Exploration of Linguistic Structure and Content of European National Anthems

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

This is a part of a broader research intended to study the European national anthems from a linguistics perspective by using Laclau & Mouffe's model accompanied by Van Dijk's approach, through a number of linguistic tools. This research is trying to answer the following questions: What are the nodal points of each country´s national anthem? What are the similarities and differences found in the national anthems of the countries under investigation from a linguistic discourse perspective? To this end, the national anthems of 30 selected European countries were reviewed. Among the texts of national anthems, 46 nodal points were obtained as the main concern of all people. These nodal points include war, respect for the past times, describing the nature of the land, freedom, unity, praying and futurism. The findings, based on linguistic discourse analysis indicate that present time is used significantly more than past and the future. 14 European countries (46.66% of all selected European countries) in their national anthems have emphasized on the binary opposition of "us" versus "them", and the remaining 16 (53.33%) only praise themselves and believe in theirs, not against others. The frequency of positive words (euphemism) in (96.66% of the European countries´ national anthems) is greater than negative words (dysphemism). The France national anthem has used more negative words (dysphemism) than positive words (euphemism).

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 07 June 2016
  • Revise Date: 18 November 2016
  • Accept Date: 18 November 2016

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