P-ISSN:
E-ISSN:
CULTURAL
NARRATIVES
PUBLISHER:
ERA DIGITAL NUSANTARA
Cultural Narratives 2023.
VOL.
NO.
1, 13-19
Empowerment in Seven Selected American Songs: The Ideational and Interpersonal Meaning Desi Lailatul Rohmah1.
Pininta Veronika Silalahi1* 1Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya.
Indonesia
ABSTRACT
This study aims to analyse the ideational and interpersonal meaning in seven selected empowerment songsAo lyrics.
The objectives of the study are to describe the characteristics and types of interpersonal meaning: mood and modality.
and the types of transitivity processes.
The research design applied in this study is descriptive qualitative.
The data is the lyrics of seven selected songs: Brave by Sara Barelies.
Fireworks, and Roar by Katy Perry.
Who Says by Selena Gomez.
Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld.
Fight Song by Rachel Platten.
and I love Me by Demi Lovato.
The finding shows the dominant mood of all the lyrics is declarative mood.
the modality are: AucanAy in song 1.
AuwouldnAotAy and AuwouldAy in song AudonAot have toAy.
AucannotAy, and AucouldAy in song 3.
AucanAotAy in song AucanAy.
AumightAy, and AuwillAy in song 6.
AucanAotAy and AushouldAy in Further, the analysis showed that the types of transitivity process that most found in seven selected songs are material, mental, and relational process.
While the types that only found in several songs are behavioural, verbal, and existential process.
Article history:
Received 7 August 2023 Accepted 15 August 2023 Keyword:
Song Lyrics.
Systemic Functional Linguistics.
Interpersonal Meaning.
Ideational Meaning.
Introduction A song is one of communication media which becomes part of human life.
Medina and Noorman .
state the function of songs that created by the song writer is to communicate with the listener by expressing his/her feeling, rather as a medium to entertain.
The body of songs consist of lyrics and melody.
Cox .
renames these basic components of song as words and melody.
He stated that words are organized into lyrics with particular meters and rhyme scheme.
Further.
Silalahi .
mentioned that context is also parts of the song.
She explained the context concerns about all the fields in which the song is created, experienced, constructed, utilized, as well as the culture of the song was created and who is consumers.
In addition, the contribution of song lyrics was prominent towards audience since it gives deep understanding of the message contained in songs (Yuningsih, 2.
A song typically described about life stories, either personal experiences or a problem in The situation or context that the songAos writer experienced has an impact on the topic that is expressed in the lyrics.
Those topics may about love, culture, religion, social conflict, discrimination, racism, or empowerment that expressed a sense of encouragement by the song writer.
Relate to the topic that expressed in lyrics, in a view of language, the appropriate approach in analysing the song lyric is Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) by Halliday.
Systemic Functional Linguistic is a theory of discourse which concern in Authe relationship between social context and linguistic aspectAy (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2.
SFL viewed human communication and language structure as a system of meaning which distinguished into three metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions.
According to *CONTACT: pininta@untag-sby.
Copyright A2023 Desi Lailatul Rohmah.
Pininta Veronika Silalahi This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.
0 International License.
Rohmah & Silalahi Gerot & Wignell .
ideational metafunction relate to phenomena, interpersonal refers to the expression of speaker attitude, and textual metafunction refers to the expression of the relation of language to its environment.
The study of systemic functional linguistic in songs have conducted by the several studies.
The song as the object of the study included After HourAos album of The Weeknd (Daryanto.
Setyaji, & Prastikawati, 2.
and the selected songs of Selena GomezAo Rare album (Khamaduddin, 2.
Further, a song with a specific topic also being the object of previous studies and those studies focused on the ideology of the songs, such the study by Dwiprasetyo et.
which analysed Epic Rap Battle of Presidency song.
Soto-Jurado .
which analysed the song entitled Querida Muerte.
and Dewi & Multasih .
that analysed youth of the nation songs.
However, the previous study showed the research gap which the study did not examined on the specific topic of several songs, rather focused on analyse the ideational meaning or interpersonal meaning in album.
or analyse the ideology behind a song by combine critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistic.
Therefore, this study took analysed on several songs which used empowerment as a topic to analyse the interpersonal meaning and ideational meaning.
According to Halliday .
interpersonal meaning is meaning as a form of action which the speaker or writer doing something to the audience or reader by means of language.
other words, interpersonal meaning is the manner in which the speaker or writer convey the In addition, the ideational meaning according to Soto-Jurado .
is meaning which concern to how people convey ideas.
The purpose of this study was analysed the types of moods and modality in interpersonal meaning and the process types of transitivity process of ideational meaning in seven selected empowerment songs.
The topic of empowerment was selected because it expressed the encouragement of spirit for ourselves or somebody else.
And it interesting to conduct the study to comprehend more deeply who the empowerment in songs was intended for, how it is described, as well as the proposition of certainty in the song writerAos opinion of its topic.
Furthermore, the pop music genre was selected since its genre is popular in worldwide.
Moreover, the seven selected in the recent study were: Brave by Sara Barelies.
Fireworks, and Roar by Katy Perry.
Who Says by Selena Gomez.
Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld.
Fight Song by Rachel Platten.
and I love Me by Demi Lovato.
Method This study used descriptive qualitative method as research design.
The source data of this study was seven selected empowerment song lyrics.
Those were: Brave by Sara Barelies.
Fireworks, and Roar by Katy Perry.
Who Says by Selena Gomez.
Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld.
Fight Song by Rachel Platten.
and I love Me by Demi Lovato.
In collecting the data, there were several steps that the researcher took.
First, the researcher collected the songs which have empowerment topics and release at least in 20century.
Second, collect the data in the form of lines of song lyrics.
Further, the researcher arranged and classified the data to set the limit of chorus part which typically repeated in each the songs, hence the researcher wrote it at once.
Last, gave the data a code according to numerical order, songs, and the line of songs.
The lyrics or the data were examined based on interpersonal meaning and ideational In interpersonal meaning, the data were analysed by wording the lyrics based on Cultural Narratives 2023.
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the elements of interpersonal meaning: mood and residue.
Halliday & Matthiessen .
mentioned the element of mood consist of subject and finite, and the element of residue consist of predicator, complement, and adjunct.
Further, the data were classified into the types of mood and the modality.
In addition, the analysis of ideational meaning in seven selected songs were examined based on the transitivity process.
Transitivity process is the process of grammatical system which consists of three components: the participants, the process itself, and the circumstances (Halliday M.
, 1.
The used of transitivity process was to construe human experience based on the types of transitivity which has the representation of meaning in each type.
The types of transitivity consist of material, mental, relational, behavioural, verbal, and existential (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2.
Results and Discussion Interpersonal Meaning The interpersonal meaning in seven selected songs lyric realized in wording through the element of mood and modality.
The analysis of mood, further itAos denoted the types of mood which indicate the function of speech act.
Those types of mood found in the analysis of songs lyric include declarative, interrogative, and imperative.
And the several modalities found in the songs such: can, cannot, would, wouldnAot, could, might, will, and should.
The Mood Types Realized in Seven Selected Empowerment Song Lyrics Based on the analysis of interpersonal meaning, all the songs consist of mood and It realized by analyzing the elements of mood: subject and finite, and the other element called residue.
Residue is the complementary element which typically consists of predicator, complement, and adjunct.
After analyzing the element of mood, the types of mood or mood system are identified.
The table 1 showed the frequency and types of mood found in seven selected song lyrics.
As seen in the table, declarative mood is the dominants mood of all the song lyrics.
As the function of speech acts, the used of declarative in song lyrics indicated the song writer want to give information or declare something to the reader or listener.
It showed by several songs that described about the song writerAos condition, such in song 4, 5, 6, and 7.
or give motivational sentence as the encouragement to lift spirit for the reader or listener.
Such in song 1, the declarative mood in the lyrics realized by the subject you that indicated as the second person, the writer tried to inform the reader or listener that they have possibility to be of what the writersAo state in the lyrics.
In song 2, the writer wants to tell the audience about to ignore the haters.
By describe about the song writer itself and the used of subject I in the song lyrics, the writer stated that she was beautiful just the way she is, and she want to let the audience know that they also could be confident of their self.
Further, in song 3 by the used subject you, the writer direct the songs to the listener and she want to tell the reader or listener that they can be shine and makes the beautiful changes like a firework.
Rohmah & Silalahi Table 1 The mood types result of seven selected empowerment songs Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Song 5 Song 6 Song 7 Total Declarative Types of Mood Interrogative Imperative Total The Modality Found in Seven Selected Empowerment Song Lyrics By analysing the mood element, the expression of modality found through the used of modal finite and mood adjunct.
Modality expressed the certainty of the proposition from the song writerAos opinion.
This expression relates to the subjects and the context of the songs.
The proposition of certainty of the song writerAos opinion, further it can be classified into the degree of modality which distinguished as low, medium, and high.
Based on the analysis, the modality AocanAo which found in song 1 categorized as low in the degree of modality.
Related to the subject and context of the song, as the second person the song writer tried to inform the reader or listener that they have possibility to be of what the song writer state in the lyrics.
The modality AowouldAo and AowouldnAotAo in song 2 categorized as medium degree of modality.
The subject of verb modal in the lyrics indicated the song writer itself, which showed as AoIAo.
Related to context, the used of modality in the lyrics mean that song writer may wouldnAot be anybody else and being of herself.
The modality AocanAotAo and AocouldAo in song 3 showed as high and low in degree of modality.
The subject and context of the song referred to the reader or listener that they canAot be replace by anybody else.
In song 5, the modality AocanAotAo found in the lyrics.
Related to subject and context, it indicated that the song writer was sure that no one canAot help of herself.
The modalities AomightAo, and AowillAoin song 6 showed as AomightAo categorized as low modality, and AowillAo as medium degree.
In relation of subject and context, the used of modality in song 6 expressed that the song writer was possible to have a match of her life.
and she may tried to scream her fight songs and being strong.
The last, in song 7 the modality found in the lyrics was AocanAotAo which have high degree of The used of modality in song lyrics expressed that the song writer was sure that she canAot see of herself.
Ideational Meaning The analysis of ideational meaning in seven selected song was identified.
The used of ideational meaning was to construe human experience, which in this study ideational meaning applied to construe the experience of the song writer or the participant .
in the song lyrics.
In construing the song writerAos experience of the lyrics, the transitivity process was applied in this study.
It analysed and categorized based on the types of processes that typically expressed the representation of meaning in each type.
Those types of process included: material, mental, relational, behavioural, verbal, and existential.
Cultural Narratives 2023.
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Based on the analysis, the types of transitivity process that most found in seven selected songs are material, mental, and relational process.
While the types that only found in several songs are behavioural, verbal, and existential process.
Table 2 showed the expression of transitivity process which realised in the song lyrics.
Material process expressed the process of Aodoing and happeningAo.
The analysis showed that all the songs indicated the action of the actor or subject in the song which it referred to the writer itself.
the haters.
and the audience .
eader or listene.
Mental process is the type of process that expressed of sensing or Halliday & Matthiessen .
referred this process as Aoexperience of consciousnessAo.
The kinds of consciousness found in the lyrics were expressed as: wonder, see, want .
sure, trust, and listen .
ong feel and know .
scared, guess, forgot, hear .
know, feel, and need .
care, believes, worried .
and wonder .
The used of relational process were to construe the clause which represent being and Besides of the expression of being and having, the expression of circumstantial was also included in this type of process.
The process of being called as intensive, having as possessive, and circumstantial that showed the circumstances .
lace, condition, etc.
expression of relational process found in the lyrics were: intensive and circumstantial .
ong intensive .
possessive and intensive .
ong 3 and .
possessive and intensive .
Behavioural process only found in song 1.
This process used to expressed the psychological behaviour of .
This process has no clearly defined characteristic of their own.
However, based on the song 1, the lyrics showed the behaviour of bee and butterfly that expressed as AostingingAo and AofloatingAo.
The verbal process which expressed of the process of saying only found in song 2.
This process indicated to convey what the people say and delivered it to the other.
The verbal process in song 2 realized as told and tell, which this expression referred to what had the haters said towards the song writer.
Last, the existential process was the process which represented something that happen or The existential process only found in song 6 which realised as AuthereAos a fireAy.
This expression indicated the existential of fire.
Table 2 The expression of the process found in seven selected empowerment songs Material Mental Song 1 Start, hurt Wonder, see, want Song 2 Made, comes Sure, trust, listen Song 5 Show, make.
Sat, push, stood, held.
Help, put Song 6 Make, play Song 7 Live, paying Song 3 Song 4 Feel, know Scared, guess, forgot, hear Know, feel, need Care, believes.
Types of process Behavioral Relational Intensive Floating .
, stinging .
Intensive .
Possessive and Possessive and Possessive Possessive and Verbal Existential Told, tell ThereAos a fire Rohmah & Silalahi Conclusion The interpersonal meaning and ideational meaning were identified in seven selected songAos lyrics.
The interpersonal meaning of empowerment in seven selected songs lyric is analysed based on the element of mood: subject and finite.
and residue: predicator, complement, and adjunct.
By analysing the element of mood, the modality and mood types of phrases can be identified.
The dominant mood of all the songAos lyrics is declarative mood.
For the modality, there is modality can in lyrics 1.
wouldnAot and would in lyrics 2.
donAot have to, cannot, and could in lyrics 3.
canAot in lyrics 5.
can, might, and will in lyrics 6.
canAot and should in lyrics 7.
The ideational meaning of seven selected songAos lyric is analysed based on transitivity system or transitivity process.
The types of transitivity system can be identified through the basic transitivity elements: participants, process, and circumstances.
Based on the analysis, the material process realized in song lyrics 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7.
the mental process realized in all the songAos lyrics.
relational process realized in all songAos lyrics except lyrics 5.
process in lyrics 4, verbal process in lyrics 2 and existential process in song 6.
Based on the conclusion of the analysis of interpersonal meaning and ideational meaning in seven selected empowerment songs lyric, the points that the writer suggest is to understand more deeply the specific topic of songs lyric, we cannot solely rely on the analysis of elements of interpersonal meaning and ideational meaning.
We need to consider the figurative expression .
etaphor and idio.
in songs lyric and pay attention to the context of The complexity of language use in songs implied the complex analysis in systemic functional linguistic.
Therefore, it still opened the opportunity for the future researcher to conduct analysis more comprehensively.
Author Information First Author.
English Department of 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya University, rohmahdesi79@gmail.
Second Author.
English Department of 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya University, pininta@untag-sby.
References