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Abstract: The aim of the study is to reveal the specific features of mondegreen as a type of auditory error. The relevance of the topic can be attributed to heightened interest in the phenomenon under study in world linguistics with insufficient attention to it from Russian authors. The main practical research material encompasses mondegreens presented in two reference publications: “Dictionary of Hearing Errors” by I. S. Samokhin and “Scuse me while I kiss this guy, and other misheard lyrics” by G. Edwards. The study uses the method of source analysis, the comparative method and the classification method. The latter is used to subdivide mondegreens into “comic” and “non-comic”, “confirmed” and “not refuted”. Based on definitions and expanded interpretations, two main characteristics of the mondegreen as a type of mishearing are singled out: 1) comic character; 2) emergence based on song lyrics. However, a more detailed analysis of the scholarly literature has shown that both properties are not integral. In this regard, the definition of the mondegreen formulated by the authors of this article, suggests expanding the functional content of this concept to “extralinguistic humanitarian value” (associated not only with the comic effect). Besides, the above mentioned definition expands the sphere of application of the term “mondegreen” to other works of art besides songs (poems, films, etc.). This reflects the emerging trend and allows considering similar types of auditory errors that do not have separate names within a single concept. Besides, the study establishes the fundamental difference between the mondegreen and the “soramimi”, which is usually understood as a phonetic imitation of a song text, a deliberate creation of a version that sounds similar to the original. At the same time, the difficulty of differentiating these two phenomena in practice, with respect to specific units, is emphasized. It has also been proven that mondegreens can simultaneously be “eggcorns”, which are often contrasted with mondegreens as something appropriate, plausible – with something absurd, contradicting the context. It is noted that full mondegreens-eggcorns are very rare due to the low probability of multi-level coincidence.

About the author(s) :

Ivan S. Samokhin

RUDN University (Moscow, Russian Federation)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-5798

Nataliya L. Ogurechnikova

Moscow State Linguistic University (Moscow, Russian Federation)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2766-6414

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 28.08.2026; date of publication: 31.10.2026

References:

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