论美国黑人说唱乐的语言特色及其社会影响

摘 要当今世界美国黑人说唱乐已经引起了越来越多的关注，有的国家的音乐人甚至以有自己的说唱乐感到荣耀。说唱乐由于继承了黑人英语的语言特点而自成一格，正是由于这样的语言特点才使得说唱乐获得如此的成功。本文正是对说唱乐里独特的语言特点进行了分析。而说唱乐由于其巨大的影响，甚至已经使英语本身发生了变化，尤其是在美语当中。不论是在美国还是在其他国家，说唱乐尤其受到年轻人的喜欢，并对他们产生了重要的影响。对于这一方面本文也有分析。关键词：黑人英语；说唱乐；语言特点；社会影响ABSTRACTNowadays, the American Black Rap music has been attracting more and more attention all over the world. Some of the musicians of different countries even feel proud for having their own typical Rap music. It is Rap musics inheriting the characteristics of American Black English that makes it achieve such a great success. As a result, this thesis analyzed the representative characteristics of the English language used in Rap music. The English itself even has been changed by Rap music because of its great influence, especially in American English. Rap music is especially hot among youths and has made great influence on both their language and their behaviors, no matter whether it is in the United States or European countries, even in some third world countries. This thesis also covered some of this aspect. Key words：Black English; rap music; language features; social influenceContents1Introduction .12Researches on Black English and Rap music .22.1 Researches on Black English home and abroad.22.2 Researches on Rap music home and abroad .33. The Black English in Rap music.53.1 Definition of Black English .53.2 Characteristics of Black English .63.3 Language Features of the Black English in Rap .73.3.1 Stylistic Features .83.3.2 Phonological Features .113.3.3 Grammatical Feature.123.3.4 Lexical features .144. Influences of Rap music on American society .174.1 Social Values of Rap lyrics .174.2 Impact of Rap Music on Youths .185. Conclusion.21Acknowledgements.22References .231IntroductionLanguage can be regarded as a communicative medium and carrier of culture and music historically has been a medium for social expression. This social expression can take many forms, from triumph and hope to utter frustration and despair. Regardless of the catalyst that creates it, music serves to stimulate the mind, stir the soul, and elicit emotions 1. Rap or Hip Hop music, emerging in the rough and tumble of Americas predominantly black inner city neighborhoods, is one of the most fashionable musical genres in popular culture today. The combinative product of language and music employs its unique strength to shake and move peoples hearts, especially those of American youth.My interest in the study of rap music was prompted by those excellent records that rap songs achieved even in this competitive art circle. It has been said that music is a reflection of the cultural and political environment from which it is born. Rap music emerged as an aesthetic cultural expression of urban African American youth in Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s. It has been denoted as the poetry of the youth who are often disregarded as a result of their race and class 1. The United States is acknowledged for its advance in modernization, democracy and freedom but is also notorious for the violence, drug, crimes, political scandals, etc. All of these issues are exhibited incisively and vividly by rap artists with the frequent use of Black English. Therefore, the study on rap music would be a new visual angle for us to explore African American English variety and subculture of the United States.In spite of that, recent studies are not very encouraging in the field of this specific language variety for its special combination with the black music culture. Most sociologists, linguists and psychologist believe that Rap becomes a means of self-differentiation that helps forge group identity, solidarity and ethnic pride, and the language used in Rap is often a kind of passive resistance to oppression, discrimination or cultural aggression. Likewise, its a fact that Black English has become an important constituent of American English with the flourish of Rap music.The last but not the least important reason for taking up the present study is the great influence of Black English on American English as a result of the rapid development of popular culture. In addition, with the Rap musics entry into China, the zeal for the western popular culture is higher than ever before. That would not only benefit Chinese peoples English learning a lot, but also push the development of Chinese Rap music into a new stage.2 Researches on Black English and Rap music2.1 Researches on Black English home and abroad Black English is the term used for English variants spoken by some African-Americans, and some studies show that some none-African-Americans even speak it. Edwards W.F. pointed out, “It has gone through decades before getting the term of “African-American vernacular English”, which sometimes is shortened as AAE in his Sociolinguistic Behavior in a Detroit Inner-city Black Neighborhood 293-115. Before Black English, a number of names have been used, such as Ebonics and Black Vernacular English. During the mid and late 1960s, the name Negro-None-Standard English was often used in Zhao Shuguangs research during the writing Prelimilary Exploration of the Impact on the Development of South and North Americas Music from Black English3. It is obvious that the terms for this language variety change more or less in step with terms of self-identification that speak for it.Sociologists, linguists and psychologists generally believe that it is common for oppressed people (like African slaves in the Americas) to choose a different dialect from their oppressors. This is done to subtly rebel against the oppressor and his culture, and to differentiate themselves, as well as to cultivate pride among their community. Zhang Ming laid out his view above in the article The coming into being and features of Black English 423-26.Like other studies, the main purpose of studying Black English is better to serve the society. Those are the favorite subjects for western linguistics, whereas studies on Black English in China are not as heated as that of America.Studies on relationship between society and language in China maybe traced back to the beginning of civilization. However, the notion of sociolinguistics has been introduced in China in 1980s with the introduction of the foreign monographs. From then on, a discipline called sociolinguistics has been set up in China. But studies of Black English are really scant compared with that of America, because the main purpose of the study is to benefit society. There are more general introductions of sociolinguistics than detailed descriptions of Black English, which is certainly determined by the situations of China. There are still some papers or chapters in books introducing what Black English is and what features it possesses, though they come out much later and have no breakthrough in researching, just representing what have already been found in USA.2.2 Researches on Rap music home and abroadThe Oxford English Dictionary defines “Rap” as “a style of popular music (developed by New York Blacks in the 1970s) in which words (usually improvised) are spoken rhythmically and often in rhyming sentences over an instrumental backing”. Its original meaning is to identify and signify a particular sound that is made when one solid object is struck against another and the sound of a Rap is sometimes used as a means of signaling anything heavier than what would be an ordinary blow. As Chen Daoming put, “Rap itself is a musical genre, which combines unsung rhythmical rhyming texts with beats, which are in fact the same that funk music uses”, in The Feelings towards Colored Skin Culture of Black Americans Music 547-80. Greg Dimitriadis658-95 explores the fascinating subject of black youths textual readings and dynamic usage of Hip Hop and Rap music in his book Performing Identity or Performing Culture. His fresh point is the effort to link his claim about the performativity of identity to grounded pedagogical practice and policy initiatives.In African American English, Green 7124-146 presents an overview of speech events, within which braggadocio style, signification and toasts are discussed in Rap lyrics.Spears 8 examines Rap from a historical standpoint, by concentrating on form and content in Race and Ideology: Language Symbolism, and Popular Culture. He holds that the language of Rap is primarily AAE, and Rap can be understood as a form of cultural resistance.Why white kids love Hip-Hop unmasks the reason why Hip Hop appeal to white youth. Kitwana 945-49 largely concerns Hip Hop itself, especially the terrain of popular culture, youth culture, economics and politics, where Black and white kids interact.Based on the previous researches, its can be found that Rap has always been a topic examined in the context of sociology, and little study linked to microlinguistics can be found, namely, the researches of Rap slang are limited. Furthermore, there is hardly any book about American Rap music in China since it is still on its way of formation and most of Chinese people, especially the older generation misread and reject this popular culture.3. The Black English in Rap music3.1 Definition of Black EnglishBlack English is a form of American English spoken primarily by African American. Although a Black English speakers dialect may display regional variation, there are still many salient features. The speakers idiolect could contain all these features; it is also called Black Vernacular English (BVE) or Ebonics 10. African-Americans have developed this distinct dialect due to a set of special historical circumstance. African-Americans were slaves until just 150 years ago and their ancestors were Africans who at first spoke many different languages. Also, they have been by and large segregated from all other sections of the population until as recently as 40 years ago, and they have endured frequent harsh treatment and racist government policies 10. All these conditions combined have led to the dialect that is different from the whites language and has become a sign of group identity.Most of the time when people question whether black English is a language, they mean, is it a separate system from English in the way German, Chinese, or Jamaican Creole are separate systems? In this sense, a dialect is a complete system that overlaps to a great degree with some other, super- system 11. Thus Bavarian German is a dialect of German-in-general(but is not a dialect of Swiss German); London English is a dialect of English, and U.S.A. “Broadcast Standard”English is also a dialect of English.Black English is an English dialect. Most of its components in the dimensions of grammar, lexicon, and pronunciations are widely shared with Englisheither standard American English, or with Southern White English, or with vernacular dialects of English around the world12112-113. So its not as separate as German English or Jamaican Creole, which all have very different grammars and lexicons, and which are all unintelligible to monolingual speakers of American English. On the other hand, Black English does have its own distinctive features and functions. It can be spoken badly, or imitated inaccurately, by whites (or blacks) unfamiliar with its rules; and it symbolizes community and cultural values for its speakers that no other dialect of English in the world can convey.3.2 Characteristics of Black EnglishLanguages are primarily spoke phenomenon, and only secondly written. But it is a historical fact that written languages is more prestigious than unwritten ones. This has nothing to do with the complexity or richness or the systematic nature of a languages grammar, however, unwritten languages are just as rich, complex and systematic as written ones.Black English dose not have a vocabulary separate from other varieties of English. However, Black English speakers do use some words, which are not found in other varieties and furthermore use some English words in the ways that differ from the standard dialects. A number of words used in Standard English may also have their origin in Black English or at least in the West African languages that contributed to Black Englishs development 12. A discussion of Black English vocabulary might proceed by nothing except that words can be seen to be composed of a form (a sound signal) and a meaning. In some cases both the form and the meaning are taken from West African sources. In other cases the form is from English but the meaning appears to be derived from West African sources. Some cases are ambiguous and seen to involve what the late Fredric Cassidy called a multiple etymology.Black English and Standard English pronunciation are sometimes quite different. People frequently attach significance to such differences in pronunciation or accent .The study of phonology as the systematic patterning of sounds in language is an important part of sociolinguistics. It should be noted that phonology has nothing to do with spelling 13.The way something is spelt is often not a good indication of the way it “should be”, or much less is pronounced.Since Afro-American English is first used exclusively by black people with relatively poor education, the spelling of words used is generally very easy14. When a fairly complicated meaning needs to be put across, the words involved are still much fewer and much simpler than those used in standard English. For instance, “cool” can indicate meanings including “admirable, “OK”, “very good”, “keeping calm”; “screw” can take place of “doubtful”, “deceive”, “make a bad work of something” and “make love with somebody”. A simple “Shit” comes to mean “bad work”, “waste”, “little boy or girl” and in some cases “drugs” are like heroin. “Stuff” can refer to “thing”, “food”, “ability”, “money” and “marijuana” 13.Simple words, short sentences and grammar lacking many complicated rules which are indispensable in formal English result from the poor education of black American, and render Black English the quality of being easy to speak out. To illustrate, “You ok?” “Are you all right?”, “Wha the fuck?” “ What is wrong?” or “ What is this all about?” And in many cases, be verb is left out, for instance, “You the man” cuts the verb “are”, “ He nice” neglects “is”; When there is a need to use be-verb, invariablely “be” functions as the omnipotent be-verb, taking place of all others like “is” , “are” , “was” and “were”, as in “ I be student now” , “ He be my father”, “ She be my girlfriend then”. Attributive clause and other relatively complicated grammar are rarely seen in Black American English. A random combination of simple words without being meticulous about grammar can work.3.3 Language Features of the Black English in Rap What makes Rap so popular in America Society? With reference to the top 10 most popular Rap songs, we may find that the wide spreading of Rap music owes much to the unique lyrics which employ the typical Black English. Black English arises primarily from an oral tradition that gives voice to Black consciousness, lifestyle, struggle and resistance to the dominant American culture. In the English used in Rap (or we may say Rap English), some words have changed their pronunciations; some have simplified their conjunctions while the grammar also has been changed to a certain extent. Now let us discuss some of the language features of the Black English in rap. 3.3.1 Stylistic Features(1) Rhyme Rap, in particular, exemplifies the close links between African American English and rhyme, and the rhythmic qualities of Black English long antedate the Hip-Hop culture beat. The root or source of this distinctive rhythmic approach lies in the cultures of West Africa. In America, this influence has been particular by evidence in the Black church and African-American conventions of phrasing and delivery in preaching, praying and singing. In the Rap music, the lyrics need a lot of rhythmic effect to make the songs fluent and easy. For example, in the song “Hot in here”, they used 27 words ended with “-in”:“I was like, good gracious ass bodacious Flirtatious, tryin to show patience. Lookin for the right time,. Lookin for,. Im leavin, please believin,. I feedin, No decevin, nothin,. no teasin,. askin for,. bustin,. like touchin you,. gettin,. poppin,. fuckin,. drivin,. hittin,. sweatin,. Checkin,. tellin,. gettin,. placin,. wastin,. kiddin,. somethin,. fittin,. cuttin”.(2) ConcisenessConciseness is another essential stylistic feature of the Black English used in Rap lyrics. Copula ab