Loading...
“What's a computer?” Corpus linguistic software v the complete Fall lyrics
Davies, Matt
Davies, Matt
Citations
Altmetric:
Advisors
Editors
Other Contributors
Affiliation
EPub Date
Publication Date
2022-12-27
Submitted Date
Collections
Files
Book Chapter
Adobe PDF, 1.09 MB
- Embargoed until 2222-12-01
Other Titles
Abstract
This chapter outlines experiments with the Wmatrix software programme in identifying significant semantic categories and thematic patterns in a corpus of the complete Fall lyrics, from their inception in 1977 to the death of frontman Mark E Smith in 2018. The 84,703 words is edited down to 60,720 words to remove repetition, and researcher intuition is balanced against the results generated by the software. The findings, for instance, that the words 'man' and 'head' and the semantic category 'Anatomy and Physiology' are deemed highly significant, open up pathways for further investigation into one of the most prolific and dense lyrical outputs in modern popular music history.
Citation
Davies, M. (2022). “What's a computer?” Corpus linguistic software v the complete Fall lyrics. In E. Devereux & M. J. Power (Eds.), Always different, always the same: Critical essays on The Fall (pp. 119-148). Rowman & Littlefield.
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield
Journal
Research Unit
DOI
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Type
Book chapter
Language
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
EISSN
ISBN
9781538165355