What question did this study set out to answer?

The research aims to explore how grammatical deviations function in contemporary English song lyrics to enhance musicality and convey social identity.

August 9, 2026Cogent Arts and HumanitiesOpen Access

Violating the rules: grammatical deviations as a strategy for musicality in modern English songs

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TKTaher Ben KhalifaKing Faisal University

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Examines grammatical deviations in song lyrics, indicating their role in musicality and identity performance.

Key Points

The research aims to explore how grammatical deviations function in contemporary English song lyrics to enhance musicality and convey social identity.
Analyzed a corpus of thirty popular songs from U.S. and U.K. across pop, hip-hop, and R&B genres released between 2000 and 2025.
Integrated approaches from Systemic Functional Linguistics, stylistic analysis, and sociolinguistic theory.
Investigated structural, musical, and social functions of grammatical deviations.
Identified recurrent grammatical patterns such as auxiliary omission and subject deletion that reorganize clause structure.
Showed that grammatical deviations support rhythmic optimization by reducing syllable count and adjusting stress placement.
Demonstrated that non-standard forms index dialect affiliation and enhance identity performance, especially in hip-hop and R&B.

Cite This Study

Taher Ben Khalifa (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a782d2c2e1896536c83ffdb https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2026.2708578

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Violating the rules: grammatical deviations as a strategy for musicality in modern English songs

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Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Violating the rules: grammatical deviations as a strategy for musicality in modern English songs

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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