An Investigation Into The Linguistics Of Football Songs
English Language Coursework
An Investigation Into The Linguistics Of Football Songs
. Introduction
EM Cioran once said "Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness" and I tend to agree with this point. Music is a part of everyday life, and wherever we go in our life we use and enjoy music everyday - from whistling to buying a CD from the local shop, and whether your passion is for pop, jazz or classical music everyone at one stage will enjoy a song.
Football songs have long been valued as a way of expressing your passion and love for a football team and of defending your club against criticism. This form of banter between groups often spills over into violence or songs that pass a certain limit (e.g. racist or abusive chanting) but the real root of a football song is town pride.
I have decided to investigate if there is a pattern in the use of linguistic features within football songs from all over the mainland United Kingdom. This will also tell me whether there is a North-South divide in the use of non-standard accent and dialect features, and where the traditional dialects are used more than Standard English. At some point songs at football grounds must have included regional variables, but with the development of English language has levelling occurred in large communities resulting in a uniform accent and dialect in football songs? And, most importantly of all, what reasons are there for any possible findings?
2. Description of data
For my data I will be using printouts of football song lyrics from a selection of football clubs across the British Isles. In many cases the songs are traditional chants from urbanised communities with industrial backgrounds but also modern communities that don't have the same industrial background because they are fairly young. Where possible, the data includes the data of origin and the title/author of the story, as this may provide helpful information on the background of the song.
The printouts are all from the Internet, mainly from one website (www.footballchants.org), however, I had to use specific sites such as leedsunited.rivals.net because the main site didn't have a club song for Leeds.
My secondary data will be three songs - one from the English national team as the whole country will be using it, which will give me an idea of the majority picture and the other will be two songs from grounds around the country whose fans sing 'Southern to Northern Teams' songs such as 'if you cant talk proper shut yer mouth'. These two songs are non-regional, as they do not stem from one particular community, but are heard in the majority of football grounds. Northerners and Southerners have a long-lasting traditional rivalry against each other due to occupational background and the ideology that Southerners 'look down their nose' at Northerners.
Primary Data
Secondary Data
Name of Song
Origin
Song Tune
Team
From
Date
Oh I am a Liverpudlian
Anfield
N/a
Liverpool
Internet
N/a
Delilah
Victoria Ground
Delilah by Tom Jones
Stoke City
Internet
990s
Cold Blow Lane
Old Den
Let Them Come by Roy Green
Millwall
Internet
940s
Jerusalem
N/a
Jerusalem Hymn
England national team
Internet
Ancient
The Gills
Priestfield
N/a
Gillingham
Internet
N/a
Uxbridge Road
Loftus Road
Blaydon Races
QPR
Internet
980s
Blaydon Races
St James Park
Blaydon Races
Newcastle
Internet
862
Marching on Together
Elland Road
Marching on Together
Leeds United
Internet
979
A Reading Boy
Elm Park
This Old Man
Reading
Internet
N/a
Talk Proper Shut Yer Mouth
N/a
She'll be coming round the mountain
Southern to Northern teams
Internet
N/a
Merry Be
Ashton Gate
N/a
Bristol City
Internet
N/a
Long Road
St Andrews
N/a
Birmingham City
Internet
N/a
City Ground
City Ground
Mull of Kintyre
Notts Forrest
Internet
980s
Malky Mackay
Carrow Road
Molly Malone
Norwich City
Internet
N/a
Gypsys
Boothferry Park
N/a
Hull City
Internet
N/a
Cumbria
Brunton Park
N/a
Carlisle United
Internet
N/a
Saturdays
Ibrox
N/a
Glasgow Rangers
Internet
N/a
In your Glasgow slums
Pittodrie
In My Liverpool Home
Aberdeen
Internet
N/a
Hail Hail the Hibs
Easter Road
Hail Hail
Hibernian
Internet
N/a
The reason behind choosing geographical regions was because I wanted to see where the features were used the most. I will have to divide up a map of the United Kingdom into separate regions and select the clubs from each region.
3. Aims
The focus of my study will be looking at the language and formation of football songs throughout the mainland UK. I will be exploring what makes a good, long-lasting football song by exploring the different aspects of the songs and how the spread of mainstream dialects may have altered the traditional dialect and accent picture.
I will answer the main question of:
To what extent do non-standard accent and dialect features occur in football songs from the UK?
While also discovering:
Does a North-South divide exist in the use of these non-standard features?
I will be looking at two areas of English Language, primarily at how the choice of lexis and non-standard grammatical features are significant to the songs and then looking at the phonological and discourse side of the song.
I believe that there will be a significant trend in the use of non-standard accent and dialect ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
I will answer the main question of:
To what extent do non-standard accent and dialect features occur in football songs from the UK?
While also discovering:
Does a North-South divide exist in the use of these non-standard features?
I will be looking at two areas of English Language, primarily at how the choice of lexis and non-standard grammatical features are significant to the songs and then looking at the phonological and discourse side of the song.
I believe that there will be a significant trend in the use of non-standard accent and dialect features in football songs, with the majority accumulating in the North of England. The overall picture may closely resemble how the state of dialects and accents are in today's linguistics, with the traditional ones slowly dying out and replaced with mainstream ones.
I predict that there will be a substantial divide between the uses of non-standard features, with the 'North' of the UK having the majority. This is because I believe the levelling of language and spread of Estuary English in the South has changed the majority of traditional accents and dialects.
4. Methodology
For my investigation I collected lyrics of football songs. Thankfully, using the aid of the Internet, there is a website that has lyrics of football songs (Www.footballchants.org). Here I picked out traditional 'club' songs (e.g. a song that is well known for that club) using my knowledge of football.
The first step I undertook was to choose the clubs in the United Kingdom for my investigation. This was done by drawing four lines through a map of the UK, and selecting 5 communities from each side of the lines, while 4 communities from inside the lines (see map 1). I would therefore have 5 'Southern' communities, 4 'Midlands' communities, 5 'Northern' communities and 4 'Scottish' communities.
The idea of choosing communities is that I wanted to keep the size relatively the same across the country. In the South I chose London, Bristol, Reading and Canterbury. In the Midlands I chose Nottingham, Norwich, Birmingham, Stoke-On-Trent. In the North I chose Newcastle, Carlisle, Leeds, Liverpool and Kingston-Upon-Hull. Finally in Scotland I chose Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
I was given a problem, like Canterbury, where no football club exists, I chose the nearest available one in Gillingham. In London and Glasgow, the two cities were too big to consider as one dialect and accent - so I chose two clubs, one from the West of the city and one from the East.
With the 18 clubs in place and the 2 non-regional secondary data songs selected I went on to the football chants website and looked for songs from the clubs. For 14 I could find a club song suitable to use but for the remaining 4 (Scottish clubs and Leeds United) I had to do further research by scanning unofficial websites for songs. This was particularly easy after I asked a Leeds United supporting friend for advice.
I will begin my analysis by working through each song and annotating the non standard linguistic features of dialect and accent then I will look at the discourse structure and how the song is relevant to my investigation.
I will use the following levels of language:
* Lexical Level
o Their orthographical form
o Looking at specific words in football songs and considering:
* Why are they chosen?
* Their denotation and connotation?
* Lexis related to traditional culture?
* Non-standard lexis
* Grammatical Level
o How sentence structures change in different regions (i.e. Non-standard grammatical features)
* Discourse Level
o How the song is structured and any recurring patterns?
* Phonological Level
o How they are sung? Same word, different pronunciation (orthographical)
5. Analysis
General Introduction
All football songs have the same audience of football fans and register. They share an informal tenor between football fans and are in a written mode. For my investigation, I have got lyrics to football songs and therefore the mode of my investigation is written. The audience remains as football fans as these songs are usually only sung in football grounds.
Linguistic Variables and Features
Club
Dial Fea-ture
Non-std Acc
Archaic Lexis
Collo-quial Lexis
Non-std Dial
Pron-ounce
Dis-course Feature
Other
Aberdeen
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Celtic
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rangers
0
3
0
0
2
0
0
0
Hibernian
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Carlisle
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Newcastle
0
7
0
3
0
0
Hull
0
2
0
0
0
0
Leeds
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
Liverpool
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Stoke
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Notts For
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Norwich
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
Birmingham
0
0
2
0
0
Bristol City
3
2
0
0
2
0
0
Reading
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
QPR
3
0
0
2
0
0
2
Millwall
0
6
0
0
0
0
Gillingham
0
0
0
0
0
0
England
0
0
7
0
0
0
0
S'th to N'th
0
8
0
0
5
0
0
0
Total
4
36
7
6
4
3
6
6
Table 1: Results
Key
Dialect Feature - e.g. Glottal stop, h-dropping
Pronounce - word changed to suit different person (e.g. 2nd person singular pronoun)
S'th to N'th - Southern teams to Northern teams songs
Colour codes show area divides (e.g. Blue = Midlands)
Question 1
To What Extent Are Non-Standard Accent And Dialect Features Occur In Football Songs?
For this question I had to look at all the football songs from the 18 different clubs and at the 2 non-regional songs for linguistic variables and other linguistic features that are used in the songs (such as the discourse features and the constant use of past-match references).
36 Non-standard accent features
A non-standard accent feature is any part of the discourse that has been altered to fit the accent of the region. 'Let em come' from the Millwall club song is an example of a non-standard accent feature, as the word 'them' has been altered to fit the cockney accent. The same is said about the word 'gannin' from the Newcastle club song, as the word going in Standard English has been changed in the dialect to the Geordie word 'Ganning' and pronounced 'gannin'.
Because of the fact that football songs are spoken songs only, the use of non-standard accent features does not surprise me. Accent is all about how the word is pronounced. Pronunciation can be changed in football songs to accommodate any rhyming and for the regional accent (such as gannin' in Newcastle). Map 2 shows that the non-standard accent features do not follow a conclusive trend, as the features are spread out in clusters of one or two only. Only Newcastle and London breaks this trend.
The significant 8 features found in the Southern to Northern teams two songs sparks the theory that in the South the usage is wider spread, while in the North the usage is consumed 2/3rds by Newcastle United (just one team). The 8 features found in the Southern to Northern teams two songs is possibly because the traditional rivalry of South to North is 'mocked' by southerners, where the fans taunt Northern fans with the word 'proper' ironically with its connotations with an Estuary English background.
It was only Newcastle in the North that surpassed 3 incidences, with its surprisingly high 7 non-standard features. This suggests that their accent is still highly operative and reflects the same picture from London.
I can compile these results into a table:
Region
Av Use of n-std accent features per club song
Scotland
0.75 examples
North
2.4 examples
Midlands
0.75 examples
South
2.4 examples
Table 2: Av Use Of Non-Standard Accent Features
Non-regional songs from England and Southern to Northern teams show an average of 4.0 examples. This is because the sole amount of examples I found were from the Southern to Northern teams two songs.
The overall statistics show that 54% of the 28 non-standard accent features were from the North. Therefore, accent features are more prominent in songs from the North. Non-regional songs were removed from these results.
4 non-standard dialect features
A non-standard dialect feature is a part of the discourse that has been changed to fit the local grammatical rule. 'We be dreaming' from Birmingham is an example of a non-standard dialect feature. The standard English equivalent of 'we'll be dreaming' has been changed, as the grammar reflects a 1st person discourse of 'we are dreaming', but with the 'be' left in.
The same can be said about the line 'You cant talk proper' from the Southern to Northern teams song. The Standard English equivalent is 'You can't talk properly', but the word has been changed to an estuary English dialect. This is ironic because this instance was a song from Southerners to Northerners, implying that they should stop using their traditional accents, while the grammar of the sentence reflects a southern voice.
Map 2B shows that the only occurrence of non-standard features is to the South and West of the UK, while the North East has no features at all (until Newcastle).
It is these Southern to Northern teams two songs were the significant amount of features have been found.
Region
Av Use of n-std dialect features per club song
Scotland
0.5
North
0.2
Midlands
0.5
South
0.8
Table 3: Av Use Of Non Standard Dialect Features
Non-regional songs (England and the two Southern to Northern teams songs) have an average of 0.4.
This time the average has shifted and the greatest proportion is from the South. The North has fallen behind the Midlands and Scotland, prompting the ideas that while accents are more prominent in the North, dialects are not.
The overall statistics show that 67% of the 9 non-standard dialect features are from the South. Non-regional songs were removed from these results.
Other features
Other than non-standard accent and dialect features I have highlighted other linguistic features such as archaic lexis and colloquial lexis. These features that occur in the songs have a slight importance because archaic lexis does not usually appear in songs from recent periods and colloquial lexis from songs in ancient periods.
Colloquialisms included lexis like 'cos' 'lasses' and 'till'. Archaic lexis, all of which are from the song 'Jerusalem' (England national team), is words like 'countenance' and 'chariot'.
Map 2C shows that the most colloquialisms were from Newcastle. Strangely enough, there were little colloquialisms in the South. Because the archaic lexis exists only in non-regional songs, it will not show up on map 2C.
Levels of Language
Lexical level
* Some words kept appearing in many of the songs. Derogatory lexis like 'bastards' kept appearing because of the hatred of other teams in the songs. The name of the team (e.g. Liverpool) was included in every song, or a reference to its nickname (e.g. Lions). Some of the lexis was chosen because of its traditional culture (such as 'jellied eels' in the Millwall song, synonymous with cockney). No derogatory lexis, reference to the team or traditional culture was included on the 'Jerusalem' song for England, possibly due to its ancient hymn background. Archaic lexis was from more traditional and dated songs (The ancient hymn) such as 'Nor' and 'upon'. Colloquial lexis possibly included for easy learning and copy songs like 'let em come'.
* Football songs had more words from open classes, but this is expected.
* The level of formality was shown in the use of colloquial lexis (informal tenor)
* Some lexis had negative associations, like Scouser Tommy who was shot by a Nazi gun in the Liverpool song.
* The derivation of lexis was generally Germanic apart from the archaic lexis.
Grammatical level
* Sentence structures vary from chorus and verse traditional song structure to lines of constant repetition or sentences that resemble existing songs (like Liverpool's 'one two one two three one two three four, five nil!' line follows the clap [pause] clap [pause] clap-clap-clap [pause] clap-clap-clap-clap, clap clap piece of music from the England 1970's World Cup anthem 'Back Home')
* Most sentences had a simple structure of one clause only, such as 'I come from Spion Kop', but many had subordinate conjunctions such as 'As he lay on the battle field dying with the blood rushing out of his head'.
Discourse level
* High amounts of repetition (especially in Leeds) due to the main point of the song being repeated over and over. Shouting is often indicated by CAPITAL LETTERS.
* Schema follows a traditional song lyric format
* Some discourse markers used, like 'I'll tell you a story' to start and 'an there's still more zider in the jar' to end.
* Lexical repetition in Leeds United song acts as cohesion in the song.
* Some semantic fields used. Pun in Liverpool song 'left them feeling blue' for feeling down about losing to Liverpool (their rivals) and because they play in blue.
Phonological Level
* The word 'and' has many versions (this could be considered a close link to the lexis level) in different regions. It is represented by 'n' in QPR, and 'an' in Bristol City. The word 'your' has been changed to 'yer' in the Southern to Northern teams songs because it is mocking the use of 'yer' in the North.
Question 2
Does a North-South divide exist in the use of these features?
Earlier in the analysis I explained the rivalry between Southern and Northern fans, on and off the football field. My second question will look at does an actual divide exist in the use of non-standard features? Is the case that the more traditional North will have more than the modern South? Non-regional songs are excluded from this question.
It is at this point I must point out that for this question the Midlands and Scotland regions were removed and a new line, as map 3 shows, drawn to separate the mainland UK into North and South. The North and South regions I talk about in this question incorporate the old regions from the last question.
Map 3 shows that non-standard accent features are used only slightly more in the North (54% to 46%), but that non-standard dialect features are used vastly more in the South (67% to 33%).
The total amount of non-standard features used in the North was 18, while in the South, it was 19. Therefore, there is not a substantial divide to prove that a divide does exist.
6. Conclusion
The main points to conclude out of my investigation were that the average non-standard accent features in North to South and Scotland to Midlands were identical. This could be possibly because the North and South are where the traditional accents and dialects still exist (e.g. Geordie and Estuary English).
However, the findings found were not as high as I had anticipated. The low amount of non-standard features would suggest that Standard English is used widely across the UK with some local non-standard features included. The fact that there was the highest percentage of non-standard accent features in the North suggests that while traditional accents are used, the low 37% of non-standard dialect features suggests that Standard English is becoming the main dialect.
Non-standard dialect features had almost the same trend (identical in North South, Midlands Scotland) as the non-accent features but rose considerably in the South. This could be due to the spread of Estuary English in the South, as the majority of features were from London.
Derogatory lexis, team names and lexis linked to traditional culture are used to show hatred of rival teams and pride of your team. This is linked to the level of formality of the language, as football songs have a very informal tenor, and therefore it is acceptable to use lexis of this type.
The majority of the lexis used in the football songs was from the open word class, linked to the changing sentence structure in each song. The majority of songs had one clause only so less educated and younger football fans could learn the song.
Discourse markers were used in some songs to make the song seem like a story (such as the Liverpool song) were sentences like 'I'll tell you a story' to start it off and 'and we left them feeling blue' to end. Cohesion is used in some parts such as repetition to get points across (e.g. Marching on Together in the Leeds song).
By far the biggest point to conclude from my investigation is how the South appears to mock the North on many occasions. In some situations this can be seen as a problem, because as discussed in the Southern teams to Northern teams two songs, the word 'proper' is used, which is essentially Estuary English lexis, while taunting the North for not being able to talk properly. This was a fault in my investigation.
A substantial North-South divide does not exist, because, as the results show, the North uses more non-standard accent features but the South uses more non-standard dialect features. The situation I have identified closely resembles the current picture in the United Kingdom for the word 'plimsolls' (see map 1C), where isoglosses drawn for that word closely resemble isoglosses drawn for the non-standard features (see map 2 and 2B).
7. Evaluation
I was able to make a clear aim due to the high standard of data that I collected. I decided on looking at two aspects, one at the non-standard features from around the country, then at an aspect of non-regional songs. This would give me a clear indication of the picture from regional and non-regional football songs.
I had a major problem in that some of the data I collected had been written/transcribed in Standard English and therefore non-standard features had been omitted. This was particularly noticeable in Liverpool, where no non-standard features were found. Surprisingly, really, because the scouse accent is one of the most stereotyped accents in the UK. This is in contrast to QPR, where the features were left in.
A solution to this could be to rewrite the song 'how a local might say it' but this is highly inaccurate.
I didn't manage to find a way of finding the origin of a tune/data or the year because on some songs it wasn't available. This meant I couldn't use the age of the song in my conclusion (for instance, an older song will have less colloquialisms than a young song).
I predicted in my aims that there would be a close comparison to the current accent and dialect feature in the UK, which did happen. I also predicted that there would be a substantial divide, and while there was a slight divide, it is not substantial enough to accumulate a theory.
Overall I feel that my investigation was a success, but I would like to have had some more unique data in some parts of the UK, and possibly an informal accent survey to compare to.
8. Bibliography
The Internet
www.footballchants.org www.leedsunited.rivals.net www.aberdeeen.rivals.net www.hibernian.rivals.net
Cambridge Encyclopaedia Of English Language
Frameworks Of English
The Language of Sport and Media (1997)
Thomas Holder 0776 Esher College
English Language Coursework 30/04/2007 1
