.newspapers.co.uk/uk-online-newspapers/