A Lexicogrammar and Semantic Analysis

of Bon Iver’s Skinny Love

 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
Rationale

Songs have become a creative and emotional outlet for most people. It is in songs that people
pour their innermost feelings and the things that are not mostly said in verbal conversations. It is the
“harmonious articulation of people’s thoughts and passions utilized as a meaningful and complex
expression of universal communication”(Mega, 2016). It is an expression of art and literature as well.
In this light, the article presents an analysis of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” from the stylistic
perspective.
Skinny Love was the first single released from Bon Iver's 2007 debut album For Emma, Forever
Ago. Justin Vernon wrote and recorded the album in his father's isolated log cabin in north Wisconsin,
where he had retreated to following the breakup of a relationship and his former band, DeYarmond
Edison, a case of mononucleosis. The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 28 April
2008 and was used in the first episode of Grey's Anatomy's fifth season. Birdy, a British artist, also made
a cover of this song in January 2011. The song has a very trivial message which talks about the essence of
a failing relationship.
This paper aims to analyze Bon Iver’s “ Skinny Love” using Linguistic and Literary theories. The
levels of analysis is focused on the Lexical and Implicative Level. The stylistic devices that are present are
also explored, so with its themes and context.
This research explores Vernon’s structure and style, his views, and the subject of catastrophic
love, anger and relationship in his song.
Style is a pattern of linguistic features distinguishing one piece of writing from another, or one
category of writings from another. Style , outside literary and linguistic convention is broadly used that
describes a manner in which something is done. It could also mean different for every individual. The ideas
of style for every individual is invariably different. Style is also related to a personality of a person. A style
reflects the thoughts of a person’s mind. It describes the way of person’s speaking and writing. Same is
true to writers, each has each own style of writing in texts which is explored in the field of stylistics.

Stylistics is the study of the devices in languages (such as rhetorical figures and syntactical
patterns) that are considered to produce expressive or literary style. ( Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2016) .
Widdowson (1975, p 3) further defines stylistics as “the study of literary discourse from a linguistic
orientation”. Stylistics explores how readers interact with the language of (mainly literary) texts in order
to explain how we understand, and are affected by texts when we read them.
Stylistics is a borderline discipline between language and literature. It focuses on the language of both
literary and non-literary texts.
Roman Jakobson was the leading figure in the study of stylistics. According to him, the poetic function of
language is realised in those communicative acts where the focus is on the message for its own sake (as
opposed, say, to a communicative act focused on conveying the emotions of the speaker).

According to Katie Wales , “the goal of most stylistics is not simply to describe the formal features
of texts for their own sake but in order to show their interpretation of the text, or in order to relate literary
effects to linguistics causes where there are felt to be relevant”.

Stylistics analysis provides a commentary which is objective and scientific based on a concrete
quantifiable data and applied in a systematic way. It uses specialized technical terms and concepts which
derive from the science of linguistics. Stylistics analysis is something different from literary criticism.
Literary criticism continues to focus on interpretation and the field of linguistics had little to say about
literature beyond the sentence level.

Statement of the Problem

This stylistic research of Bon Iver’s song “ Skinny Love “ aims to analyze the distinct and unique
characteristic of the text and its meaning that has not been explored by other researchers.
This work shall be exclusively stylistic, and analysis will be conducted through the use of the following
levels of analysis: lexical and implicature. Stylistic elements are also explored that it could provide a guide
and be relevant to future researchers in a related field. Literary theories are also employed to further give
light to the meaning and significance of the text.

A. Level of Analysis

1. Lexical Patterns

2. Lexicogrammar

3. Implicature
 B. Literary Theories

1. Historical-Biographical Approach

Theoretical Background

Stylistics is the name of the field of study proposed to explore language use in literary works. It is said
to be the combination of literature and linguistics. In analyzing a literary text, both complement each
other since the most basic in understanding a literary text is by knowing how the language is used. Leech
(1981), asserts that “literature cannot be examined in any depth apart from language and vice versa”.

In this, both linguistic stylistics and literary criticism are concerned with the quest for matter and
manner in a literary work of art. Like literary criticism, Stylistics is interested in the message of the work,
and how effectively it is delivered. Both linguistic stylistics and literary criticism rigorously analyze and
synthesize a work of art with a common aim of presenting both the merits and the demerits of the work,
and in so doing, elucidate the work.

Considering the matter per se, the researcher employed Structural Functional Linguistics, Speech Act
Theory and the Historical-Biographical approach in literature.

I.I
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is a framework for describing and modeling language in functional
rather than formal terms. The theory is functional in that “language is interpreted as a resource for making
meaning, and descriptions are based on extensive analyses of written and spoken text “(Halliday,1994).
The theory is also ‘systemic in that it models language as a system of choices’(Matthiessen,1995). The
organization of the linguistic component in a clause bear meaning potential in the text and supplement
the overall effect the composer wants to communicate, through decoding the layers of meanings in the
text.

On the other hand, Transitivity is a semantic concept that examines how meaning is represented in the
clause. By definition, transitivity in SFG is a process-centered system to encode and decode the experience
and knowledge of human beings via lexicogrammar (Zeng et.al, 2014). The systems and networks of
transitivity convey the user’s experience of the external world of the senses and the internal world of the
mind. The term “process” of transitivity refers to the “goings-on” in reality, for example, doing, happening
and being.

In Halliday’s transitivity system, the material process, a process of doing, usually describes concrete
and tangible actions. The process expresses the notion that a participant, the Actor, “does” something—
which may be done “to” some other participant, the Goal. Halliday further notes that the “processes”
expressed through language are the product of our conception of the world or point of view. He notes :

Our most powerful conception of reality is that it consists

of “goings-on” : of doing, happening, feeling, being. These
goings-on are sorted out in the semantic system of the
language, and expressed through the grammar of the
clause…T he clause evolved simultaneously in another
grammatical function expressing the reflective, experiential
aspect of meaning. This…is the system of TRANSITIVITY.
Transitivity specifies the different types of process that are
recognized in the language, and the structures by which
they are expressed.

Hassan (1988) further expressed:

[Transitivity] is concerned with a coding of the goings on: who does what in relation to whom/what,
where, when, how and why. Thus the analysis is in terms of some PROCESS, its PARTICIPANTS, and the
CIRCUMSTANCES pertinent to the Process-Participant configuration.

The semantic processes expressed by clauses have potentially three components, as follows:
(1) The process itself, which will be expressed by the verb phrase in a clause.
(2) The participants in the clause, which refer to the roles of entities that are directly involved in the
process: the one that does, behaves or says, together with the passive one that is done to, said to, etc.
The participants are not necessarily humans or even animate; the term “participant entities” would be
more accurate (Halliday, 1994). The participant entities are normally realized by noun phrases in the
clause.
(3) The circumstances associated with the process, which are typically expressed by adverbial and
prepositional phrases.
Transitivity is an important semantic concept in the analysis of representation of reality, in that transitivity
enables us to analyze and represent the same event and situation in different ways. The transitivity
patterns can also indicate the certain mind-set or
worldview “framed by the authorial ideology” in literary texts.

Halliday’s theory that transitivity is measurable will be used to study the clausal structure which is based
on the main verb of the sentence. According to this theory, in transitivity different processes are
distinguished according to whether they represent actions, speech, states of mind or states of being.
Those are identified, classified and known as Material processes, Relational processes, and Mental
processes. Material processes of transitivity are processes of doing, usually physical and tangible actions.
Halliday calls them action clauses expressing the fact that something or someone undertakes some action
or some entity “does” something – which may be done to some other entity. These processes can be
probed by asking what did x do? Two essential participants usually appear in material process are the
Actor – the doer of the process – and the Goal – the person or entity affected by the process.
Mental processes usually encode mental reactions such as perception, thoughts and feelings. Mental
processes give an insight into people’s consciousness and how they sense the experience of the reality.
These can be probed by asking what do you think/ feel/know about x? Mental processes have two
participants: the Senser – the conscious being who is involved in a Mental process – and the Phenomenon
– which is felt, thought, or seen by the conscious Senser. Relational processes construe the relationships
of being and having between two participants. There are two different types of Relational processes; one
is called Identifying Relational which serves the purpose of defining and the participants involved are
Token and Value. Thus the Value serves to define the identity of the Token. The other type of Relational
process is the attributive Relational which serves to describe. The participants associated with it are the
Carrier and the Attribute and we can say that “the x (realized by Carrier) is a member of the class y (realized
by Attribute)”.
There are also three subsidiary process types that share the characteristic features of each of the three
main processes. Between Material and Mental processes lie Behavioural processes that characterize the
outer expression of inner working and reflect physiological and psychological behaviours such as
breathing, laughing, sneezing. Behavioural processes usually have one participant who is typically a
conscious one, called the Behaver. Between Mental and Relational processes are Verbal processes, which
represent the art of saying and its synonyms. Usually three participants are involved in Verbal processes:
the Sayer is responsible for verbal process; the Receiver is the person at whom the verbal process is
directed; and the Verbiage is the nominalised statement of the verbal process. And between Relational
and Material processes are Existential processes which prove states of being, existing, and happening.
Existential processes typically employ the verb be or its synonyms such as exist, arise, occur. The only
participant in this process is Existent which follows the there is /are sequences.

1.2 Speech Act Theory

A speech act is a minimal functional unit in human communication. Just as a word (refusal) is the
smallest free form found in language and a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries
information about meaning (-al in refuse-al makes it a noun), the basic unit of communication is a
speech act (the speech act of refusal). (Jaworowska, 2015)

The Speech Act Theory is “a theory of language based on J. L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words
(second edition, 1975), the major premise of which is that language is as much, if not more, a mode of
action as it is a means of conveying information.”(Henderson&Brown, 1997)

Speech Act Theory” attempts to explain how speakers use language to accomplish intended actions and
how hearers infer intended meaning form what is said.” (Jaworowska, 2015)

Austin divides the linguistic act into three components. First, there is the locutionary act, "the act of
'saying' something." Second, there is the illocutionary act, "the performance of an act in saying
something as opposed to the performance of an act of saying something." Third, there is the
perlocutionary act, for "saying something will often, or even normally, produce certain consequential
effects upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of the audience, of the speaker, or of other persons." In
other words, a locutionary act has meaning; it produces an understandable utterance. (Brown, 1997).

Based on Austin's (1962), and Searle's (1969) theory, Cohen (1996) identifies five categories of speech
acts based on the functions assigned to them.

1. Assertives: statements may be judged true or false because they aim to describe a state of
affairs in the world.
2. Directives: statements attempt to make the other person's actions fit the propositional content.
3. Commissives: statements which commit the speaker to a course of action as described by the
propositional content.
4. Expressives: statements that express the “sincerity condition of the speech act”.
5. Declaratives: statements that attempt to change the world by “representing it as having been
changed”.

1.3 Historical- Biographical Approach

 Historical Biographical approach sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection of its
author’s life and times or the life and times of the characters in the work. Using this critical lens, readers
will fruitfully analyze a text by making connections between the content, its author and his/her historical
context (values and events).
This approach combines the two methods for interpreting texts. Historical approach takes into
consideration the influence of ‘outside’ factors in shaping the content of a text. On the other hand, the
Biographical approach to literary criticism demands acknowledgement of the author’s role in creating a
text. Proponents of the Biographical approach believe that a close study of an author’s life will enrich a
reading of the text. While supporters of this approach do not expect a literal correlation for every aspect
of an author’s life, they do feel that events from the author’s life may be reflected in the plot, tone,
messages and characters of his or her work.

Theoretical Framework
 Structu
Speech ral-
Act Functio
Theory nal
Linguis
tics
Stylistic
Analysis

Historical-Biographical
Approach

Skinny
Love

Lexicogramma Semantics
r

Scope and Delimitation

This study is an integration of the literary techniques and linguistic strategies of the song “Skinny
Love” by Bon Iver. This integration anchors on the lexical patterns and semantic properties. The analysis
is limited to the dimensions of Structural Functional Linguistics, Speech Act Theory and Historical-
Biographical Approach in literature.

This study is focused and limited to the song itself. The SFL analysis centers on the lexical patterns,
repetition and imperatives. Analyses of the semantic properties is centered to its ambiguity, images, and
presupposition. The historical and biographical findings about the writer and the song is also revealed.
This study is confined up to that extent, within the theories discussed and the variables stated.

Definition of Terms

1. Lexical- relating to words or vocabulary

2. Semantics- is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases,
signs, and symbols, and what they stand for; their denotation

3. Implicature- is a technical term in the pragmatics subfield of linguistics which refers to what is suggested
in an utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied by the utterance

4. Lexical Cohesion- refers to the ties created between lexical elements, such as words, groups and
phrases. These lexical ties can occur over long passages of text or discourse

5. Repetition- the repeating of a word or phrase, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular
placement of the words, in order to secure emphasis

6. Imperatives- indicates that the speaker desires for the action expressed in the sentence to take place

7. Ambiguity- a phrase or sentence has more than one underlying structure

8. Images- refer to the language that causes people to imagine pictures in their mind

9. Presupposition- is background belief relating to an utterance that must be mutually known or assumed
by the speaker and hearer for the utterance to be considered appropriate in context.

Methodology

This is a qualitative research that uses descriptive method. In a descriptive method of research,
characteristics of a population or phenomenon are being studied.

The song “Skinny Love” will be analysed stylistically using the theories of literature and linguistics
specifically Structural Functional Linguistics, Transitivity Theory of Michael Halliday, Speech-Act Theory
and Historical-Biographical Approach and the three levels of analysis already mentioned will form the
basis of the analysis.

Sources of Data

The data for analysis are gathered mainly from the internet, library, and other multimedia
sources. Few textual analysis of the song are also utilized.
Research Process

The analysis of the song was done systematically isolating and discussing the style markers. This
stage of the work combined linguistic and literary discrimination in the analysis. The song was subjected
to the various linguistic and literary frames. For example, the lexico-grammar was examined throughout
the song; the same thing was done in the level of semantics. The historical and biographical frame of the
song was also explored and presented.

CHAPTER 2

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses the historical-biographical analysis of the song, “Skinny Love” exploring the
themes and context. The linguistic strategies are also presented focusing on the levels of analysis: lexical,
grammar and semantics.

A. Lexical Patterns

1. Imperatives

A sentence in the imperative mood expresses commands or requests. It indicates that the
speaker desires for the action expressed in the sentence to take place. In most imperative
sentences, there’s an implied “you.” These lines from the song are in the imperative mood:

“Come on skinny love just last the year”

“Pour a little salt we were never here”

“Cut out all the ropes and let me fall”

“Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere”

The lines above desires action to occur. The author wants to emphasize in the line, “Come
on skinny love just last the year” that is begging for the relationship to last a little longer. He
 knows it will not work out because she (the implied “you”) cannot nurture the love, so he is
just begging that it last long enough so that he can prepare himself for the inevitable
breakup.

2. Repetition

Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make
an idea clearer. These are the lines from the song that employs repetition:

Come on skinny love just last the year

Pour a little salt we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

And I told you to be patient

And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted?
And then who the hell was I?
And now I'm breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines

Who will love you?

Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?

There is a constant repetition of the words and phrases “my”, “and”, “and I told you to be”
and “who will be”.

The repetition of the word “my” is called Epizeuxis or Palilogia. It is the repetition of a single
word, with no other words in between. This is derived from Greek for "fastening together".

“and”, “and I told you to be” and “who will be” are examples of Anaphora. It is the
repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause. It comes from the Greek
phrase "carrying up or back".

The use of repetition and imperatives in the lines mentioned above are employed for
emphasis as these are the things that the author has been asking his love to do, and if she
would just do them, the relationship would have lived and been perfect.
B. Lexicogrammar

Clause Process type Mood Speech Function

1. Come on, Skinny Love Verbal Imperative Command

2. Just last the year Verbal Imperative Command

3. Pour a little salt Material Imperative Command

4. We were never here Relational Declarative Statement

Staring at a sink of blood and Relational Declarative Statement

crushed veneer
5.
6. I tell my love to wreck it all Verbal Imperative Command

7. to wreck it all Verbal Imperative Command

8. Cut out all the ropes and Material Imperative Command

9. let me fall Behavioral Imperative Command

10. And I told you to be patient Relational Imperative Command

11. And I told you to be fine Relational Imperative Command

12. And I told you to be balanced Relational Imperative Command

13. And I told you to be kind Relational Imperative Command

14. I will be with you Behavioral Declarative Statement

15. I’ll be holding all the tickets Behavioral Declarative Statement

16. You’ll be owning all the fines Behavioral Declarative Command

17. What happened here Verbal Interrogative Question

18. Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere Material Imperative Command

19. Sullen load is full Mental Declarative Statement

20. Now all your love is wasted Verbal Declarative Statement

 21. I am breaking at the britches Behavioral Declarative Statement

22. Who will love you? Relational Interrogative Question

23. Who will fight? Relational Interrogative Question

24. Who will fall far behind? Relational Interrogative Question

When the mood and speech functions are considered , we find Iver’s discourse involves questions,
statements, and commands. The table above shows that commands and statements predominate. The
commands are predominantly expressed via the imperative form; the statements in declarative form.
The questions are considered rhetorical ( who will love you? Who will fight?)

There are also five process type present in the song. The predominant type is the Relational with nine
(9); next is the Verbal with six (6); Behavioral with five (5) ; Material with four (4); Mental with (1).

Mood Speech Function

Declarative 9 Statement 9
Interrogative 4 Question 4
Imperative 12 Command 12

C. Semantic Properties

1. Ambiguity

Ambiguity at the sentence level means a phrase or sentence has more than one
underlying structure, such as these phrases

“Cut out all the ropes and let me fall”

“I'll be holding all the tickets

And you'll be owning all the fines”

“Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere”

 When these lines are taken individually out from the verse, it creates ambiguity in the
meaning itself.

“Cut out all the ropes and let me fall”

This line could mean two things: first, it could mean that the persona is trying to ask for
help as he is or has plans on committing suicide by means of hanging thus the use of
ropes or it simply mean that the persona knows the break is going to happen so he is
trying tell himself to cut off his emotions and fall out of love so it won't hurt as bad.

“I'll be holding all the tickets

And you'll be owning all the fines”

In a literal sense, the persona may have parked a car together with the recipient of the
action. But connotatively, it could mean basically he's holding all the memories and
punishments for the relationship, while she makes out like a bandit with the fine money
so to speak. In other words, he left feeling sad about what has happened, while she
won’t care as much and sees the break as getting her freedom back.

“Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere”

In its denotative meaning, physical intimacy is highlighted as the words “suckle” and
“brassiere” are used. It could also mean that the persona is pleading with his love to
feed off little hope there is left in the relationship. Babies suckle, but if it's a light
brassiere then that means there's not much in that bra to suck on. Basically, he's
pleading with his love to just stay with him a little longer and just hope she will love him
more.

2. Images

Images may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. It

refers to the language that causes people to imagine pictures in their mind. Songs
indirectly appeals to our senses through images.

“Pour a little salt we were never here

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer”

These lines give a visual and kinesthetic image of a fighting scene between the persona
and the recipient of the action. “Sink of blood” and “crushed veneer” are visual images
 that entails an action which is the fight wherein the kinesthetic action comes in, “pour a
little salt you were never here”.

“Sullen load is full; so slow on the split”

Sullen means beat up and moving slow. This is the skinny and malnourished love they
had. They are not breaking up in some passionate way, that their love is dying slowly,
hence, slow on the split (up).

“Right in the moment this order's tall”

A tall order is another way of saying you are asking too much out of something. As much
as he wants to cut his emotions, he knows it's not a feat he can accomplish. He loved
her too much and knows he can't just fall out of love right on the spot.

3. Presupposition

A presupposition is background belief relating to an utterance that must be mutually

known or assumed by the speaker and hearer for the utterance to be considered
appropriate in context.

“Come on skinny love just last the year”

It presupposes that they are not going to last.

“Pour a little salt we were never here”

It presupposes that they were already there to conclude that they were never been in
that place.

“Cut out all the ropes and let me fall”

It presupposes that there is a rope being tied.

“And I told you to be patient

And told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind”

It presupposes that the recipient of the action has not been patient, fine, balanced and
kind.
 D. Historical-Biographical Approach

This paper uses historical-biographical approach to explain the themes and symbols present in
the song Skinny Love.
In this song, Vernon is singing about his failing relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Christy Smith.
They lived together for the better part of a year in a duplex in the woods off Raleigh's Wade Avenue. For
months, they both felt the relationship ending—"He was always unsettled," she says—and started sharing
their songs about the end with each other.
In an interview with Pitchfork, Vernon was asked, if the song was written for Christy Smith or
Sarah Emma Jensen. He replied,
“I'm not afraid to talk about it, but how do you guarantee it's accurate? To say that "Skinny Love"
is about Christy would not be entirely accurate. We dated and she's an incredibly important person that I
lived with for a long time, but it's about that time in a relationship that I was going through; you're in a
relationship because you need help, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship. And
that's skinny. It doesn't have weight. Skinny love doesn't have a chance because it's not nourished.”
Historical perspective takes into consideration the influence of ‘outside’ factors in shaping the
content of a text. James Vernon in one of his interviews revealed that at the time he wrote the song, he
suffered from mononucleosis, an infectious disease causing abnormally high proportion of monocytes in
the blood. After the breakup of his band DeYarmond Edison, the ending of a relationship, and a bout with
mononucleosis hepatitis, Vernon left Raleigh, North Carolina, and moved back to Wisconsin to spend the
oncoming winter months at his father's cabin in Dunn County, Wisconsin. According to Vernon, it was
during this time that the "Bon Iver" moniker first entered his mind; while bedridden with mononucleosis,
he began watching the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure on DVD. One episode depicts a group of citizens
in Alaska, where the show is set, emerging from their homes into the first snowfall of the winter and

wishing one another bon hiver (pronounced: [bɔn‿ivɛːʁ], French for "good winter"). This was initially

transcribed by Vernon as "boniverre"; however, when he learned of its proper French spelling, he elected
not to use it, deciding "hiver" reminded him too much of "liver", the site of his illness at the time. It was
also during this time that the majority of that album was recorded, including Skinny Love.
 CHAPTER 3
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter synthesizes the research findings and arrives at a conclusion to answer the variables

under study. It also offers fundamental recommendations for literary considerations and research.

Summary of Findings

This study proves that the song “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver has linguistic strategies and literary

techniques present in it. The linguistic aspects of the poem were presented, as noticed in the lexical

patterns (repetition and imperatives) and semantic properties (ambiguity, images and presupposition).

Conclusions

This paper concludes that the integration of the literary techniques and linguistic strategies

answered all the variables in the study. Both aspects served as basis for understanding the song in an in-

depth manner, presenting lexical patterns and semantic properties clearly. It also promotes deeper

comprehension and it added to existing knowledge people have, for merely listening to it.

Recommendations

For further study, the following is recommended by the researcher:

• Intertextuality of songs with different authors or that of the same authors.

• Use of literary techniques and linguistic devices in a Tagalog or Cebuano song.

• Comparative study of traditional and contemporary music.

 • Use of literary techniques and linguistic devices on intertextuality.

• Correlation between Speech Act Theory and Language Expectancy Theory.

• Use of lexical patterns and semantic features in poems, short stories, or novels.

Works Cited

Books

Fromkin, V. (2010), ‘Introduction to Linguistics’ Cengage Learning Asia Pte. Ltd., Philippines, pp. 167-190

Lines, B. (1975), ‘An Introduction to Linguistics’ Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA, pp. 24-38

Online “Functional

Grammar” by Michael Halliday, retrieved from

http://www.annabellelukin.com/hallidays-functional-grammar.html

“Speech Act Theory” Retrieved from

http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/lkamhis/tesl565_sp04/troy/spchact.htm#Speech Act Theory

Other Sources

http://www2.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/Ling102web/mod4-

3_semantics/4mod4.3.4_compositional.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Emma,_Forever_Ago

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/bon-ivers-long-wager/Content?oid=2620914

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/christy-smiths-flotsam-and-krill-delivers-the-stunning-romantic-

flipside-to-bon-ivers-for-emma-forever-ago/Content?oid=1610624

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7989-bon-iver/
http://www.englishmuse.com/2012/01/skinny-love-explained.html

Appendices

Appendix A

Skinny Love

Bon Iver

Come on skinny love just last the year

Pour a little salt we were never here

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

I tell my love to wreck it all

Cut out all the ropes and let me fall

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my

Right in the moment this order's tall

And I told you to be patient

And told you to be fine

And I told you to be balanced

And I told you to be kind

In the morning I'll be with you

But it will be a different "kind"

I'll be holding all the tickets

And you'll be owning all the fines

Come on skinny love what happened here

Suckle on the hope in lite brassiere

 My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my

Sullen load is full; so slow on the split

And I told you to be patient

And I told you to be fine

And I told you to be balanced

And I told you to be kind

And now all your love is wasted?

And then who the hell was I?

And now I'm breaking at the britches

And at the end of all your lines

Who will love you?

Who will fight?

Who will fall far behind?

Appendix B

Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer,

songwriter and producer. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon

Iver. Vernon is also a member of the bands Volcano Choir, The Shouting Matches and Gayngs. Vernon

attended Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, graduating in 1999. He then attended college at

the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, and spent a semester in Ireland. Vernon majored in Religious

Studies and minored in Women's Studies. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report, he

said that he was not ready to study music.

Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2007 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon

released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that

album was recorded while Vernon spent three months in a cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. Bon Iver

won the 2012 Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album for their album Bon

Iver, Bon Iver. The name Bon Iver is derived from the French phrase bon hiver (French pronunciation: [bɔn

‿ivɛːʁ]), meaning "good winter", taken from a greeting on Northern Exposure.