Twenty first centure langauge and literacy lessons should not only address the totality of language in life but should also allow for edu-tainment
-Geneva Smitherman "Language Policy and Classroom Practices" I was riding in the car with my little cousin last weekend. He's a junior in high schoool and always has earbuds in his ear. He didn't care who heard him, if it was a song that he really liked he'd rap loud and proud along with it. It's not like I never heard hip hop or rap before, in fact I grew up with it. Why was it that I could barely understand the new rap that is out there today? Something similar happened when talking to my little sister a couple weeks ago. Everytime she was pretending to do something, would kid around, or saw something as improbable she would smile and yell "YEET!" I was so confused. I laughed asking her what it meant. She explained that it is from a song and the meaning changed. It is equivilant to when I was younger and used to say "SIKE". After reading Talkin black talk: language, education, and social change by H. Samy Alim, I found something very interesting. 97-98% of African American students are influenced by Hip Hop culture (21). It's interesting how big of a role music plays in langauge and identity . Talkin black talk: language, education, and social change insists that we use this in education. It's hearing your "favorite thing" is a space where people open up (98) Unfortunately jazz that is being taught in institutions often looses it's association with black culture because it's divorced from sociocultural contexts (111). I think it would be very beneficial and innovative to incorpate language in cultural context. Interesting enough, I saw that the first Hip Hop linguistic course was begun in September 2014 at the University of Calgary In Canda by Dr. Darin Flynn.Check out the link below to see the cool textbooks they use! http://www.howtorapbook.com/?p=244
1 Comment
Erica Fischer
2/25/2015 12:57:48 pm
I definitely agree that music has a huge influence in the way people talk and phrases that people say. There are a lot of things that I will hear people say, like yourself, and have no idea what they are talking about. A lot of times when I ask them what they are saying and what it is from its from a song. I think it is so interesting how phrases catch on so quickly from music. I have even caught myself saying things that i hear in songs.
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April 2015
J.RadA college student obsessed with the magical world of linguistics. This page focuses on multi-lingualism. Categories |