JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
Vol 7, No 2: November 2025

A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF COGNITIVE MEANING IN BOB MARLEY’S SONG LYRICS

Tanjung, Dinda Andini (Unknown)
Asnani, Asnani (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
18 Nov 2025

Abstract

This study explores the cognitive meanings in Bob Marley’s selected songs—One Love, Three Little Birds, and Could You Be Loved—through a semantic approach. Employing a qualitative descriptive method, it identifies meaning relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and polysemy within the lyrics. Findings reveal that Marley’s songs embody profound cognitive meanings, reflecting human experience, social values, and the struggle for justice. His poetic and symbolic language communicates universal messages of peace, solidarity, and resilience. The study demonstrates how cognitive semantics can illuminate the intersection of language, music, and social consciousness. Through a qualitative descriptive method and semantic analysis, the study identifies various meaning relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and polysemy that are embedded within the lyrics. Findings reveal that Marley’s songs embody profound cognitive meanings, reflecting human experience, social values, and the struggle for justice. His poetic and symbolic language communicates universal messages of peace, solidarity, and resilience. The study demonstrates how cognitive semantics can illuminate the intersection of language, music, and social consciousness.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

journaloflanguage

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

Description

Journal of Language (JoL) is an open access and a peer reviewed scientific journal covering research reports in linguistics, literature or language teaching, and critical evaluations of books on the related areas published by Faculty of Literature, Islamic University of North Sumatra (UISU), Medan, ...