A MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SONG LYRICS IN THE AVENGED SEVENFOLD’S LIFE IS BUT A DREAM… ALBUM

This study aims to identify and analyze the types of derivational and inflectional affixes found in the song lyrics of Avenged Sevenfold’s Life Is but a Dream… album and to examine their contribution to the themes and meanings of the selected songs. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach. The data consisted of the lyrics of ten songs from the album, while the instrumental track “Life Is but a Dream…” was excluded because it contains no lyrics. The data were collected by reading the lyrics repeatedly and listening to the corresponding songs to verify the linguistic data. The analysis was based on the morphological theories proposed by Yule (2010) and Katamba (2019), particularly the characteristics and functions of derivational and inflectional affixes.
The findings revealed a total of 173 different affixed word forms, consisting of 44 derivational forms (25.43%) and 129 inflectional forms (74.57%). The derivational forms consisted of nominal derivation with 21 forms (47.73%), adjectival derivation with 17 forms (38.64%), and adverbial derivation with 6 forms (13.64%), while no verbal derivational form was identified. Meanwhile, the inflectional forms consisted of plural noun inflection with 57 forms (44.19%), progressive/present participle inflection with 27 forms (20.93%), third-person singular present inflection with 16 forms (12.40%), past participle inflection with 15 forms (11.63%), past tense inflection with 8 forms (6.20%), and comparative and superlative inflections with 3 forms (2.33%) each.
The findings indicate that inflectional affixes occurred more frequently than derivational affixes. Derivational affixes primarily contributed to lexical formation by expressing concepts, qualities, states, and descriptions, whereas inflectional affixes primarily served grammatical functions related to number, tense, aspect, agreement, and comparison. Furthermore, both types of affixes contributed to the expression of the songs’ themes, meanings, and lyrical atmospheres, particularly those related to life, death, identity, existence, human experience, emotional conditions, and social concerns. In the context of the album as a progressive heavy metal work, morphology functions as a linguistic resource that supports the expression of its philosophical, existential, emotional, and socially critical themes.