THE FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS CONTAINED IN JAPANESE SONGS

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the impact that the use of English within Japanese music has on the listener by examining the features and functions of the English. This is done through two means: a survey of 20 Japanese participants’ opinions on the use of English within Japanese music today and a close analysis of 12 different Japanese songs from a linguistic perspective. That perspective, code switching, provides a look into the functions while the analysis and the survey explores the effects of those functions. This is in order to gain a better understanding of the overall impact that the use of English within Japanese music has today.