The stylistic conditions for language switching in the lyrics of pop songs were examined in a corpus of Eurovision Song Contest entries. This phenomenon was examined in the lyrics of songs...Show moreThe stylistic conditions for language switching in the lyrics of pop songs were examined in a corpus of Eurovision Song Contest entries. This phenomenon was examined in the lyrics of songs performed in a language other than English, but which involved one or multiple language switches to English. A corpus of song lyrics was analysed on various stylistics aspects on a textual level, i.e semantics and pragmatics. The analysis sought to show which content/language/context factors contribute to these language switches in songs. Songs that involve language switches to English are found in great numbers in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC); almost 120 out of nearly 1300 entries in the contest from the last sixty years feature some sort of switch to English lyrics, which is a fair number for a corpus. This thesis will explore language switching in ESC songs throughout time.Show less
