RAVEN / CROW IN MYTH AND LANGUAGE. PART 2. COGNITIVE SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MODERN ENGLISH ROCK LYRICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/gph2026.858-859.108-124Keywords:
raven, lyrics, song discourse, alternative world, myth, frameAbstract
The article addresses the linguocognitive and linguosemiotic features of verbalizers of the mythic concept RAVEN / CROW in modern English lyrics of rock performers. The results of the analysis of the said linguistic signs' features (carried via componential analysis, conceptual analysis, frame modeling) are interpreted in terms of interdisciplinary analogies and synthesized in the framework of the theory of myth-oriented semiosis. Song discourse is considered as an environment for creating meanings, on the basis of which an alternative (in particular, pop cultural) world is generated. Culturological, linguocultural and systemic factors that determine intentional modeling of alternative worlds and the formation of corresponding subcultures are discussed. The language-semiotic (discursive) fragment of the alternative world as a multimodal construct is based on a specific "propositive matrix", which mirrors a variant of semantic correlations once active in the structure of the archaic variant of the mythic space. Diachronically variable designations of the RAVEN / CROW concept are used to demonstrate the dynamics of the mythic space's transitions, which determines 7 periods of the existence of linguo-cultures. The basic mechanisms of adaptation of the content of the concept-mythologeme in dynamic variants of the worldviews and mythic space are identified as direct extrapolation, adaptation, and transformation. The internal mechanism of extrapolation is demonstrated in the abstract-logical "propositive matrix". Special attention is paid to the linguocognitive characteristics of the studied linguistic signs as the basis of transformational categorization processes. The discussed cognitive models are considered as components of the frame cluster. The established characteristics of language units and the reconstructed cognitive models are interpreted in the context of the universal model of the hierarchical dimension of an open system.
Downloads
References
Alestorm (2008). (DBM) Death Before The Mast. Captain Morgan's Revenge. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/alestorm/captainmorgansrevenge.html#5
Amon Amarth (2011). (TT) Töck's Taunt – Loke's Treachery Part II. Surtur Rising. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/amonamarth/surturrising.html#2
Anvil (2013). (EYW) Eat Your Words. Hope In Hell. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/anvil/hopeinhell.html#2
Anvil (2016). (DR) Daggers And Rum. Anvil Is Anvil. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/anvil/anvilisanvil.html#1
Axxis (2006). (LM) Lady Moon. Paradise In Flames. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/axxis/paradiseinflames.html#8
Bathory (1990). (ORAB) One Rode To Asa Bay. Hammerheart. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/bathory/hammerheart.html#7
Bathory (1996). Intro, (BoI) Blood On Ice, (RBI) The Revenge Of Blood On Ice. Blood On Ice. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/bathory/bloodonice.html
Bathory (2002). (Nor) Nordland. Nordland. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/bathory/nordland.html
Beowulf . URL: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/a04_01.htm
Bertalanffy, L. von (1968). General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. New York: George Braziller.
Berto, F. Jago, M. (2019) Impossible Worlds. Oxford University Press.
Blind Guardian (2006). (STM) Straight Through The Mirror, (ScS) Scalds and Shadows. A Twist In The Myth. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/blindguardian/atwistinthemyth.html
Blind Guardian (2015). (DM) Distant Memories; (NW) The Ninth Wave; (Pr) Prophecies. Beyond The Red Mirror. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/blindguardian/beyondtheredmirror.html#6
Brothers of Metal (2024). Flight of the Ravens. Fimbulvinter. URL: https://genius.com/Brothers-of-metal-flight-of-the-ravens-lyrics)
Chaucer, J. The Manciple's Tale. The Canterbury Tales. 130-138. URL: http://www.librarius.com/canttran/manctale/manctale130-138.htm)
Dark Moor (2009). (PQ) Phantom Queen. Autumnal. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/darkmoor/autumnal.html#3
Destruction (2011). (Mt) Misfit. Day Of Reckoning. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/destruction/dayofreckoning.html#7
Falconer (2008). (PLSM) Pale Light Of Silver Moon. Among Beggars And Thieves. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/falconer/amongbeggarsandthieves.html#8
Falconer (2014). (COB) There's A Crow On The Barrow. Black Moon Rising. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/falconer/blackmoonrising.html#8
Halford (2010). The Mover. Made Of Metal. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/halford/halfordivmadeofmetal.html#14
Ingheim, M. (2025). Confronting a Post-Truth World: Narrative Dangers and Pragmatic Alternatives. World Futures, 81 (7), 499-507 DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2025.2561723
Keltner, D., Stamkou, E. (2025). Possible Worlds Theory: How the Imagination Transcends and Recreates Reality. Annual Review of Psychology. 76, 329-358. URL: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-080123-102254
Kolesnyk, O. (2011). Mifolohichnyi prostir kriz pryzmu movy ta kultury [Mythic space in the scope of language and culture], Chernihiv : ChNPU
Kolesnyk, O. (2019). Cognitive premises of the myth-oriented semiosis. Cognitive Studies | Études cognitive, #19, Article 196, https://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/cs-ec/article/view/cs.1916 https://doi.org/10.11649/cs.1916
Kolesnyk, O. (2021). The Mythic Multiverse Through the Scope of Language: The “Procedural Anatomy” of Verbal Modelling. Cognitive Studies | Études cognitive 21, 2021, Article 2447. URL: https://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/cs-ec/article/view/cs.2447 https://doi.org/10.11649/cs.2447
Kolesnyk O. (2024). RAVEN / CROW in Myth and Language. Part 1: Semiotics and Cognitive Premises of Archaic Designations. Studia Philologica, (2 (23), 76–90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-2491.2024.235
Kolesnyk, O. (2025). Alternative Worlds’ Dynamics: Mythic-semiotic Focus. Studia Philologica, (2 (25), 95–113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-2491.2025.257
Kozel, D. (2020) Modality as a Topos of Musical Narrativity. Conference: Horizonts of ArtsAt: Horizonty umenia 7. Banská Bystrica: Akadémia umení v Banskej Bystrici, 2020. ISBN 978-80-8206-036-5.)
Maldon, the Battle of URL: https://www.oldenglishaerobics.net/maldon.php
Manowar (1988). (HK) Hail and Kill. Kings of Metal. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/manowar/kingsofmetal.html#7
Martinelli, D. (2025) Semiotics of Popular Music. Here Comes the Sign: The Semiotics of Popular Music pp 327–329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02823-5_5)
Megadeth (2013). (BC) The Blackest Crow. Super Collider. URL: http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/megadeth/supercollider.html#8
Mitić, M. (2021). Musical discourse in the theory of musical semiotics. Sinteze. 19:37-48 DOI: 10.5937/sinteze10-34232
Poe, E.A. “The Raven” [Text-10c], Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner (Richmond, VA), vol. II, no. 93, September 25, 1849, p. 2, col. 4-5. URL: https://www.eapoe.org/works/poems/ravent.htm
Scorpions (1972). (LC) Lonesome Crow. Lonesome Crow. URL: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/scorpions/lonesomecrow.html)
Scorpions (1976). (YR) Yellow Raven. Virgin Killer. URL: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/scorpions/yellowraven.html)
Tolkien J.R.R. (1999). The Hobbit. N.Y. : Ballantine Books.
Tolkien J.R.R. (2000). The Fellowship of the Ring. N.Y. : Ballantine Books.
The Twa Corbies. Scottish anonymous, Child Ballad 26. https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/the-twa-corbies/
Turgut, F., Kalkan, F. (2026). Conflicting worlds: the possible sub-worlds of the loman family in death of a alesman. Cogito Vol. XVIII, no. 1. URL: https://cogito.ucdc.ro/2026/vol8no1march2026_153.pdf


