Song lyrics and the disruption of pragmatic processing: An analysis of linguistic negation in 10CC’s ‘I’m Not in Love’

Nahajec, Lisa (2019) Song lyrics and the disruption of pragmatic processing: An analysis of linguistic negation in 10CC’s ‘I’m Not in Love’. Language and Literature, 28 (1). pp. 23-40. ISSN 0963-9470

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Abstract

The lyrics of 10CC’s ‘I’m Not in Love’ revolve around a musical persona asserting that he is not in love and directing his addressee not to mistake his behaviour as indicating that he is in love with her. However, despite the negative assertions and imperatives, the feel of the song is that the musical persona is in fact in love. This article examines how the complex multimodal context of a
song interacts with the prototypical pragmatic processing of negation to allow listeners to reach an interpretation of the song that contradicts the assertions made by the musical persona. The article outlines the nature of negation and examines the language and musical features that create a context of mixed messages that interferes with pragmatic processing.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is the author's post peer review version of an article, the final version will appear in the Sage Publications journal Language and Literature.
Keywords:	Cognition, lyrics, music, negation, pragmatics, text world theory
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Lisa Nahajec
Date Deposited:	22 May 2019 09:10
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2024 16:14
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2837

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