The Asian American voice: a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to rap lyrics

Abstract The Asian American voice: a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to rap lyrics Rapping has long been used by people who are from the margin of society as a way to give a voice (Campbell, 2005; Ibrahim, 1999). As a member of the marginalized group and as the first and only Asian who claimed a seven-time victory on Freestyle Friday on Black Entertainment Television (BET), Jin Au-Yeung has received a noticeable amount of attention. At the same time, he has faced a lot of unfavourable experience as an Asian rapper in American society. This study employs Fairclough‟s (1989) model of CDA approach to find out how Jin constructs his identity and establishes his ideology through his lyrics, and how his construction of identity and establishment of ideology reflect the social practice in American society. Fifteen songs written by Jin were chosen for the analysis according to the three interrelated stages in CDA: description, interpretation and explanation. Results show that Jin constructs his personal identities as a professional rapper and as a Chinese American and establishes his ideology of having one human nation despite the difference in races through his rap lyrics. These are achieved through the co-occurrence of „I‟ and „to be‟, and promoted through the use of rhyming and code-switching. It was also interpreted that Jin‟s personal identities and ideology are shaped through the social ideology on Asian Americans, which is probably reflected through the social practice in American society. Submitted by Ko Wing Shum For the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics at The University of Hong Kong in August 2011. 1. The Asian American voice: a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to rap lyrics by Ko Wing Shum B.A. in English Language Teaching PolyU. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics at The University of Hong Kong August 2011. 2. Declaration. I hereby declare that this dissertation represents my own work, except where due acknowledgement has been made, and that it has not been previously submitted to this or any other institution in application for admission to a degree, diploma or other qualification.. Signed: _______________________________. 3. Acknowledgements. I would like to express my gratitude and say „Thank You‟ to Dr. Ken Lau, my supervisor, for his gentle guidance and kind support throughout the whole study. His ideas and comments have always been helpful, thoughtful and insightful.. Special thanks to Mr. Richard Lee, my M.A. Applied Linguistics classmate, for his kind support all the way while I was working on this dissertation.. 4. CONTENTS. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………... 1.1 Background ………………………………………… 1.2 Purpose and organization of the study ……………. CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………... ……13 2.1 Hip-hop and rap music ……………………………. 14 2.2 The use of rap music ……………………………….. 15 2.2.1 ‘Beliefs’ in society: rap music and. CHAPTER 3. CHAPTER 4. ……8 8 12. ideology ………………………………………... 2.2.2 Voices from the marginalized groups: rap music and identity …………………………….. 2.2.3 The underlying message is the key …………… 2.3 Language, Identity and Ideology ………………….. 2.4 Approaches to language study …………………….. 2.4.1 Linguistics ……………………………………... 2.4.2 Sociolinguistics ………………………………… 2.4.3 Systemic functional linguistics ………………... 2.5 Critical Discourse Analysis: Fairclough’s model …. 15. 2.5.1 Description …………………………………….. 2.5.2 Interpretation ………………………………….. 2.5.3 Explanation ……………………………………. 2.6 CDA: Ivanič’s modification ……………………….. 2.7 Research Questions ……………………………....... METHODOLOGY …………………………………….. 3.1 Subject ……………………………………………… 3.1.1 Jin Au-Yeung and his interest in hip-hop …….. 27 28 28 29 31 31 ……32 32 32. 3.1.2 Jin rising to fame ……………………………… 3.2 Textual data ………………………………………… 3.3 Procedures ………………………………………….. 3.4 Data Analysis ………………………………………... 33 36 37 39. 17 20 21 23 23 24 24 25. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS …………………….. ……40 4.1 Descriptive Stage: Text Analysis …………………... 40 4.1.1 Lexico-syntactical level ……………………….. 41. 5. CHAPTER 5. 4.1.2 Phonological level …………………………….... 46. 4.1.3 Discoursal level ………………………………... 4.2 Interpretive Stage: Processing Analysis ………....... 4.2.1 Personal identity: a Professional Rapper ……. 4.2.2 Ethnic Identity: a Chinese American ………… 4.2.3 Personal Ideology: the Ideology of One Nation ................................................................. 4.3 Explanatory Stage: Social Analysis ……………….. 47 49 49 54 56 59. CONCLUSION ………………………………………… ……62 5.1 The construction of identity ……………………….. 63 5.2 Limitation and suggestion for further research ….. 64. DISCOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………. ……66. REFERENCES. ……………………………………………………………. ……67. APPENDIXES. ……………………………………………………………. ……72. 6. LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. Figure 1 Fairclough’s model of Critical Discourse Analysis ……………... 27. Figure 2 Discourse as text, interaction and context ………………………. 29. Table 1 Word Classes ………………………………………………………. 41. Table 2 Occurrences of pronouns ………………………………………….. 44. 7. CHAPTER. 1. INTRODUCTION. This chapter provides the background of rapping and racial discrimination, as well as Asian Americans as a marginalized ethnic group in the United States. It also outlines the purpose and organization of this dissertation.. 1.1 Background. Man I promise, I'm so self-conscious That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches Rollies and Pasha's done drove me crazy I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that Versace! Then I spent 400 bucks on this Just to be like nigger you ain't up on this! And I can't even go to the grocery store Without some ones that‟s clean and a shirt with a team It seems we living the American dream But the people highest up got the lowest self-esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things For the road to riches and diamond rings We shine because they hate us, floss ‘cause they degrade us We trying to buy back our 40 acres And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigger in a coop/coupe. (All Falls Down, Kanye West). The above verse was extracted from All Falls Down, a rap song written and performed by the Black American rapper, Kanye West. The word „nigger‟, which refers to „a black person‟, in an offensive way, appeared twice. In fact, „nigger‟ has long been. 8. used as a mark of „class and race oppression‟ (Kelley, 1994, p.210; as cited in Low, 2007, p.153) among working-class African Americans who are from rural areas. In the above song, Kanye West told his audience he was one of the Black people who had been looked down on and he was „self-conscious‟ of that. Therefore, he tried to dress up and look rich on the outside, yet, he was still that „nigger‟ in the inside in other people‟s eyes.. West‟s All Falls Down reveals the stereotype, prejudice and discrimination that Black people face every day in American society. Stereotype is a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people (Hilgard, 2000). Prejudice, which is usually grown from stereotypes, is an unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group of people and its individual member (Hilgard, 2000). Discrimination is a negative behaviour, which usually stemmed from prejudicial attitudes (Hilgard, 2000). In short, stereotypes and prejudice are what people think, while discrimination is what people do, which may reflect their thinking. We have no way to measure stereotypes or prejudice imposed on a particular group of people unless that group of people is being discriminated against. In other words, social practices of discrimination can be helpful in understanding stereotypes, usually negative, and prejudice imposed on a group of people.. Discrimination against the Black has a long history – it all started from the Black slavery in Western Europe and North America back in the 16th century. At that time, most slaves were Black – of whom most were Africans – and they were held by Whites. It was not until the 19th century that all the slaves were set free. Yet, the prolonged slavery of „Black slaves, White masters‟ created an indefinite unequal status between the Black and the White in society, like America, for over a century that Black people were inferiors: they did not have equal rights or equal 9. opportunities – they were „crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination‟ (Martin Luther King, 1963).. Facing inequality and having nowhere to vent their frustrations and anger, the Black had their emotion suppressed. Yet, when they talked, they did express the unfairness they faced. The way they talked constituted the African American oral tradition – the African American Vernacular (Holmes, 2001; Campbell, 2005). This was where rapping began. Through rapping, Black Americans voiced what they thought, how they lived, and the inequality and unfairness that they faced every day (Campbell 2005), like in All Falls Down, in which Kanye West gave a voice to the Black people, who have been facing a deep-rooted racial discrimination in American society.. Racial discrimination not only happens to the Black, but also to members of other marginalized ethnic groups, for example, Asian immigrants in America.. Being an Asian in America is regarded as being a member of the marginalized group (Wang, 2007). The label „Asian American‟ was imposed by U.S. governmental agencies and news media to lump different Asian ethnic groups, such as Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, together into one large category (Reyes, 2007). As a result, in American society, Asian Americans have long been positioned in opposition to, or at least separate from, the rest of Black/White Americans. Asian Americans, therefore, have to contend with a „racialised identity‟ which is placed on them by external forces (Reyes, 2007). The hybrid identity that they have – carrying an American passport, but having an Asian face – pushes them to the margin of American society. They face discrimination every day.. 10. The reason why discrimination exists in society is due to the matter of “we” and “they”. It is difficult to get inclusion if one is a member of a marginalized group in a community, as almost every community has a circle that includes „us‟ (the in-group) and excludes „them‟ (the out-group) (Hilgard, 2000). The in-group is the group of people who share a sense of belonging and a feeling of common identity, for example, Hongkongers in Hong Kong, White Americans in the U.S.A. (Hilgard, 2000); while the out-group is the group that people perceive as distinctively different from their group (Hilgard, 2000), for example, Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong, Chinese people in the U.S.A. We do not need to see a protest to notice that there is discrimination against a group of people. Discrimination happens every day, and everywhere. One very common example to discriminate is to call people names, such as „nigger‟.. My questions arise: How do members of the marginalized group give their voice? How does their language reflect the discrimination they face? How does their language reveal the inner conflicts over their hybrid identity?. As rap is used as a channel of giving voices by Black Americans, I believe that it can also be used by Asian American rappers as a channel of voicing what they think, how they live, and the inequality that they face every day living in the margin of American society. This study is designed to find out the ideologies, which are reflected from the use of language, on Asian Americans under the context of American society. In carrying out this study, I analysed the rap lyrics written by Jin Au-Yeung, an Asian American rapper who is well-known for being one of the hall of famers in the rapping competition Freestyle Friday on Black Entertainment Television (BET). The importance of this study is to understand the social ideologies on Asian Americans in 11. American society through language, so as to find out the internal struggles and inner conflicts that Asians face living in America.. 1.2 Purpose and organization of the study. The aim of this study is to look at how the language of Jin Au-Yeung, as an Asian American, reflects his/her identity, his/her ideologies and the ideologies of the society he/she lives in. I want to find out how an Asian American, being a member of the margin in the United States, uses language; and the identities constructed and the social ideologies revealed though the language he uses. It is hoped that the findings of this study can help us understand the struggles and conflicts that Asians face when living in American society.. In the following chapter, past literature about rap music, the interrelationship between language, identity and ideology will be reviewed. In Chapter Three, the framework which is adopted to carry out this study will be described.. Chapter Four reports the findings of the study and discusses the results of the findings in response to the research questions. The last chapter sums up the findings and discusses the limitations of the study, and gives recommendations for further research.. 12. CHAPTER. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. This chapter reviews different key areas – the use of rap music, Asian Americans, language, identity, and ideology. The purpose of this chapter is to review how rap artists construct their identities and ideology through their lyrics, and to show that the spirit of rap music is the message inside. This chapter also aims to introduce a framework to study how identities and ideologies are constructed through the rap lyrics written by an Asian American rap artist.. Section 2.1 gives background information of what rap music is, including the definition and the origin of rap. Section 2.2 is a review on how rap has been used to construct the artists‟ identities, to convey social ideologies and as a way to give the marginalized group a voice. Section 2.3 discusses how language, identity and ideology are interrelated.. Section 2.4 reviews some approaches to the study of language: linguistics, which is the mainstream of language study; sociolinguistics, which is concerned with the relationship between language and society; and systemic functional linguistics, which connects functions and grammatical systems. As they are not the best way to study the connection between language, identity and ideology, a critical study of language is introduced in the section that follows.. Sections 2.5 and 2.6 discuss the framework of a critical approach to the study of language built by Norman Fairclough (1989), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which is also the theoretical framework adopted in this study. 13. 2.1 Hip-hop and rap music. This section discusses the origin of rapping, which is one element of the hip-hop culture, and its lexical-grammatical differences when compared to standard language.. Originated in the 1970s, hip-hop is a culture of Black Americans which reflects ideologies of social practice and their ways of life. The pioneer of this unique culture is the Jamaican DJ Kool Herc. Since then, hip-hop has been developed from an underground urban movement in New York City to the entertainment industry across America and around the world (Alim, 2001, Adams and Fuller, 2006, Campbell, 2005).. Hip-hop consists of four elements: rapping, spinning, break-dancing and graffiti writing (Sarkar & Allen, 2007). This dissertation focuses on rapping, as through rap lyrics, the establishment of identities and ideologies – what this study aims to find out – is revealed. The way how rapping is used to achieve this will be further discussed later in this chapter.. Rapping existed long before the hip-hop culture originated: it was the vernacular voice of the Black, and it constituted the African American oral tradition (Campbell, 2005). In modern society, rapping, also known as emceeing, is one of the elements of the hip-hop culture which consists of the „aesthetic place of verbal rhymes over musical beats‟ (Alim & Pennycook, 2007, p.90). Campbell (2005) pointed out that rap contains informal and non-standard English which is sometimes ungrammatical, and that nowadays, what most people recognize about rap is the obscure vocabulary and the 14. ever-increasing catalogue of hip-hop slang. There are various definitions of rapping. Major (1994) defined rapping as „to hold a conversation: a long, impressive lyrical social or political monologue; rapid, clever talk; rhyming monologue; conversation as a highly self-conscious art form‟ (cited in Campbell 2005, p.35); while Smitherman (1994) associated rap with talk, and pointed out that rapping is „any kind of strong aggressive, highly fluent, powerful talk‟ (cited in Campbell 2005, p.35). All these suggested that rap is a musical art form as well as a non-standard form of language.. The following section will discuss how rap music has been used by people to reflect who they are and what they believe in.. 2.2 The use of rap music. Emerged as an „aesthetic cultural expression‟ in the late 1970s (Adams and Fuller, 2006, p.939), rap music is a medium to convey different messages. In fact, various research studies have shown that through rap, artists voice their minds, reflecting their ideologies and revealing their identities. In this section, literature on how rap music has been used over the decades to construct their identities and convey their social ideologies will be reviewed.. 2.2.1 ‘Beliefs’ in society: rap music and ideology. Themes are found in rap. These themes reflect the ideologies of the rappers and/or society. Conrad et al. (2009) conducted a content analysis of 108 rap music videos to find out the thematic content of them. He discovered two components which emerged 15. in the video thematic content: controversial and community-oriented themes. The variables affecting the controversial component were found to be materialism and misogyny; while the variables affecting the community-oriented component were found to be political awareness, expression of culture, disaffection toward mainstream society and community unity. Results from the comparison also showed that controversial themes, which are more negative, are more likely to occur in rap.. Misogyny – the hatred of women – is a controversial theme, according to Conrad et al. (2009). Adams and Fuller (2006) pointed out that misogyny is, in fact, a deep-rooted and widespread issue in American society. It is an ideology that „reduces women to objects for men‟s ownership, use, or abuse; and diminishes women to expendable beings‟ (Adams and Fuller 2006, p.939). This controversial theme is also common in rap music. Adams and Fuller discussed how the misogynistic ideology is rooted in the social systems in America by examining how lyrics in gangta rap, which is a type of rap music about life in the poor parts of cities, reflect hatred towards women – in particular African American women – by using different wordings to humiliate, degrade and involve them in violent sexual acts. Another purpose of the study was to find out what caused the development of misogynistic language in rap and why there was such intense hatred for African American women in this genre of music. Adams and Fuller, therefore, examined the use of misogynistic ideology in gangsta rap, and found two most common terms that are used as a means of oppressing African American women in misogynistic rap: „bitch‟ and „ho‟ (Adams and Fuller, 2006). They accounted for why misogynistic imagery was used: the influence of dominant culture‟s views about, and the internalized negative stereotypes and images of African American women. They also mentioned three effects that misogynistic rap can have in conjunction with a system which makes that particular ideology works: first, the 16. devaluation effect, which helps male artists to boost themselves when they degrade women and assert their masculinity; second, the defining gender relation effect, which exists as females incorporate themselves into their consciousness and behave in self-destructive ways when they have internalized the misogyny ideology, and as men incorporate sexist as a part of their own life when they have internalized this ideology; and third, desensitization effect, which desenitizes people on harassments and violence towards women, and „legitimizes‟ mistreatments and degradation of women (Adams and Fuller, 2006).. Politics is a community-oriented theme, according to Conrad et al. (2009). In Broder‟s (2005) study, the impact of hip-hop culture on the construction of Japanese identity politics was examined. Broder mentioned the strong association between hip-hop and blackness, as well as some universal themes found in Japanese rap lyrics when hip-hop first emerged in Japan. Yet, he also found out the influence of Hip-hop in Japanese popular culture that Japanese rap artists voice questions they have on their government, society and the world around them through their lyrics in the recent decade.. From the reviewed literature, it can be concluded that different rap artists, regardless of their races, write their lines according to themes. More importantly, the themes that they have in their raps are usually negative ones, which shows that there has been suppression inside them. The question here is: what contributes to the suppression?. 2.2.2 Voices from the marginalized groups: rap music and identity. „Representin‟‟ is what the hip-hop community calls it when a hip-hop artist gives 17. „authentic‟ voice to the attitude, style, and collective identity of his or her hood and peoples‟ (Campbell, 2005, p. 23). In rap music, not only do artists reflect their ideologies as individuals and/or that of society as a whole, but also artists‟ identities. Sometimes, it is hard to disassociate ideology from identity, as the former contributes enormously in shaping the latter. Pennycook (2007) suggested that hip-hop reflects cultural and ideological practices, from a local perspective as well as from a global perspective. He mentioned the global influence of English and hip-hop, and later, argued that with localization, artists can keep their rap music authentic and real, as well as create their own identities through their music.. Low (2007) investigated the avoidance of „the very difficult N-word‟, „nigga‟, which is common in the hip-hop culture, yet also a word which most teachers, especially non-Black ones, will not utter, for it may bring the „already tense relations‟ between the Black popular culture and schools. „Nigga‟ is pronounced the same as „nigger‟, which has a complex social and legal history that it refers to „a Black person‟, in an offensive way, as mentioned in Chapter 1. However, it was found in the rap lyrics that the N-word, „nigga‟, though has the same pronunciation with „nigger‟, has no connotation of colour. Instead, it refers to „brothers‟ or „sisters‟ and connotes „friendship‟. It was found that the spelling shift of the N-word creates another identity of a group of people as well as another ideology. Nevertheless, this N-word is still avoided as it may raise tension and miscommunication. Low‟s study shows that once an ideology is formed and rooted in a nation, and has become a common belief, it is extremely difficult to change it even though a new connotation has been introduced.. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, rap was created by Black Americans. Black Americans used rap to express themselves, such as their ideas and their problems, 18. including human degradation and everyday racism (Ibrahim, 1999). Ibrahim (1999) also agreed that rap gives the voiceless a voice and allows the silenced to address their silence.. Condry (2007) agreed with Broder on the entwined relationship between rap music and black culture. Yet, at the same time, he discovered a distinctive feature found in Japanese rap when he took the voices of Japanese rappers and researched on the identity which they construct and enact through their music. He also suggested that the authenticity of Japanese rapping lies in their lyrics, which address the issue of transnational politics of race.. Newman (2005) pointed out that ethnicity is an important theme in hip-hop and rap. It is common that an artist expresses his/her ethnicity as a personal characteristic, revealing his/her personal identity. It is also common that the artist, especially the one who is from a marginalized group, makes complaints on what he/she is suffering from, giving the marginalized group that he/she belongs to a voice.. In Chapter 1, it was discussed that Black people have been discriminated against in American society, effected from the prolonged Black slavery in history. However, black Americans are not the only ones who are pushed to the margins of society. Because of globalization, different countries have been having an influx of new immigrants. These immigrants, who have a dual identity, also belong to the marginalized group and are often stereotyped or even discriminated against. Rappers who are from the social margins reveal their identity and ideology through their lyrics. Sarkar and Allen (2007) interviewed some rappers and analysed lyrics written by the artists. In their study, they highlighted the „hybrid identities‟ that Quebec hip-hoppers 19. want to promote in the context of migration/resettlement.. As mentioned in Section 2.2.1, misogyny is a common theme in rap lyrics written by men as a medium to play down on women. Facing sexual discrimination and being played down on by society, women also raised their concerns and dissatisfaction on these social practices and ideologies through rap lyrics. Phillips et al. (2005) examined women‟s rap music and found that rap was used as a platform to critique sexism and express solidarity. Through rap, African American women, as members of the marginalized group, construct their ideologies of feminism and womanism, and at the same time, reflect the personal and political struggle that they have experienced in society.. The literature reviewed in this sub-section seems to give a clue to the question asked in the previous one („what contributes to the suppression?‟). The fact that those people who are pushed to the margin of society can be a reason in accounting for why rap songs often have negative themes.. 2.2.3 The underlying message is the key. One very distinctive feature of rap music is the rhymes, which is a repetition of vowels in two or more words. Though rhymes found in rap lyrics do not follow any structures like those found in poems, they are never random. Instead, rhymes found in rap music are used as a tool to put forward a message (Alim, 2001).. In a genre analysis conducted on rap ciphers, which is defined as „improvised round-robin rapping‟ (Newman, 2005, p.401), it was found that rappers did not just 20. place rhymes over musical beats randomly, instead, the practices and forms of the rhymes are in relation to their writers‟ ideologies, meaning that the true essence of rap is not the rhyming; instead, it is the message that the artist wants to convey (Newman, 2005).. To conclude, originated from the Black, rap has been written to convey messages from the point of view of people who are marginalized. Through language, they tell who they are (identity), what they think, and what they believe in (ideology).. 2.3 Language, identity and ideology. Identity is important to every person. It can refer to one‟s own subjective sense of self, to „personal classification markers‟, and to those markers that „delineate group membership(s) (Groebner, 2004; cited in Edwards, 2009, p.16). The question of identity, including who we are, how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, is „marked‟ by the language we use (Edwards, 2009; Thornborrow, 2004). In other words, the language we use displays our identity at a personal level, and is shaped by other people‟s views of who we are at a social level.. Ideology is important to society. It is vital to mention that ideologies are closely linked to language, which is a form of social behaviour (Fairclough, 1989). Fairclough (1989, p.2) defines ideology as „mechanism of power in modern society‟ which relies on „common-sense assumptions‟. In accounting for what ideology means, he associates language and power: connections between language use and unequal relations of power (Fairclough, 2001). Fairclough further elaborates on „common-sense 21. assumptions‟ that they are „implicit in the conventions according to which people interact linguistically, and of which people are generally not consciously aware‟ (Fairclough, 2001, p.2). These „common-sense assumptions‟ can be ideologically shaped by relations of power. According to Fairclough (2001), ideologies have close connections with power, for the nature of the ideological assumptions depends on the power relations, and for they are a means of legitimizing existing social relations and differences of power. Fairclough (2001) also suggests that ideologies have close connections with language, for the use of language is the most common form of social behaviour, and for language is the form of social behaviour where we rely most on „common-sense assumptions‟. In short, ideology is embedded in the use of language, and through ideology, power is exercised.. Like Fairclough, Wodak (1989) also agrees that ideologies are closely linked to language. Her view on ideologies is that they create a „secondary reality‟ which a person believes in, and that this „secondary reality‟ manifests in its own language. Indicators of this new reality are „found on all linguistic levels: in the lexicon, in the syntax, on the text and discourse level and even in the phonology‟ (Wodak, 1989, p.140). Wodak (1989) analysed two passages, written by two politicians, of a „Club-2‟ discussion, which is broadcast in Austria. She identified some mechanisms and functions of political jargon. Results in her study showed that political groups have their own language and they portray themselves via that language – both politicians used technical terms and slogans to embellish their self-representation: one presented himself as logical, “cool” and rational, while the other presented himself as a committed and active fight. Wodak then concluded that jargon functioned as a self-portrayal among these politicians and that ideology at that time was reflected in presentations of self. 22. The strong interrelationship among language, identity, and ideology suggests that the language produced by a person reflects his/her personal identity and individual ideology, as well as the ideology of the community he/she has lived in. The reason why a person‟s language can show so much of that person is because the production of his/her language is shaped through identity and ideology: the ideology rooted in society shapes a person‟s identity and beliefs, and this shaping affects the language choices of that person.. 2.4 Approaches to language study. There are different approaches to the study of language. This section reviews some of these approaches: linguistics, sociolinguistics and systemic functional linguistics. The best approach to the study of language, identity and ideology will then be derived.. 2.4.1 Linguistics. Linguistics is probably the broadest term to refer to the scientific study of language. It can be broken down into different categories: the study of language form, the study of language meaning and the study of language context (Poole, 1999).. The study of language form has the most privileged status (Fairclough, 1989). It refers to the study of „grammar‟, which includes the sound systems of language („phonology‟), the grammatical structure of words („morphology‟) and of sentences („syntax‟), and more formal aspects of meaning („semantics‟). There is no doubt that linguistic analysis contributes a lot in helping us to understand the language we use in 23. a micro sense; however, it does not tell us much about the ideology behind the language we use.. 2.4.2 Sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society (Holmes, 2001). It is concerned with different types of linguistic variation used to express and reflect social factors (Holmes, 2001). For example, a wife may address his husband „Honey‟ at home, but she may call him by his surname, say, „Mr. Smith‟, when they are at office. Sociolinguistics is concerned with what the variation is and how linguistic choices vary – in the above example, „Honey‟ at home and „Mr. Smith‟ at office. It is also concerned with why there is such a variation – in the above example, „Honey‟ to show intimacy and „Mr. Smith‟ to show respect. However, the aspect on „why?‟ and „how?‟ are weak (Fairclough, 1989). The underlying ideology which contributes to shape the variation is not being emphasised on.. 2.4.3 Systemic functional linguistics. Developed by Michael Halliday, Systemic functional linguistics (SFL), also known as systematic functional grammar, is a model of grammar that shows the relationship between functions and grammatical systems (Martin, 2001). In SFL, there is a considerable emphasis on the idea of choice, viewing language as a large network which is unconsciously selected from when speakers are communicating with others (Martin, 2001). SFL also studies the relation between language and context, suggesting that one has to know the context in order to know what the message is about (Martin, 2001). However, SFL seems to put a large amount of focus on one‟s 24. lexical and grammatical choices, but little on how the choices are conditioned and shaped by society.. The above mentioned studies of language are helpful in understanding language and society separately. However, they do not seem to be helpful in understanding them as a combination, as none of them can show the interrelationship between the two.. 2.5 Critical Discourse Analysis: Fairclough’s model. As linguistics, sociolinguistics and systemic functional linguistics cannot show the relationship between language, identity and ideology, another framework is built in order to investigate this interrelationship.. Fairclough has contributed a lot to the discussion on the relationship between language, discourse and society. According to him (1989, p.18), language is „a part of society‟. The relationship between language and society does not lie in the external sense, instead, it lies in the internal sense. As language is a part of society, linguistic phenomena reflect social phenomena; and social phenomena shape linguistic phenomena. Fairclough (1989, p.19) also views language as „a social process‟. He differentiates discourse from text: text is a product and discourse is a process of text production. He further elaborates the differentiation between discourse and text: discourse is a process of social interaction and text is a part of it. Moreover, Fairclough (1989, p.20) sees language as „a socially conditioned process‟. This „process‟ includes the „process of production‟ (of text) and the „process of interpretation‟, and is conditioned by practices of society. An analysis of text includes 25. analysing the productive and interpretative processes; while an analysis of discourse includes analysing the social conditions of production and social conditions of interpretation.. To look at the relationship among language, identity and ideology, a critical theory is needed. Critical, according to Fairclough (1989), aims to uncover connections which may be hidden from people. A critical study of language is an analysis of social interactions which is beyond their linguistic elements. It is an analysis which intends to find out „hidden determinants‟ in the system of social relationships and the „hidden effect‟ they may have (Fairclough, 2001, p.4). It seems that a critical study is not as scientific or objective as some other quantitative studies, which involves analysis of numerical data. However, it must be noted that in the discussion on subjectivity and objectivity in social science, no research is completely objective (Wodak, 1989). A critical analysis aims at revealing inequality and injustice by taking sides with the powerless and suppressed (Wodak, 1989), which is a better approach to studying the interrelationship between language, identity and ideology.. In seeing language as discourse and as social practice, and in illustrating the interrelationship among language, identity and ideology, Fairclough (1989, p.21) built a model – Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) – which „stems from a critical theory of language that sees the use of language as a form of social practice‟ (Janks, 2001, p.26). CDA (see Fig. 1) consists of three dimensions – texts, interactions, and context – which correspond to three interrelated stages:  Description – the stage which is concerned with formal properties of the text  Interpretation – the stage which is concerned with the relationship between text and interaction, and which sees text as the product of the process of production and as 26. the resource in the process of interpretation  Explanation – the stage which is concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context. Figure 1. Fairclough‟s (1989, p.21) model of Critical Discourse Analysis. 2.5.1 Description. This stage involves the description of text. Analysis at this stage involves identifying and „labelling‟ formal features of a text. According to Fairclough (1989), there are three types of value that formal features have: experiential, relational and expressive. Experiential value refers to contents, knowledge and beliefs. A formal feature with experiential value is „a cue to the way in which the text producer‟s experience of the natural or social world is represented‟. Relational value refers to relations and social relationships. A formal feature with relational value is „a cue to the social relationships which are enacted via the text in the discourse‟. Expressive – or connective – value refers to subjects and social identities. A formal feature with expressive value is „a cue. 27. to the producer‟s evaluation (in the widest sense) of the bit of the reality it relates to‟.. 2.5.2 Interpretation. This stage involves the interpretation of the relationship between text and interaction by discourse participants. It involves the „cognitive processes‟ of participants (Fairclough, 2001). At this stage, the analyst is „in the position of offering interpretations of complex and invisible relationships‟ (Fairclough, 1989, p.22).. 2.5.3 Explanation. This stage involves the explanation of the relationship between interaction and social context. Like at the interpretive stage, analysis at this stage involves „offering interpretations of complex and invisible relationships‟ (Fairclough, 1989, p.22). The objective stage is to „portray a discourse as part of a social process, as a social practice, showing how it is determined by social structure‟ (Fairclough 1989, p.135). Here, „social structure‟ refers to relations of power and shapes „common-sense assumptions‟ , which was discussed earlier in 2.6; and „social process‟ and „social practice‟ refer to processes and practices of social struggle. Therefore, this stage sees a discourse as a part of process of social struggle, under the development of relations of power.. It is worth noting that, according to Fairclough (1989, p.22), „what one “sees” in a text, what one regards as worth describing, and what one chooses to emphasize in a description, are all dependent on how one interprets a text.. 28. 2.6 CDA: Ivanič’s modification. Ivanič (1997) has her interpretation of Fairclough‟s model of CDA. According to her, layer 1, which is „text‟, represents „social reality‟ and „social relations and social identities‟ (Fairclough, 1992; cited in Ivanič 1997). Layer 2, the middle layer, represents production and interpretation processes of texts, which is the writer‟s mental struggles that lead to particular identities shown from a text. Layer 3, the outer layer, is the social context which „shapes discourse production, discourse interpretation and the characteristics of the text‟, and have been shaped by the socio-political history of a nation.. On Fairclough‟s model of CDA, Ivanič has added arrows to show that „language is both shaped by and a shaper of social context‟ (Ivanič, 1997, p.43).. Figure 2. Discourse as text, interaction and context (adapted from Fairclough 1989:25). 29. The inward-pointing arrows refer to how the cultural context, together with its values and ideologies, affects the formation of texts, while the outward-pointing arrows refer to how the texts reflect the existing ideologies in the larger cultural context and the ongoing process of social change (Ivanič, 1997).. From the above, it can be concluded that Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is the best approach if one wants to investigate the relationship of language and power, as it starts from analysing the text (language that a person utters), to interpreting the meaning of the chosen utterances, and finally, relating the text analysis and the interpretation to the social context, which contributes to conditioning and shaping the language the person produces.. The discussion so far focuses on the interrelationship between language, identity and ideology. It also suggests that CDA is the most suitable framework in studying this interrelationship. It also reviews the studies of rap music which artists write to reveal social practices and ideology, as well as to construct their identities and give a voice from the perspective of marginalized groups in society. Most literature is on the discrimination and inequality that Black people face in American society, while only very little is on the struggles that members of other marginalized ethnic groups, for example, Asian immigrants in America, face. Therefore, this research study is set to find out the constructed identity of an Asian American rapper and the embedded social ideology that he/she lives in from his/her language.. 30. 2.7 Research Questions. Looking into a person‟s use of language helps to get to know his identity and the ideologies of the society he lives in. The questions here arise: as members of the marginalized group, how do Asian Americans use language? What identities are established and what social ideologies are revealed through the language they use? To find the answers to these questions, I carried out an analysis of the discourse of an Asian American rapper so as to understand how he constructs his identities through language and account for how the society he lives in has shaped his language.. This dissertation is designed to find the answers to the following research questions: (I). How lyrics are used by the Asian American rapper to construct his identity?. (II) What is the relationship between the constructed identity and the social ideologies?. 31. CHAPTER. 3. METHODOLOGY. This chapter introduces Jin Au-Yeung, who is the writer of the textual data, his family background, the community in which he was brought up, and how he got into the hip-hop industry. It also describes how the textual data was chosen and the procedures it took in the data analysis part.. 3.1 Subject. As mentioned in the previous chapters, Asian Americans, who have a dual identity, are in the margin of American society, and hip-hop is the culture of Black Americans. This study aims to understand how an Asian American rapper constructs his identities and ideologies through his lyrics, and how the constructed identities and ideologies are formed under practices in society. The subject chosen, Jin Au-Yeung, is a rapper, song-writer and actor. He is an American-born Chinese who lived in the United States for 24 years, and is fluent in both English and Cantonese. Having this multicultural background and being named as number-one in the article „Top Ten Greatest Asian American Rappers of All Time‟ (Fung, 2010), it is believed that Jin possesses both the sociocultural and linguistic attributes of this study and represents the population of Asian American rappers under the backlash of hip-hop in American society.. 3.1.1 Jin Au-Yeung and his interest in hip-hop. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, U.S.A., Jin Au-Yeung, also known as MC Jin, is 32. the „world‟s first Chinese rapper‟ (Timeout Hong Kong, 2008) and the „first Asian Solo rapper to be signed to a major record label in the United States‟ (The Gospel Herald, 2011). Now, the 29-year-old Asian American rapper is based out of Hong Kong.. In the interviews that he did with the media in America and in Hong Kong (Channel APA, 2009; Sunday Taipan, 2009), Jin talked about his family and his childhood in Miami, and also how he got interested in hip-hop. He was born into a Chinese family. His parents were immigrants from Hong Kong and they ran a Chinese restaurant there. During childhood, Jin helped out in his parents‟ restaurant, one task of which was delivering food. When he was 13 years old, he got interested in the hip-hop culture. In a video that he recorded for ReachedOut.com in 2010, he mentioned that when this interest first started, it was a hobby. He listened to rap music and watched music videos. Gradually, this hobby became his passion. Not only did he listen to a great number of hip-hop songs, but he also memorized all the song lyrics. At the same time, he started to write and rap rhyming lines over musical beats, as well as challenged other fledging rappers on the street who were usually Blacks.. 3.1.2 Jin rising to fame. After the 9/11 incident, Jin and his family moved to New York City, which is the birthplace of hip-hop, and resided near Chinatown. By that time, he had already decided to pursue a career in the music industry. He sent demo tapes to various management companies, and participated in numerous talent shows and freestyle rapping competitions, so as to „get discovered‟ (ReachedOut.com, 2010). After he graduated from high school, he told his parents his decision of not going to college but 33. pursuing a rapping career. He did mention in quite a number of media interviews (SCMP, 2008; Timeout Hong Kong, 2008; Sunday Taipan, 2009) that his parents were upset and disappointed about his decision, as hip-hop is a thing for Black Americans, not for Chinese.. The association between hip-hip and Black Americans is believed to be true not only to Jin‟s parents, but also to Jin‟s competitors and the hip-hop audience. In the freestyle rapping competitions in which Jin participated, his race was brought up and attacked almost every time. In 2002, Jin took part in Freestyle Friday, a rapping competition on 106 & Park broadcast by Black Entertainment Television (BET), his ethnicity and things related to his ethnicity were being brought up by his competitors, all of whom were Black people:. In Week 1, his rival, Hansan, said, “You probably ate too much fortune cookies so you think you‟ll win”. A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie with a slip of paper, which is called a “fortune” with words of wisdom, wrapped inside. Hansan mentioned fortune cookies as they are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States. He might want to be sarcastic about Jin, as a Chinese, taking part in the rapping competition.. In Week 2, the challenger, Sterling, said, “Why you got me battlin‟, Bruce Lee’s grandson? Yo. … Leave rap alone and keep making fortune cookies.” Like Hansan, Sterling also mentioned fortune cookies, which shows that fortune cookies may probably be one of the objects that Americans use to characterize Chinese. In addition, Sterling also brought up Bruce Lee, who was a world-famous Chinese American. This implies that he tried to outgroup Jin from rapping, which is a culture of the Black, by 34. associating Jin with Bruce Lee.. In Week 3, another challenger, Skitzoe, said, “Oh you gotta be kidding me. How‟re you gonna put Dr. Evil (pointing at himself) against Mini Me (pointing at Jin)?” Skitzoe compared himself to Dr. Evil, a villain in the American movie Austin Powers who schemes to take over the world, and compared Jin to Mini Me, the clone of Dr. Evil but one-eighth his size. Skitzoe used this comparison to tease Jin‟s height, as Jin is 5 feet and 6 inches, which is shorter than him.. Despite being attacked on his ethnicity and his built, Jin took the games and defeated his challengers week after week. After seven consecutive victories, he was inducted in the Hall of Fame. He was the first and only Asian among all hall of famers. After being crowned as the seven-time champion, he was signed by Ruff Ryders Entertainment, a well-known New York-based record label and management company which specializes in hip-hop music and which promoted him as the „world‟s first Chinese rapper‟ (Timeout Hong Kong, 2008), and his popularity grew dramatically. Two years later, he released his first album; and as it is entitled in the album, the Rest is History – everything happened since the day he released this album is well-known, and Jin is famous since then.. Between 2004 and 2007, Jin released three studio albums – The Rest is History, Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Proper’ganda and I Promise – and a few mixtapes. In 2008, he came back to Hong Kong to release his fourth studio album, which is also his first Cantonese album, ABC.. While being considered as a Chinese back in America even though he had lived in the 35. States for most of his life, Jin is viewed as an American in Hong Kong despite having a Chinese face (Timeout Hong Kong, 2008). The multicultural identity that Jin carries has pushed him to a marginalized group of the community that he lives in and of the hip-hop social group.. As described in several media articles (Timeout Hong Kong, 2008; Timeout Hong Kong, 2011; The Gospel Herald, 2011), Jin wrote the rap songs for his first album, The Rest is History, based on his Chinese heritage. Jin also mentioned in several media interviews (SCMP, 2008; Sunday Taipan, 2009; Timeout Hong Kong, 2011) that his Chinese album, ABC, was about his dual identity as an American-born Chinese living in the United States and in Hong Kong. Therefore, it can be said that carrying out an analysis of Jin‟s lyrics is valid in finding out the identities and ideologies constructed through the lyrics.. 3.2 Textual data. Being pushed to the margin of American society and the hip-hop world, Jin has come across a lot of struggles and conflicts, which are reflected in his rap lyrics, which are taken as the text for analysis in this study.. The textual data (see Appendix 1) used for the analysis are the rap lyrics of 15 songs, 9,878 words in total, written and performed by Jin Au-Yeung. The chosen songs are from the four studio albums that Jin released between 2003 and 2008, The Rest is History, Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Properganda, I Promise and ABC. As Jin mentioned that his songs were about his Chinese heritage and himself as Chinese 36. American rapper, the textual data for this study represents a purposive sample.. The 15 songs (out of 56), which form the textual data, are as follows:. 01 02 03 04 05. Here Now Learn Chinese Love Story C‟mon Karaoke Night. [Track 1 – The Rest is History] [Track 9 – The Rest is History] [Track 12 – The Rest is History] [Track 14 – The Rest is History] [Track 15 – The Rest is History]. 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13. Same Cry Mr. Popular No More Fans 100 Thousand Sold It‟s all Over I Promise ABC 真正 Hip Hop. [Track 16 – The Rest is History] [Track 4 – Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Proper’ganda] [Track 7 – Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Proper’ganda] [Track 11 – Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Proper’ganda] [Track 14 – Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Proper’ganda] [Track 14 – I Promise] [Track 1 – ABC] [Track 2 – ABC]. (lit. „It‟s Hip Hop‟) 14 識講唔識睇. [Track 4 – ABC]. (lit. „Speak Can‟t Read‟) 15 1997 [Track 9 – ABC]. 3.3 Procedures. As this study aims to find out how Jin constructs his identities and ideologies through his rap discourse, and how these identities and ideologies are shaped under the community that he lives in, I listed out keywords which show his sociocultural attributes. The keywords are as follows:. a. Chinese 37. b. American c. d. e. f.. ABC China, and Hong Kong The United States of America Rapper, or emcee. In choosing the 15 songs to form the textual data for this study, I listened to all the 56 songs in the four albums and read the lyrics of all songs so as to find out if the above keywords are present. Songs carrying any of the above keywords were shortlisted. I studied the lyrics of the songs on the shortlist again in order to find out the theme of each song on the list. At last, it was found that 15 songs are about who Jin is and what Jin thinks, while others carry other themes, such as the phenomenon of downloading music, making a living, the media in Hong Kong, etc. Those 15 songs were then picked for the analysis.. After the 15 songs were picked, a data analysis, following the framework developed by Fairclough (1989), was carried out so as to find out how Jin constructs his identities and ideologies through his rap discourse, and to account for how those are shaped by the sociocultural practices in America.. 3.4 Data Analysis. Fairclough‟s (1989) model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was adopted in carrying out the data analysis. The data analysis was done according to the three interacted stages as developed by Fairclough.. 38. In the description stage (text analysis), the text was studied and unpacked according to three different levels: lexical-syntactical, phonological, and discourse. First, words which belong to different classes were identified, highlighted (see Appendix 2) and organized into tables so as to find out their frequency of occurrences. Next, how the lyrics were organized into rhymes so as to convey the meaning were also described. Last, the use of code-switching to promote the subject‟s identity was discussed.. In the interpretative stage (processing analysis), the identities and ideologies Jin constructed through his rap lyrics were interpreted. Examples showing different identities and ideologies of Jin established in the lyrics were cited.. In the explanatory stage (social analysis), the identities and ideologies established through Jin‟s rap lyrics, which had been discussed in the previous two stages, were related to the social practice in the United States, in which Jin lived for 24 years, as well as the race issue in the hip-hop industry.. 39. CHAPTER. 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Through conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Jin Au-Yeung‟s rap lyrics, how Jin constructs his identities and establishes his ideology will be discussed in this chapter. Based on the results, the social ideology in America in shaping these identities and ideology, which are revealed through Jin‟s language, will be explored.. Following Fairclough‟s model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the texts in this chapter are analysed at three interrelated stages – descriptive, interpretative and explanatory – as described in Chapter 2.. At the descriptive stage, the text is unpacked according to three levels: lexico-syntactical, phonological and discoursal. Based on these three levels, the identities and ideology of the subject will be interpreted. Finally, the explanatory stage will relate the description and the interpretation will be related to the social practice of the community, which helps to shape the identities and the ideology of the subject.. 4.1 Descriptive Stage: Text Analysis. At this stage, the texts, i.e. the lyrics of the chosen songs, were studied and unpacked. The reason why unpacking a text is important is that it is impossible to read meaning directly off the textual signs (Fairclough, 1989).. 40. 4.1.1 Lexico-syntactical level. The lexico-syntactical level involves the study of the words used in the text and how the words are organized according to the rule of syntax (Jackson & Amvela, 2004). In a text, there are different classes of words. Common word classes include nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Words in the rap lyrics which fall into different classes are indicated in Table 1 (Also see Appendix 2 for the colour-coding of the word classes).. Noun. Verb. Adjective. Adverb. Pronoun. 01 - Here Now. 60. 139. 19. 20. 121. 02 - Learn Chinese. 152. 136. 23. 12. 110. 03 - Love Story. 79. 145. 30. 16. 139. 04 - C'mon. 91. 154. 55. 10. 143. 05 - Karaoke Night. 117. 107. 37. 28. 81. 06 - Same Cry. 89. 120. 29. 16. 82. 07 - Mr. Popular. 160. 168. 37. 21. 154. 08 - No More Fans. 68. 161. 23. 19. 127. 09 - 100 Thousand Sold. 74. 96. 19. 11. 63. 10 - It's All Over. 117. 108. 64. 8. 92. 11 - I Promise. 96. 206. 26. 8. 195. 12 – ABC 13 - 真正 Hip-hop. 53. 104. 22. 16. 74. 73. 85. 26. 9. 64. 53. 96. 15. 14. 67. 73. 92. 27. 12. 56. 452 (4.6%). 364 (3.7%). 1568 (15.9%). (It‟s Hip-hop) 14 - 識講唔識睇 (Speak, Can‟t Understand) 15 – 1997 Total:. 1355 1917 (13.7%) (19.4%). Table 1. Word classes. It was found that the texts consist of mostly nouns (13.7%), verbs (19.4%), and pronouns (15.9%). This section will focus on these three classes.. 41. Verbs. Almost one-fifth of the texts is made up of verbs, also verb phrases, in various tenses and progression, for example, All I got in this world is my word and I promise. (I Promise). I woke up this morning looked in the mirror. (100 Thousand Sold). Verbs are also used in different forms, like gerunds and infinitives, for example, I‟m just Jin just doing my thing. (Learn Chinese). There‟s not a rapper I‟m trying to mimic. (Here Now). Among all the verbs, nearly one-third are relational verbs, „to be‟, which link a subject with a description of that subject and forming a relationship with that subject (Barry, 2002), as in: Yeah I’m Chinese, and what?. (Learn Chinese). The rest of the verbs are main verbs which described different actions (e.g. „say‟) and states (e.g. „don‟t feel‟), as in: They say I‟m famous I don’t feel special. (Here Now). Pronouns. Pronouns occur second most frequently in the texts. When this category is further explained, it is found that the majority of pronouns in the texts are personal pronouns, which, by definition, are „distinguished by person‟ (Barry, 2002), for example, I, you, we, etc., as in: Yeah I‟m Chinese, and what? Y’all gonna learn Chinese. (Learn Chinese). 42. There are 1,184 personal pronouns in the texts, which is around 80% of the total number of pronouns.. Table 2 shows that the first-person-singular subject pronoun, „I‟, which refers to the speaker, i.e. Jin, is most frequently used, with a total of 344 occurrences, i.e. nearly one-third out of all personal pronouns, for example, I‟m just Jin just doing my thing. (Learn Chinese). When I used to rap I usually got refused and declined. (C’mon). The first-person possessive adjective, „my‟, is also used very frequently, with a total of 123 occurrences, i.e. 10.4%, for example, In every battle the race card was my downfall. (C’Mon). Strangers yet they were my blood and flesh. (Same Cry). This shows that throughout the texts, Jin talks a lot about himself. It is worth mentioning that one-third of the „I‟ co-occurs with the relational verb, „to be‟, for example, „I‟m‟. This co-occurrence shows a relational process, relating „I‟, i.e. Jin, to its identity, for example, I’m not a gimmick. (Here Now). I’m a Chinaman. (Learn Chinese).. 43. Subject Pronoun I 344. Object Pronoun. Possessive Adjective. Possessive Pronoun. me. 39. my 123. mine 1. myself. 3. your 32. yours. yourself. 2. you. 152. you. 65. y'all. 27. y'all. 24. we 53. us. they 52. them. he 14. him. she 8. her 3. 2. Reflexive Pronoun. 0. Chinese Pronoun 我 (I/me) 115 你/你地. 56. (you) our 3. ours 0. 16. their 9. theirs 0. 6. his. 11. her 4. his. 0 我地 (we/us) 2 themselves 1 佢地 (they) 1. ourselves. 0. himself. hers 0. 1. herself 0. 佢. 15. (he/she). Table 2. Occurrences of pronouns. Besides the first-person pronoun, the second-person pronoun, „you‟, is also very frequent, with a total of 179 occurrences, including both „you‟, and „y‟all‟, which is the short form of „you all‟. Who „y‟all‟ refers to is context-dependent. Sometimes, „y‟all‟ refers to the Americans, such as, Y’all gonna learn Chinese When the pumps go off y‟all speak Chinese. (Learn Chinese). In some occurrences, „y‟all‟ refers to his audience, as in: I swear y’all all the fans y’all Ain‟t nobody where‟s the fan y’all. (No More Fans). However, there is an ambiguity in who the „you‟, which can be both a singular or plural pronoun, is referring to, for example: You think I‟m famous I don‟t feel special. (Here Now). I know you think he‟s fam but he‟s really undercover. (Learn Chinese). In the above examples of occurrences, the „you‟ may refer to the one who is listening to the song; at the same time, it may also refer to people that Jin met.. The first-person-plural subject pronoun, „we‟, is repeatedly used, with 53 occurrences. 44. in the texts. Jin uses this pronoun in his lines both inclusively and exclusively. The exclusive use is comparatively more significant, like in: They say we look alike cook alike. (Here Now). We don‟t speak English we speak Chinese. (Learn Chinese). This exclusive „we‟ refers to a collective like „the Chinese people‟, which is the in-group, and excludes the Americans, which is the out-group. The inclusive use is used to refer to „everyone in the world‟, including Jin himself and his audience, as in: Even though I‟m Asian we all related be patient. (C’mon). We may look different but we see the same sky. (Same Cry). Nouns. Nouns, and noun phrases, make up around one-sixth of the texts. A significant number of them are proper nouns which carry a direct association with Jin‟s ethnicity, such as „Chinese‟ (34 times), „ABC‟ (13 times), „Asian‟ (4 times) and „Chink‟ (3 times); as well as his occupation, such as „rapper‟ or „emcee‟ (31 times). These proper nouns, which show his race and his job, are repeatedly used throughout the texts. It is also noteworthy that Jin mentions his name 24 times. In other words, Jin has been telling his audience explicitly what he does and where his origin is throughout his albums.. Besides using nouns, like „rapper‟ and „Chinese‟, which directly refer to his job and ethnicity, Jin also uses other phrases which indirectly refer to his job and ethnicity, such as „perfect timin‟ when I flow‟ (in 100 Thousand Sold) and „I‟m the master of rhythm and tempo‟ (in It’s All Over) to tell his audience that he is a rapper, and ‘hear my footsteps like Yao Ming‟s behind ya‟ (in Here Now) and „In every battle the race card was my downfall‟ (in C’mon) to tell his audience that he belongs to a 45. marginalized ethnic group in America – Chinese. Together with the nouns which carry a direct referral to Jin‟s job and his ethnicity, these phrases create an overall sense about Jin as a rapper and as a Chinese.. 4.1.2 Phonological level. This level involves the sound units of the words. One phonological strategy used in the texts is rhyming, which is a repetition of vowels in two or more words. In fact, rhyming is also a distinctive feature of rap music. Like what Newman (2005) found, Jin‟s rap lyrics are organized into rhymes, most of which are rhyming couplets, occurring in every two lines. There are over 400 rhyming couplets found throughout the texts. Similar to the results presented in Newman‟s study that rhymes were not placed randomly over musical beat but in relation to their writers‟ ideologies, Jin also uses his rhymes as a tool to convey messages he wants his listeners to understand, like in: And ever since I decided that I should [ Step into the industry I told myself that I would [ Never forget my roots…. . . . . . (It’s All Over). The rhyming couplet „should ‟ and „would ‟is used not only to create a phonological effect, but also to create meaning, as he expresses that he wants to be in the rap industry and will always remember his roots, China.. English words are also used to rhyme with the Chinese words in the line that precedes or follows. For example, 多謝你支持  真係唔 easy. . . . . (ABC). 46. (lit. „Thank you for your support, it‟s really not easy‟) 首歌我根本已經識得 sing  咁就唔駛歌詞都唔會俾人殘酷一叮. (識講唔識睇, lit. ‘Speak, Can’t Understand’). (lit. „I‟ve learnt how to sing that song already, so I won‟t be asked to get out even if I don‟t have the lyrics‟). In the above examples, all the rhymed syllables are the final word in the lines. Say, in track 4, if the Chinese equivalence „唱’ had been used instead of „sing‟, it would not have rhymed with „叮’ , the last word in the line that follows. It is interesting to find that there are some lines in which there are Chinese equivalences which rhyme with the last words in the lines that precede or follow, for example, in‟多謝你支持 . 真係唔 easy ’, „easy‟ could have been substituted with „容易’ (lit. easy), in. which the word „易’ also rhymes with „持’ . Therefore, the reason why Jin picks Chinese words to rhyme with English words, or vice versa, may not be the lack of equivalence. Instead, perhaps Jin deliberately inserts an English word to convey that he is an American-born Chinese, highlighting and promoting his hybrid identity, just as the subjects in Sarkar and Allen‟s (2007) study did.. 4.1.3 Discoursal level. At the discoursal level, code alternation was found in the text. There are mainly two types of code-alternation: code-switching and code-mixing. The former is an inter-sentential code-alternation above the clause level, while the latter is an intra-sentential code-alternation below clause level (Holmes, 2001; Isharyanti, 2009). As the distinction between the two is not the focus of this study, I refer both to code-switching, which is defined as „the juxtaposition with the same speech exchange 47. of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or sub-systems‟ (Grumperz, 1982, p.59; cited in Fina, 2007, p.380).. The predominant language of the song lyrics in Jin‟s first three albums, which were released in the U.S.A., is English. Chinese expressions are embedded occasionally in one of the songs, Learn Chinese, only – 17 Chinese phrases with 84 Chinese words out of 778 words in the whole song. However, the predominant language of the song lyrics of his fourth album, which was released in Hong Kong, is Chinese. English expressions are embedded in the songs from time to time – 388 English words out of 2,490 words in the four Chinese songs.. There are different motivations that may lead to the occurrences of code-switching in Jin‟s lyrics:. First, it is the explicit construction of self-identity, when he repeatedly and explicitly tells his audience that he was an „ABC‟ 14 times and an „MC‟ 4 times in his Chinese songs. Second, it is the implicit construction of self-identity, through embedding „yo‟ and „check it out‟, which are common features in English rap lyrics (Campbell, 2005), to show that he is a rapper.. After studying and unpacking the text, it is found that the use of personal pronouns, linking verbs, and proper nouns is predominant in Jin‟s lyrics in constructing his identities and ideologies. It is also found that rhyming and code-switching are used as tools to further promote the messages he wants to convey to his audience. In the following section, how Jin used pronouns, together with relational verbs, and proper nouns, as well as the identities and ideologies that he wanted to establish will be 48. discussed in detail.. 4.2 Interpretive Stage: Processing Analysis. As mentioned in Chapter 2, this stage involves the interpretation of the relationship between text and interaction. This section will relate Jin‟s identities and ideology to the most common word classes, the use of rhyming and the occurrences of code-switching found in the previous section, i.e. the descriptive stage.. Through the first-person pronoun, „I‟, and the linking verb, „to be‟, Jin reveals his personal and ethnic identity – a professional Chinese American rapper. He pushes forward his confidence and personal qualities through code-switching.. 4.2.1 Personal identity: a Professional Rapper. From time to time, he identifies himself as a witty, talented and professional rapper. In fact, Jin mentions his job, a rapper/emcee 30 times, in 12 out of the 15 chosen texts. Due to the strong association between hip-hop and blackness, Jin starts off the first line of his first track in his first album, Here Now, as follows: Look! I’m not a gimmick There‟s not a rapper I’m trying to mimic. (Here Now). This is where one of the most frequent pronouns, „I‟, and one of the most frequent nouns, „rapper/emcee‟, first appears. These two lines have demonstrated the unacceptance and negativity that Jin has faced as a non-Black rapper: people see him as a „gimmick‟ as he stands out from the hip-hop crowd because of the difference in 49. race. Yet, he wants to clarify that there is no one that he has ever tried to „mimic‟, which means that he has never been mimicking any Black rappers in any way.. In the same song, he also shows his self-confidence in his profession by declaring that he is a „threat‟ to every rapper and by comparing himself to „the Great Wall‟ and „Yao Ming‟, which and who are famous icons of China, as in: A threat to every rapper in the game or that‟s ever been in it 5‟6” but I stand tall, built for war, sorta like the Great Wall Of China, hear my footsteps like Yao Ming’s behind ya. (Here Now). With the singular first-person pronoun „I‟, he goes on telling people that he is a rapper born-to-be and that he has got the rapping and freestyle wit to be in this profession. In the chorus, he explains that he raps as he has what it takes to rap: I am here now, say what you want I know I got something you want I am here now, think what you want This is my life, let‟s get it on. (Here Now). In other lines, again, with the use of „I‟, he also told people that hip-hop and rapping are what he is talented in and that he has the ability to do better and has done better than other people, for example, I changed the game when I took the mic In Freestyle what it took for you to write, good night!. (Here Now). The two actions, taking the mic and changing the game, show that he owns the Freestyle game, a rap competition that Jin often participated in and which made him famous, when the microphone is in his hand. Not only does he change the game, he 50. also owns it: I’m master of the rhythm and tempo You‟ll never catch up, try to make an attempt though. (It’s All Over). By saying that he is the „master‟, Jin tells his audience he is in control of the rap game and other competitors will never follow his „rhythm and tempo‟ no matter how hard they try.. From time to time, Jin tries to tell people hip-hop is not only his profession, but also his passion. Despite being famous because of rap, he stresses that he does not rap for fame, and fame is not everything to him: They say I‟m famous, I don’t feel special. (Here Now). My fame ain’t changed me, man it changed you. (C’mon). I never let the fame hit to my brain I promise. (I Promise). He tells his audience that he does not feel special though he has become famous, and fame will never change who he is. This sets out to show how much he likes his job and how much he is into his job.. Jin also describes himself as a rapper who has the heart, passion and drive. For example, in 100 Thousand Sold, he writes: The emcee rocks every set like it‟s his last show Professionalism I hold in high regards „cause to me this here is more than just a job It‟s the culmination of all that I believe Hip-hop‟s the oxygen that I need to breathe. (100 Thousand Sold). He relates hip-hop – what he does and what he professionalizes in – to oxygen, something that is essential to every human, to show that he needs hip-hop and he 51. cannot live without hip-hop. Not only is hip-hop a necessity to him, it also occupies his heart and soul, as he writes: Never go pop, hip-hop is what I’m into. (It’s All Over). Of course I want plaques that‟s certified diamond But more than that I just love rhymin’. (100 Thousand Sold). 我淨係想你知. (1997). 我 Rap 親都係用個心. (lit. „I only want you to know that I rap from my heart‟). He is so into hip-hop and hip-hop is the only thing he wants to do, so other kinds of music, for example, pop, have never been a choice or an alternative. This is because he „just‟ loves doing rhymes and writing rhyming lyrics, and he raps from his heart.. People do not seem to be able to see Jin‟s profession and passion in rapping. Since signed to Ruff Ryders, a major label in the USA which specializes in hip-hop music, Jin has been through numerous conflicts and struggles. Not only do people see him as no rapper but only a „gimmick‟, some of them also show „hatred‟ to him. I know that it‟s been debated I‟m a gimmick they created All the people that hated because I made it, two-faced All the critics that‟s jealous that I‟ve created. (C’Mon). The above lines are extracted from the chorus of C’Mon. They show that all the unfavourable experiences, including the „hatred‟ and „critics‟, he had after getting signed made him feel that people thought that he stood out not because of his talent, but because of something else, probably his race, as he was promoted as „the first Chinese rapper‟ when he released his debut album, The Rest is History (Timeout Hong Kong, 2008).. However, as he is extremely enthusiastic about his profession, he wants people to 52. know that he is not going to give up on rapping. In his lines, whenever he mentioned anything about the negativity he faced, he paired it up with clarification. In C’mon, he turned every negative situation that he has experienced into something positive: I had the thirst of all rappers combined. (positive). Worst of all, people told me I was wasting my time. (negative). When I used to rap I usually got refused and declined. (negative). Till I felt abused and used it as fuel in my rhymes. (positive). In every battle, the race card was my downfall. (negative). Till I read the Art of War and used it to clown y’all. (positive). Here, Jin uses antithesis as the strategy to twist the negative stereotype that people have on him so as to get them to look past his race and focus on his talent. At the same time, he displays his determination to pursuing his career as a rapper, as he has the „thirst‟ and he has the ability to get through every challenge and obstacle, such as being „refused‟ and „declined‟.. It is important to find out that Jin also constructs his self-identity in