3.2 SOCIOLINGUISTICS
3.2.14 Semiotics as a Linguistic Perspective of Protest Lyrics
Language is either verbal or non-verbal. Much of the gendered language in our societies comes in form of the non-verbal. Usually we perform gendered acts unconsciously and do not regard them as gender semiotics. Semiotics, as an aspect of language study, deals with a signaling system which could be an index, an icon and/or a symbol (Essien-Eyo and Ottoh, (2011:79) cited in Ottoh-Agede and Essien-Eyo (2014:15). According to Chandler (20021:1) cited in Ottoh-Agede and Essien-Eyo (2014:15), semiotics involves the study ‘not only of what we refer to as signs in everyday speech, but of anything which stands for something
else.’ Ottoh-Agede and Essien-Eyo (2014) add that, in semiotics, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects.
In our contemporary society, semiotics is not studied in isolation because it is the study of how meanings are made and how reality is represented. Therefore, semiotics entails meaning- making constructs and representations in any form, texts and/or media which could be found in every interactive piece (Chandler, 2002:2).
Volosinov (1981) contends that only individual words are truly semiotically neutral. It is the manner in which words are used to express different ideologies, or to create and maintain distinctions and boundaries in the form of language, or as utterance, that they become imbued with semiotic significance. By implication, the moment words and sounds are arranged in proximity ‘to express any speech form of communication, they immediately lose their neutrality’ (Sturrock 1986:22). According to Schroeder (1998),
Semiotics provides us with a potentially unifying conceptual framework and a set of methods and terms for use across the full range of signifying practices, which include gesture, posture, dress, writing, speech, etc. Semiotics is about ‘visual signs’, includes words, images, sounds, gestures, and ‘body language (Schroeder, 1998:225).
Frith (1988:121) elaborates that, ‘lyrics, including nonverbal devices, such as emphases, sighs, hesitations, changes on tone, as well as expressive sound conventions in music, are not mere futile concepts, but are expressive in the elucidation of ideologies.’ When women perform tshigombela and malende, they use gestures, posture, decorum and dress, not only to complement their performance, but also to reinforce meaning, as well as the messages they wish to convey. Therefore, certain words will be strung together, and certain sounds will be produced by both the intoner, as well as the accompanying singers, in order to ensure that the desired effect is achieved (Mutshotsho, 2010; and Netshirembe, 2012; Ramadolela 2012). In order to reinforce certain issues, the performers employ echoe words, repetition, grunts, and ululation (See sections 2.6.6, 2.6.7 and 2.6.10) (Mutshotsho, 2012; Netshirembe, 2012; and Ramadolela, 2010). According to Frith (1988), repetition and echoe-words are also
expressive sound conventions in music, and their purpose is to reinforce the moral of the song. Adams and Fuller (2006,938) assert that ‘Music has historically been a medium for human, social, and linguisticl expression, which can take many different forms, from triumph and hope to utter frustration and despair’. Adams and Fuller (2006:209) further elucidate that,
‘Regardless of the catalyst that creates it, music serves to stimulate the mind, stir the soul, and elicit emotions.’
Magaisa (2004: 3) argues that ‘we may speculate that there must have been disgruntled individuals and communities who also wanted to be heard’ by singing protest songs.
Moreover, music is regarded as a ‘reflection of the cultural and political environment’ from which it is engendered (Adams and Fuller, 2006:938). This view is supported by Kwaramba (1997), who says music was used as a medium of communication, as well as a means of expression by the people, and as such, music would be created in such way that the targeted person would ‘get the message’. Mutshotsho (2012) concurs that even in praise singing, as well as praise poetry, praise poets, most of whom are men, subtly insinuate their grievances, at the same time heaping praise at the royal leadership. Similarly, women do the same through tshigombela, and malende. When they have grievances, they formulate protest lyrics to protest against the status quo, delinquent behaviour, which may include issues such as the abuse of women, disputes which occur among women in polygamous marriages or relationships, and other issues that concern women (Mutshotsho, 2009). It is important to appreciate the fact that the tradition of protest music has not diminished, despite ‘years of suppression under colonial and apartheid rule, and Christianity’ (Magaisa, 2004:3), as well as democracy in South Africa.
Mapunde (2008:3) maintains that ‘language, speech, poetry, drama, oral literature, theatre, are all irrevocably interwoven with music and are musical units which also define as well as determine the idioms, forms and structures.’ Eckert & McConnell-Ginet (2005:79) add that not only does language and gender entail the use of linguistic devices to accomplish social ends, but it also ‘foregrounds aspects of interpretation, nature and role of gender ideology in thought processes; and the consideration of analytic linkages between form (linguistic structures) and their function from a gender perspective.’
The notion of ‘writing between the lines’, discussed by Jansen (Strauss 1952) cited in Jansen (1988:193), in relation to the counter-censorship strategy, is one drawn from Leo Strauss (1952) in his analytical approach to the art of writing. Both agree that language has a tradition of being used by the non-conformist to undermine, in a subtle, yet perceptive way, the staid authority. These non-conformists then, with the aid of language within language, become opponents of orthodoxy and ‘bureaucratic conformity’ (Jansen, 1988, 193). South African musicians in the 1980s used this same device of undercover commentary, becoming
‘ideological saboteurs, through the manipulation of language as a social text’ (Jansen, 1988, 193). Under the stringent censorship policies of the time, musicians were no longer creatively free, working instead in an atmosphere of heightened awareness. As a result, they start
‘paying attention to what it was that they were actually saying’ (Mohr, 1982:66). This may have started out as a necessity to avoid persecution, but it ended up being an incentive to become increasingly resourceful. Instead of simply submitting under the crush of censorship, musicians began inventing ways of fooling the censors.
Language in the lyrics was ingeniously arranged as a primary tool against censorship, and part of the revolutionary language utilized by musicians in the 80s, in order to debilitate the apartheid government, were innuendo, satire and irony. Byerly (1998:172) refers to it as
‘cross-cultural mediation through lyrics’, and Drewett (2004:189-207), terms it ‘an aesopian strategy of textual resistance’, but both agree that the 1980s exhibited a trend of manipulating language to include hidden missives of protest. David Kramer, in Mohr (1989: 67) asserts that,
There was a cultural war going on at the same time as there was the obvious political thing, but the cultural war was more subtle. The song impassions the listener to look beyond the surface of these segregated towns, to question why the gates are closed and the world outside is ‘barking’, rising up in opposition. This kind of musical storytelling, delivered with what Kramer calls ‘observational humour’, was popular because people recognised its authenticity.
The manipulating of lyrics also became powerful as a form of political protest because of its indirect approach (Mohr, 1989:69). Another example of word play and symbolism in lyrics is found in the music of Bayete (Mohr, 1989:73). The Bayete group’s African rhythm was a fusion of jazz harmony and improvisation, as well as the use of subversive language to voice protest in the 1980s. The lyrics of their song Hypocrite allude to the Hippo police, a nickname for the South African Police (SAP), and a word-play on hippo implies that they are hipocrites (Mohr, 1989:79). Hippo also referred to the huge and strange-looking vehicle which was used in the 70s and 80s, to ferry the large numbers of protesting youth to the various South African jails, where they were imprisoned. The Hippo was capable of going into the townships, irrespective of the fact that the streets were barigated in order to frustrate and prevent police access.