Este ensayo busca mostrar cómo el análisis del discurso es utilizado para inferir el contexto de una asombrosa canción titulada “LDN” compuesta por Lily Allen. Es esencial atender al lenguaje en contexto puesto que puede mostrar problemas que ocurren en la sociedad, en este caso la vida de la ciudad. El análisis se realiza considerando los actos lingüísticos para descubrir la relación social entre la gente, el contexto de la situación, la relación en el discurso y finalmente las actitudes, percepciones y creencias del compositor acerca de lo que puede verse en la vida citadina de Inglaterra. Este ensayo es un ejemplo de cómo y cuando se usa el lenguaje a través del análisis del discurso.
Palabras clave: análisis del discurso, actos lingüísticos, relación social.
This paper aims to show how discourse analysis is used to infer the context of an amazing song entitled “LDN”, which is composed by Lily Allen. It is essential to address the language in context because it can display social problems that occur in society, in this case, city life. The analysis is carried out by considering speech acts in order to discover: the social relation among the people, the context of the situation, the relation in the discourse and finally the composer’s attitudes, perceptions and beliefs about what can be seen in the city life of England. This paper is an example of how and when the language is used, discovered through discourse analysis.
Key words: discourse analysis, speech acts, social relation.
Discourse analysis is a way to analyze how language is used in a specific context; the language used can be seen in a conversation, in a speech, in any type of genre, such as the lyrics of a song. There is a particular song whose lyrics the author tries to reflect how a society is and she communicates an interesting message. The song is “LDN” by Lily Allen. It is relevant to analyze this song because it shows how the language is used to describe city life in a society with social problems.
Lilly Allen is an important English recording artist. She has been concentrating on improving her performing and compositional skills and developed a thick Cockney accent. Her music has been used as part of an exhibition at the British Library tracing the history of Cockney English. She has also been noted for her liberal use of crude words in her lyrics.
On the other hand, the lyrics of a song have not been too much analyzed; therefore, this area has important messages which can be addressed by the discourse analysis. Lyrics of a song are also means of communication because it can express main ideas about society and it can transmit different messages.
The purpose to analyze the lyrics of this song is to demonstrate that the language used in the lyrics can describe how a society is and their social implications such as social problems and city life.
The lyrics will be analyzed by stanzas, the message each stanza is communicating will be addressed by the theory of speech acts and the development of Austin’s theory which includes the three forces such as the illocutionary act, the perlocutionary act and locutionary act.
Language has been studied since many areas; one of them is discourse analysis which addresses speech acts. As Chaika (1994:154) stated, “speech acts are ways people use language to manage social interaction”. This means the purpose of language use, with whom, when, and the way language is used in a social context.
Speech acts require not only knowledge of the language but also the appropriate use of that language within a given culture. This song “LDN” by Lily Allen is an example of this statement because it depicts knowledge of the language spoken in England such as the Cockney accent and it shows how the language is used in that culture; the language in the song is a reflection of a given culture, in this case England. Besides this, Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and occasionally use rhyming slang or the use of a peculiar slang language.
Up to this point, a relation between the song and how reflects social issues within a social context has been relevant and it is necessary to establish what speech acts are found in the song.
People use the language in different situations in a social context; on the other hand, speech acts can be identified by the speaker’s intention, this means what people use the language for, that is the purpose of using the language.
In the first stanza, the singer sets a happy scene in which she tries to give a description of the context of a series of actions, it is shown like this:
Riding through the city on my bike all day
cause the filth took away my license
It doesn't get me down and I feel ok
Cause the sights that I'm seeing are priceless
According to McCarthy (2005:9), “when we say that a particular bit of speech or writing is a request or an instruction or an exemplification we are concentrating on what that piece of language is doing, or how the listener/reader is supposed to react; for this reason, such entities are often also called speech acts”.
It means that written or spoken language depends on what they are doing and their reaction on listeners and readers. In this part of the song, the singer attempts to exemplify for the audience a scene of how common life in London is, and how a police officer is seen as a “filth”, which is a slang word related to police and something not too good.
In the second stanza, the singer sets a happy scene where things are kind of ambiguous when the conditions of their society at the moment were crime, prostitution, and insecurity. The conditions are described like this:
Everything seems to look as it should
But I wonder what goes on behind doors
A fella looking dapper, but he's sitting with a slapper
Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore
You might laugh you might frown
Walkin' round London town
Chaika (1994:155) states that “speech acts carry heavy social implications…and will show how people use language to project an identity, why someone is speaking the way he or she is”. In other words, people use the language to project their cultures, to tell who they are and their purpose of using the language the way they do.
In this case, the intention of the singer is to let the audience to interpret who the singer is, where she comes from, and how the things really are in London town. To illustrate this scene, the singer uses slang words such as “pimp” that means a person who is into marketing prostitutes and “crack whore” that is a female who consumes drugs. The singer is describing her social identity through an ambiguity in which people might be either happy or angry, but things are like this in London town.
In the case of this part of the chore song "Sun is in the sky. Oh why, oh why, would I wanna be anywhere else?" The intention of the singer is implicating ambiguity with sarcasm, because she is saying why to consider being in another place when she has everything in there such as crime, insecurity and drugs. This is an irony.
As city life is described, it can be noticed the intention of Lily Allen because she is suggesting that things may not be what they seem in this main part of the chore:
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
you can see it's all lies
The two last stanzas will be analyzed according to the development of Austin’s Theory where speech acts are defined as to say something is to do something. There are three types of acts called locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary.
In the words of Austin (1975:35), “locutionary act is uttering a certain sentence with a certain meaning”. In other words, it is just the act of saying something. These are the sentences of the second part of the song:
There was a little old lady, who was walking down the road
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people from the city having lunch in the park
I believe that it's called al fresco
Then a kid came along to offer a hand
The locutionary act, in this case, is the singer saying that politeness and calamity take place in the daily life of people living in London town.
In the words of Austin (1975:37) “The action intended by the speaker is illocutionary act”. It means how the language is used by the speaker and how the proposition is to be taken. For example, in the last stanza the singer has made use of the language to describe a robbery:
But before she had time to accept it
hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
Cause he's got all her jewelry and wallet
The third aspect of Austin’s theory is the perlocutionary acts, what Austin (1975:37) suggested is that “it is concerned with what follows an utterance: the effect”. In other words, people can recognize messages without obeying them, which is the effect of words. For example, these words in this last stanza have a message, persuading the listener to be aware of what people can see in the city life of England, for example several social problems like a robbery.
As a conclusion, discourse analysis is useful to analyze different aspects of language in any means of communication, in this case, the lyrics of a song. A variety of aspects were found in the analysis through the use of speech acts and the development of Austin’s theory such as the intention of the singer, which was to depict a social context, the description of situations through ambiguity and how city life is shown with irony. This is an example of how people use language and when it is used. Lyrics of a song can have meaningful utterances that communicate different messages, transmitting feelings or ideas and creating different reactions to the listeners and readers.
Chaika, E. (1994). Language: The Social Mirror. Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle.
McCarthy, M. (2005). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Saeed & Austin, (1986). Semantics. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Weiley-Blacwell
Lily Allen
Riding through the city on my bike all day
Cause the filth took away my license
It doesn't get me down and I feel okay
Cause the sights that I'm seeing are priceless
Everything seems to look as it should
But I wonder what goes on behind doors
A fella looking dapper and he's sittin with a slapper
Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore
You might laugh, you might frown
Walkin' round London town
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
You can see it's all lies
There was a little old lady, who was walkin down the road
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people from the city havin lunch in the park
I believe that is called al fresco
When a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
Hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
Cause he's got all her jewelry and wallet
You might laugh, you might frown
Walkin round London town
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
You can see it's all lies
Life
Yeah, that's city life
Yeah, that's city life
Yeah, that's city life
Life
Yeah, that's city life
Yeah, that's city life}
Yeah, that's city life
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky
Oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
You can see it's all lies
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
You can see it's all lies
[a] Estudiante de la Licenciatura en Enseñanza de la Lengua Inglesa, Área Académica de Lingüística, Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, UAEH.
[b] Profesor investigador del Área Académica de Lingüística, Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, UAEH.