Music and mondegreens: extracting meaning from noise

• Geoff P. Smith ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Hong Kong

     University of Hong Kong

     RAE de Hong Kong (China)

     
• Localización: ELT journal: An international journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, ISSN 0951-0893, Vol. 57, Nº 2, 2003, págs. 113-121
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper looks at some attempts by advanced learners of English in Hong Kong to identify words while transcribing song lyrics. It includes a number of misinterpretations recently dubbed ‘mondegreens’. Although interest in this phenomenon among native speakers has been primarily for its amusement value, the words chosen by second language speakers show evidence of a serious attempt to create order out of the chaos born of an inadequate awareness of the full range of English phonological distinctions. Implications for the teaching of English, especially phonology and listening skills, are explored.