Language Variation in Pop Music (Ü Westermayer SoSe 2023)

Amy Macdonald has a strong Glaswegian accent when she speaks, but as soon as she sings, the Scottish element evaporates from her accent almost completely. Cuban Latin-pop singer Gloria Estefan consistently sings in English, while in Japanese rock music, sprinkling a song with almost random English words is one of its inherent features. But why is all that? Why do singers often sound so different when they sing? What makes singers choose a foreign language over their native one, and what makes them mix languages altogether? This course aims to provide in-depth answers to these questions. We are going to look at the various intralinguistic and extralinguistic factors that shape the language used in the context of music and how these have changed over time. The foci of this course will be accents in singing and multilingualism in pop music, and we will approach them both theoretically and practically. The course is open to anyone interested in music and language variation.

Course times: 

1. 19.05.23 // 09:20-10:50 ABS/2-07
   
   
2. 22.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
3. 23.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
4. 24.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
5. 29.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
6. 30.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
   
7. NEW 31.08.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
8. 21.09.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003
9. 22.09.23 // 09:20-12:40 W48/003