Martin Verbeke March 2016 Rappers and Linguistic Variation A study of non-standard language in selected francophone rap tracks University of Stirling Doctoral thesis Academic years 2011-2016 1 Abstract This thesis examines the use of non-standard language, more specifically non-standard vocabulary (i.e. slang, verlan, colloquialisms, vulgarities, foreign borrowings, and abbreviations), in a corpus of selected francophone rap tracks in order both to quantify its use and to investigate what determines its variation, focusing on the impact of diachronic, diatopic, gender and diaphasic determinants. The methodology relies on a lexicographic analysis to produce quantitative results which are then analysed qualitatively by means of extract analyses and semi-structured interviews with francophone rappers. To answer the research questions, the thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter presents the aforementioned methodology and the overall quantitative results from the thesis, while also introducing the notion of variation, which is then tackled in the last four chapters. The second chapter investigates diachronic determinants from two perspectives: different generations of rappers (1990/1991, 2001 and 2011) and one artist throughout his career (Akhenaton in 1991, 2011 and 2011). The third chapter looks at diatopic determinants, analysing the impact of ethnic and spatial origins. Three ethnic origins are compared (rappers of French, Algerian and Senegalese origin), together with three cities (Marseille, Paris and Brussels) and three departments (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne). The fourth chapter focuses on gender determinants, with a comparison of male versus female rappers that also takes broader gender performativity into account. Finally, the fifth chapter examines the impact of diaphasic determinants. It analyses three rap genres (jazz/poetic, ego trip and knowledge rap), which then form the foundation for qualitative discussions of the effect of aesthetics, figures of speech, themes and performance. In conclusion, the contribution to knowledge of this work is the observation that the main determinant of high use of non-standard vocabulary is the performance of modern ego trip. The other determinants do not impact non-standard 2 vocabulary to the same extent quantitatively or systematically, due to the complexity of the contextual and fluid identity performances involved with these determinants. 3 Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank both of my supervisors, Professor Bill Marshall and Dr Cristina Johnston, for their precious guidance and patience these last four years. Many thanks as well to Professor Alex Vanneste from the University of Antwerp who encouraged me to carry out a sociolinguistic analysis of French rap. I am also in debt to all the friendly rap artists who agreed to take part in my interviews and who made an invaluable contribution to this research: Akro, Black Barbie, Disiz, El Matador, Florence Henrotte, L. Sinistros, Scylla, Semji, Shurik’n and Whoopy Jones. Of course, none of this would have been possible without my family and my friends who have my deepest gratitude for their help, support and encouragement since the beginning of this research. This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Françoise Poupart, who showed me that we can always stay positive and do our best even in the midst of adversity. 4 Table of contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................7 1. Research questions ..........................................................................................................7 2. Literature review ........................................................................................................... 13 3. Chapter outline .............................................................................................................. 41 Chapter I: “En mode crime lyrical”, or a general overview of the corpus ............................... 45 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 45 2. Methodology .................................................................................................................. 52 3. Quantitative results and overview of the corpus .......................................................... 69 4. Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter II: “NTM, Solaar, IAM, c’est de l’antiquité”, or an analysis of diachronic determinants ........................................................................................................................... 89 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 89 2. Diachronic determinants of the Ile-de-France rappers’ NSL use ................................ 96 3. Diachronic determinants of Akhenaton’s NSL use throughout his career ................ 106 4. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 117 Chapter III: “Hauts-de-Seine, majeur en l’air sur la piste”, or an analysis of diatopic determinants ......................................................................................................................... 120 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 120 2. Quantitative data and qualitative analysis of the ethnic determinants ...................... 130 3. Quantitative data and qualitative analysis of the spatial determinants ..................... 141 4. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 155 Chapter IV: “Cessez de bousculer l’exclue à la gueule masculine”, or an analysis of gender determinants ......................................................................................................................... 157 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 157 2. Quantitative data and qualitative analysis of the gender determinants .................... 167 3. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 191 Chapter V: “Mon rap prend de la protéine”, or an analysis of diaphasic determinants ........... 193 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 193 2. Quantitative data and qualitative analysis of the diaphasic determinants ................ 202 3. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 230 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 232 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 240 5 1. References.................................................................................................................... 240 2. Interviews .................................................................................................................... 260 Discography ........................................................................................................................ 261 1. References.................................................................................................................... 261 2. Corpus ......................................................................................................................... 261 Appendix I: questionnaire .................................................................................................. 267 Appendix II: quantitative results ....................................................................................... 269 1. Overall quantitative results ......................................................................................... 269 2.1. Diachronic determinants (1): Ile-de-France rappers............................................... 270 2.2. Diachronic determinants (2): Akhenaton throughout his career ............................ 271 3.1. Diatopic determinants (1): ethnic origins ................................................................ 271 3.2. Diatopic determinants (2): cities .............................................................................. 272 3.3. Diatopic determinants (3): départements.................................................................. 273 4. Gender determinants: ................................................................................................. 274 5. Diaphasic determinants: ............................................................................................. 275 6 Introduction 1. Research questions Over the last twenty-five years, French rap has enjoyed increasing success in France and the French-speaking world. For example, only four French rap albums were released in 1991 against 185 in 2014, two of which made it to the top-ten list of the bestselling albums of the year (see Coantiec, 2014; Rap2france, 2014; and Rapgenius, 2014).1 For many young French-speaking people,