THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE IN SONG DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article deals with background knowledge and its role in song discourse. Background knowledge implies mastering of cultural and social experiences of a language spoken, as lack of it accompanied by differences in cultural values may lead to the wrong interpretation of an utterance and the author’s intentions. Song discourse extensively uses precedent phenomena, actualizing background knowledge of the audience and expand their individual picture of the world. The conducted analysis indicates the prevalence of precedent names and situations over precedent statements and texts. As for the sources of precedent names, they are usually connected with famous people’s names, popular or legendary songs, gameshows, films, websites, board games, etc. Names of streets, book characters and Bible references are rare in number. It should be emphasized that lyrics tend to be rather emotional and thought-provoking due to the fact the authors express their concerns and worries in their song, implicitly referring to the pandemic and its consequences. Thus, precedent situations in lyrics being analyzed describe mostly some personal issues like depression, isolation, loneliness as well as some social issues like accusations and lawsuits.

Keywords

• фоновые знания
• межкультурная коммуникация
• песенный дискурс
• английские песни
• тексты песен
• прецедентный феномен
• background knowledge
• cross-cultural communication
• song discourse
• english songs
• lyrics
• precedent phenomena