THE SOCIO-PRAGMATIC ASPECT OF ENGLISH SONGS DISCOURSE
A song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing or alongside musical instruments. A choral or vocal song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics (words) of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, though they may be religious verses or free prose. A song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice/voices or, "the act or art of singing," but the term is generally not used for large vocal forms including opera and oratorio. However, the term is, "often found in various figurative and transferred sense (e.g. for the lyrical second subject of a sonata...)." The noun "song" has the same etymological root as the verb "to sing" and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the word to mean "that which is sung" or "a musical composition suggestive of song." The OED also defines the word to mean "a poem" or "the musical phrases uttered by some birds, whales, and insects, typically forming a recognizable and repeated sequence and used chiefly for territorial defence or for attracting mates." It is important to have the following information for the development of socio-cultural competence on the phone of English songs: geography and history of the country studied language, facts of political and social life, the facts of everyday life, the presence of ethno- cultural information, different kind of symbolism, the availability of information on behaviors in different situations, conversation formulae, he norms and values of society. Most of these facts are reflected in the songs. For example, there are many songs that/which reflect the problems of society. Problem of American culture is reflected in the song “Californication” by group “Red Hot Chili Peppers”. It is clear from this song that America want to sell their culture to other countries. Also, we can say, this problem has affected in our country. In the song “Taxman” “The Beatles” expresses the point of view of tax policy in the United Kingdom (1960 years of XX century). It is an ironic song. There are these words: “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat If you take the walk, I’ll tax your feet Taxman”
Consumer habits are revealed in some songs. It may be eating habits, clothing, lifestyle, ect. The British habit of drinking tea at a certain time is reflected in the song “Englishman in New York” of the group “Sting”: “I don’t drink coffee I drink my dear tea I like my toast done on one side And you can hear it in my accent when I talk I’m an Englishman in New York.” Also we can mentioned the song “Animal Instinct” of rock group “The Cranberries”: “Suddenly something has happened to me, As I was having my cap of tea” ( когда я пила свой чай, со мною что-то случилось). We can conclude from this lines that the tea for the British is a part of daily life. In contrast, Americans love coffee. There are names of spirits drunk in this countries – whisky, rye, gin. Also some features of the furniture is reflected in the songs. Russian domestic/ way of life is different from the American life. And sometimes Russian doesn’t know about them. For example, in one of the song is the mention of the mantle. We should learn that the fireplace and mantle with the clock is the part of the home of the Briton. Another interesting thing: we can learn from the song how they like to spend their free time. For example, the word “party” is often met in the songs. It has own meaning for English people. A party in a speaking country is held at someone’s home. To the party invited a large number of people. To come to the party without invitation is considered impolite. This is very different from how people in our country entertain themselves/ enjoy themselves. There is the traditional image of English gentleman in the song “Englishman in New York”. This gentleman walks slowly with the cane in the hand. He is faithful to his traditional views who meets with a lack of understanding of American society. So, we can track the development of the British mindset. It is clear that the song material is really rich for information and I thing it is also necessary for the development of socio-cultural competence/sphere. So, poetry can be linked to music in many ways. Some ways can be by the type of genre, lyrics, emotion and pictures. Emotion is the easiest way to relate two pieces of
information together. This is the easiest way because no one will feel exactly the same as you.