Linguistic Variation in Hip Hop: Variable Use of African American Vernacular English by New York Rappers Jay-Z and Nas
By Lewis Lister
Acknowledgements
I would first like to acknowledge and thank Heike Pichler for her invaluable a**istance with this study from the outset. I could not have asked for a more helpful, approachable supervisor
I would also like to thank the creators of Rap Genius and each and every one of its editors and contributors, without whom this dissertation would not have been possible
Thanks also go to Dr. Geneva Smitherman, whose body of work was the initial inspiration for this study, and whose personal correspondence has been both helpful and a**uring
Lastly, a huge thank you to the artists Jay-Z and Nas, whose inspired lyrics I have had the pleasure of an*lysing throughout this study, for producing two of the greatest Hip Hop albums ever written
Abstract
Extensive research has been conducted on the use of African American Vernacular English (see sections 2 & 3.3). This paper looks at this language use in Hip Hop music, more specifically, the music of Hip Hop artists Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) and Nas (Nasir Jones). This study aims to ascertain the extent to which New York artists Jay-Z and Nas adhere to the norms of African American Vernacular English (hereafter referred to as AAVE). As will be discussed in detail in section 2.3, adherence to the AAVE dialect signifies the alignment of a speaker to the cultural practises of that dialect, and the marking of their identity. In light of this, linguistic an*lysis of the data according to eight carefully selected AAVE variants may provide answers to the following research questions:
1. Do the speakers use AAVE variants to any significant extent?
2. Which features are used, and in which linguistic and extra-linguistic contexts are they used?
3. What kind of patterning, if any, emerges in the speakers' use of AAVE variants?
4. Can this pattern be explained according to the principles of Labovian variationist sociolinguistics?
In answering these questions, this paper will provide an account of AAVE identity-marking in popular culture, the implication for further research being that any trends with regard to the AAVE variants used to mark identity will have been uncovered. Further research on other social or linguistic factors that constrain this variation will provide a more complete picture of how this is done