A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SLANG AND CATCHY PHRASES USED IN SOME SELECTED NIGERIAN HIP-HOP SONGS

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Department of English and Linguistics

A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SLANG AND CATCHY PHRASES USED IN SOME SELECTED NIGERIAN HIP-HOP SONGS.

ABSTRACT

Slangy expressions and catchy phrases are deliberately used in hip-hop songs in order to reduce the degree of vulgarity in the content of the song so as not to disrupt society moral norms, and to increase the rate of acceptability of such song amidst listeners, to avoid direct stating of the name of the referent (s) in a satirical song for instance, and also for singers to create a landmark worth discussing even while the song is no longer in vogue.

Aside all these, slang forms and catchy phrases give linguistic aesthetics to song and most importantly, they enable singers to pass across a whole lot of messages, even while they utter just few of these messages. This implies that there are hidden messages in slang forms and catchy phrases used in hip-hop songs, and for these hidden messages to be known to listeners, a particular level of language analysis has to be put in place. This level is found to be pragmatics.  It is therefore to this end that this study sets out to undertake a pragmatic analysis of slang and catchy phrases used in some selected Nigerian hip-hop songs.

The objective of this study is to identify the real meanings of slang forms and catchy phrases that are used in Nigerian hip-hop songs, with reference to the overall meanings of these songs themselves. This identification will in turn help us to state the reasons why they (these slang forms and catchy phrases) are used in the songs and their contributions to the singers’ intended meanings of these songs. Haven achieved this objective, we conclude that, for real meanings of hip-hop songs to be known to all and sundry, a pragmatic analysis is necessary.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

General Introduction

Purpose of the Research

Justification of the Study

14                   Research question

15                   Research Hypothesis

16                   Scope of the Study

17                   Methodology of Research

20           CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

21              Pragmatic

2110             Goals of Pragmatics and its Theories

2111              Goals of Pragmatics Theories

2120             Theories of Pragmatics

2121AJL  Austin’s Theory

2122John R Searle’s Theory

2123Kent Bach and Robert Harnish’s Theory

2130Elements of Pragmatic

2131Intention

2132Presupposition

2133Inference

2134Reference

213 5Implicature

2136Speech Act

2137Context

22                   Aspects of meaning in pragmatics

221            Meaning

222     Denotation and connotation

223            Encoding and decoding             

23            Slang             

231            Kinds of slang

232               Usages of slang           

24            Hip-hop

241            Definition and evolution of hip-hop

242            Old school hip-hop            

243            Golden era of hip-hop

244            Hip-hop in Nigeria            

30 CHAPTER THREE:  DATA ANALYSIS

31Song A: - ‘Maryjane’ by vector da viper

311Short   summary

312Identified slangy forms

213Analysis of identified slangy forms

32Song B:-‘Petepete’   (mud) by 9ice

321Short summary

322Identified catchy phrases

323Analysis of identified catchy phrases

33Song C:-‘Otiyanyan’  by Slimjoe

331Short summary

332Identified slangy forms/Catchy phrases

333Analysis of identified slangy forms/catchy phrases

34Song D:-‘Enter d place’ by 2face Idibia

341Short summary  

342Identified slangy forms

343Analysis of identified slangy forms

40                CHAPTER FOUR:  SUMMARY, FINDINGS &CONCLUSION

41Introduction

42Summary

43Findings

44Conclusions

                        Bibliography

                        Appendix

10 CHAPTER ONE

11 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Language is a major and an indispensable tool in human existence No wonder Microsoft Encarta (2009) defines it as “the principal means used by human beings to communicate with one another” Language is primarily spoken, although it can be transferred to other media such as written, non-verbal and so on It is therefore, the bedrock of communication which holds a society together 

Communication occurs in various ways: in the forms of, interaction through conversation (discourse), speech delivery, the media (such as radio and television), sign language, music (irrespective of the genre) and many others It is a point worth nothing here that, in each of these forms, pieces of information are essentially being invested with different senses(meanings), and passed across to different kinds of individuals who in turn deduce various meanings from the information passed, based on their individual views and prejudices about such information Therefore, Mr Ade’s interpretation of “i love you” may be different from that of Miss Kemi’s, even if the person singing/saying the utterance is the same The whole of this process is called “encoding and decoding”

Hip-hop is one of the genres of music, it is denotatively referred to as a type of modern dance music with spoken words and a steady beat played on electronic instruments The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000, p566) Nigerian hip-hop, the major concern of this research work consists of hip-hop songs, written, composed, arranged, sung, promoted, and marketed in Nigeria for NigeriansThe composition of Nigerian hip-hop songs involves the careful use of lexis (the total of words or vocabulary in a language) which appropriately expresses minds of hip-hop singersAnother important aspect in the lexis of Nigerian hip-hop is the “use of slang” Elbe, (1996,p3) defines slang as an ever changing and fashionable set of vocabulary of sociability used to express or reinforce identity cohesiveness within a group with a trend or fashion in a society at large 

It is to be  noted that, certain lexical items are used in Nigerian hip-hop songs, especially those sung in Nigerian native languages (Yoruba,  Igbo and Hausa), which do not perfectly fit into the space of a slang but are at the same time, not to be categorized as conventional day to day lexis These lexical items for the purpose of this work, are tagged, “Catchy phrases” An example is Atilaawi (Yoruba) (meaning “the one, whom we are talking about’’) which is deliberately chosen by a Yoruba hip-hop singer to satirize (criticize) a particular leader

At this juncture, we can easily assert, that slangy forms and catchy phrases take an important quota in hip-hop songs in NigeriaHowever, if the real meanings of these slangy forms and catchy phrases within the contexts of these songs will be known, a particular level of language analysis has to be put in place This level of language analysis is found to be pragmatics

Adegbija (1999, p18) defines pragmatics as “the study of language use in particular communicative contexts” Pragmatics is an important aspect in the use of slangy expressions because it is necessary to decode the messages embedded in slang Olukoya (2010, p2), this is to enable listeners to deduce the overall meanings of the utterance within which these slangy forms are used

As a result of this, in this research work, we intend to identify the real meanings of slangy expressions and catchy phrases that are used in Nigerian hip-hop songs with reference to the overall meanings of these songs themselves This will enable us to point out the reason why they were used in the songs and their contributions to the singers’ intended meanings The purpose of all these is to make this form of music more accessible to all and sundry by enhancing their comprehension through a pragmatic analysis

12                 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

 The purpose of this essay is to justify the deliberate insertion of slangy expressions and catchy phrases in the composition and rendition of Nigerian hip-hop songs The study aims at asserting the fact that the singers’ intended meanings of these songs would not have been realizable without these slangy expressions and catchy phrases used in them It therefore pragmatically analyses these slangy forms and catchy phrases with reference to the overall meanings of the songs

JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

In the course of gathering materials for this research work, we came across several other researches but only two of them are related to the topic in question They are “A pragmatic Analysis of Slang Forms Used for Females Students in the university of Ilorin” Olukoya, B (2010) and “A pragmatic Analysis of the Titles of English Church lyrics” Indarno (2000) None of these two deal with the specific focus of this research work This essay is therefore embarked upon to add to existing knowledge and to enable readers to know that there is a lot more information beyond the surface meanings of the hip-hop songs they listen to

14 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What are the factors that instigate a hip-hop singer’s choice of lexical   items in the composition of his songs?

What things does the singer generally take for granted about thehearers of the song?

 What makes the inflection of slangy expressions and catchy phrases compulsory, can’t they be avoided?

15     RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1) No hip-hop singer ever uses lexical items in his/her compositionwithout a reason 

2) Listeners of hip-hop songs usually, generally share certain salient facts and information about the context of the songs with the singers

Certain slangy forms and catchy phrases are necessary

 16   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work uses; a maximum of four (4) Nigerian hip-hop songs as data within which slangy forms and catchy phrases will be extracted Also only the illocutionary speech act and five (5) other elements of pragmatics, which are context, presupposition, reference, intention, and inference, will be used in the analysis This restriction is due to the fact that there are a lot of elements in pragmatics, some of which are specifically gotten from pragmatic and some others, gotten from theories of meaning and semantics Therefore, in order to be explicit and to stay within the allocated paper space for this research work, this restriction is necessary

17     METHODOLOGY

In carrying out this research work, four (4) Nigerian hip-hop songs will be selected as data within which slangy forms and unusual lexical items will be extracted They are, “Maryjane” by vector Da Viper, “Petepete`” by 9ice, “Otiyanyan” by Slimjoe, and ‘‘Enter the place” by 2face (Artists’ names are written in the forms they are referred to, by Nigerians and tracks are produced in Nigeria for Nigerians) The albums within which these tracks will be extracted respectively are State of Surprise (2010), Tradition (2010), Otiyanyan Reloaded (2010) and Unstoppable (2010)

The criteria for selecting these tracks revolve around language, whose usage is the primary concern of this work “Maryjane” combines pure English, pidgin version of it, and a German variety of English (Patois), “Petepete” (mud) is sung using a purely native Nigerian language(Yoruba), ‘‘Otiyanyan’’ is sung, using a combination of a native Nigerian language (Yoruba) and the pidgin variety of English language, while ‘‘Enter the place’’ is sung using the pidgin variety of English alone These tracks will be carefully and repeatedly listened to in order to gather their lyrics Also, consultations will be made into library reference materials, textbooks, and the internet in order to get materials relating to pragmatics, music (hip-hop), and slang and also meaning in general

The intended technique of analysis will involve a short general description of the songs, one after the other, and identification of slangy forms and catchy phrases found in them Finally, a detailed pragmatic analysis of these slangy forms and catchy phrases will be done using illocutionary act, context, presupposition, reference, intention and inference It is to be noted, that the direct, full version of the lyrics of the songs will be attached as appendix in this research work