Bilingual Rap Poetry, Pragmatics And Performativity

Natalie Skouson LING 452 Final Article 1: Multilingual Codeswitching in Quebec Rap: Poetry, Pragmatics and Performativity This article was chosen because of the four it seemed to be the most unique. It does not look like it would discuss any subject that I have read academic articles on before. This would mean that I would have the opportunity to learn new information and that the thoughts and insights that I have from this article are unique to it and not other things that that I have read over the years. This is a fairly hard task to accomplish because I do read a lot and there are not very many subjects that I have not read something on. This article started with discussing the reason that this research subject was chosen. The reason†¦show more content†¦This should give more background for the purpose of the research that they are doing. They then go into a short discussion of the research questions that they are focusing on. These questions are, â€Å"(1) What is the nature and function of codeswitc hing, or ‘artistic codemixing’, in Quebec Hip-Hop? (2) how does codeswitching in Hip-Hop contribute to the creation of a new community among young Quebecois? and (3) within the Quebec Hip-Hop community, what does language use tell us about identity construction?† The authors then continue to talk about codeswitching and the results of their research, moving into a discussion of the results that they found and the application of those results. The findings presented in the article did not surprise me because much of what the textbook had to say about code-switching fell along the same lines. The authors mentioned that the rap artists used this form of code-switching to add identity to their rap. The code-switching that they used is unique to them and their style. In the textbook it says: â€Å"But code-switching is often motivated by more volatile components, such as topic, or the speaker’s attitude toward the topic, or identity creation, or solidarity [emp hasis added]†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Van Herk 2012). I think this last point by Van Herk is important to recognize. While the code-switching in rap may have initially been used to create a unique identity for the artist, as more and more artists start to follow in the footsteps