Hip-Hop: Linguistic Death to Standard English

Presenters

Megan Helmbrecht, Cedarville University

Type of Submission

Poster

Campus Venue

Dixon Ministry Center, Alumni Hall

Location

Cedarville, OH

Start Date

4-10-2013 1:00 PM

End Date

4-10-2013 5:00 PM

Comments

Abstract:

This research project evaluates the impact that hip-hop music has made on the English language and its speakers today. As technology has improved and become more ubiquitous in the US, the music industry is able to reach younger generations. Popular music now influences the mindset and speech of adolescents. This study examines three common traits found in hip-hop songs: vulgarity, grammatical errors, and jargon. All three characteristics must be able to be heard over the radio at any given time. Thus, as it relates to grammatical errors, I only examined errors that orally impact their listeners like word choice or subject verb agreement. With these traits in mind, I analyzed the Top 10 hip-hop songs that have been most often played on the radio according to radio statistics. In addition to current hip-hop data, I also researched past statistics within the last five years in order to gain a range of artists that have been popular over the years in society. With this research, I provide a critical analysis of the amount of non-standard English that permeates the English language through the medium of hip-hop music.

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