A Semiotic Study of Billie Holiday and Hnifa’s Lyrics
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Date
2020-12
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Publisher
UNIVERSITE MOULOUD MAMMERI TIZI-OUZOU
Abstract
The present work consists in establishing a semiotic study of a set of lyrics sung by two female singers
from two different cultural environments. The two singers are Billie Holiday, an American Blues
singer, and Hnifa, an Algerian Kabyle singer. This paper investigates the impact of their respective
cultures on their lives and careers. Hence, the study addresses three main objectives. The research
aims first to identify the most important cultural elements which affected the two singers’ lives and
careers. The second objective consists in discovering the way Billie Holiday and Hnifa expressed
themselves through their songs. As for the third objective, it aims to discover whether the two singers
reacted similarly facing the same situations, by taking into consideration the difference of their
cultures. To achieve these objectives, I have selected twenty song lyrics from each of Billie Holiday
and Hnifa’s repertoire, and selected three themes to be studied that are related to love, gender and
social relationships. Additionally, to strengthen this research I resort to two reliable sources of
information consisting of books and films about the two singers’ lives and careers. Moreover, the
study is based on Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic theory of sign to unveil the hidden meanings of the
song lyrics. The study is qualitative; since it relies on a qualitative interpretation of the song lyrics
and also adopts Schein’s diagram to better explain the results. The findings of the study suggest that
culture influences Billie Holiday and Hnifa’s lives and careers. Thus, it was found that culture is
manifested through the two singers’ song’s lyrics and that it had a dramatic impact on their lives and
careers. The singers used socially marked poetry to express the hardness of their wrecked lives.
However, the difference in the cultures of the two artists incited them to react differently towards some
common events. Ultimately, the research provides further recommendations to potential students
interested in the same theme.
Description
30cm.; 86p.; tabl.+cd
Keywords
Semiotics, Billie Holiday, Hnifa, Song Lyrics, Culture, Society
Citation
Language and Communication