Semantic and stylistic features of English and Russian song lyrics of World War II

Abstract

The aim of the article is to make a comparative review of semantics and pragmatics of Russian and English song lyrics texts of World War II. The author undertook the analysis of lyrics of about 300 songs. Emotional-expressive colouring of song lyrics and the evaluation expressed in them were described, as well as the most popular stylistic devices. It was defined that there is a number of common themes in song lyrics – love and parting, military service, hope for returning to peaceful life. The conclusion was drawn that Russian and English songs of that period are semantically and stylistically various and expressive works, where the emotional colouring and the evaluation depended on both state and individual factors.

Keywords

• semantics
• pragmatics
• stylistics
• expressiveness
• emotionality
• evaluation