Tiny Dissertation 2: Compound Words in Spanish Songs

*This is very like the first Tiny Dissertation post in its curiosity for the answer, its short lifespan, minimal scope of interest, and un-academic treatment of the subject. 

My 'Space God' character (right) in Little Big Planet dancing to Cornman by Kinky

Hypothesis: There should be compound words in Spanish songs, because they are very productive in Romance languages, so they should show up in songs.

Data: Lyrics found online for 10 songs in Spanish, each by a different artist, that I listen to a lot but have never thought about in regards to compounds.

1. La Tortura (2005) – Shakira – 0

2. Completamente (2006) – Chetes – 0
(though some argue that -mente adverbs are compounds)

3. Atrevete te te (2006) – Calle 13 – 0, almost 1
“Escápate, quítate el esmalte”
quitaesmalte means ‘remove-polish’ (polish remover)

4. Malo (2004) – Bebe – 0

5. Nada es para siempre (2005)- Luis Fonsi – 0

6. La Camisa Negra (2005) – Juanes – 0

7. Plástico (2004) – JD Natasha – 0

8. Me Gustas Tú (2001) – Manu Chao – 0

9. Soy Infeliz – Lola Beltrán – 0

10. Adios Muchachos (1934) – Carlos Gardel – 0

Results: Nope. In a survey of 10 songs, none of them have compound words. Weird.

Conclusion: Compound words are not peppered into Spanish pop music the way I thought they would be. Kinky have a song called Cornman, but that’s an English compound and the song never mentions that word. Maybe try a different 10 songs? Oh well.

The End.

**Where links are attached to the song title, it leads to its terrible-to-mediocre music video on youtube. The most amusingly stupid is Atrevete te te but you gotta watch until the end.

April 26, 2012

in Autobiographical,dissertation,Music,spanish,University of York

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