Topic 1 (session B) - Levels of language: Linguistic levels, style & meaning > Levels of language & pop group names

Levels of language & pop group names

On this page you will explore how different language levels are manipulated in the names of some well-known pop groups. After you have written down your thoughts, you can see what we think.

We have already seen, when we looked at advertising slogans, how, even with very short texts, a number of different linguistic levels can be manipulated simultaneously in the service of meaning and effect. Pop group names are even shorter, but we can often see the same sort of manipulation there. Below are some pop group names for you to consider. Write down how you think the relevant linguistic levels are being manipulated for each name, and to what effect, and then compare your description with ours. If you think we've got something wrong, don't forget to email us and let us know!

Of course, by definition, the writers of stylistics web pages are fuddy duddies and cannot keep up with what is trendy with the young. The pop group names we explore below are chosen because they are pretty well known.

And a final word of warning. Because some pop group names appear to have been deliberately chosen to reflect an image they want to create, that doesn't mean that they all have. We know a local Lancaster group called Bluey, whose name happens to be the name of the drummer's teddy bear.

We hope that, if nothing else, you might think more carefully in future about why new pop groups choose the names they do, and what effects they might be trying to create with their names.

We have included some further reading If you are interested in learning more about the linguistics of pop.

Write down how you think the relevant linguistic levels are being manipulated for each name, and to what effect, and then compare your description with ours by clicking on the name of the group.

• The Beatles

• The Who

• The Rolling Stones

• INXS

• Chumbawamba

• Fatboy Slim
  Fatboy Slim is not a group, of course, but the name of a DJ and record mixer. We've included him to demonstrate that it is not only adverts or pop group names that manipulate language levels for stylistic effect. So, as before, write down how you think the relevant linguistic levels are being manipulated, and to what effect.

• The Spice Girls

In our next section, we take a look at the ways in which one poet, Stephen Crane, has manipulated the different language levels for stylistic effect.

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