"That's just not me": stylistic language and authentic dialectic identity in Canadian women MCs

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dc.contributor.authorUnrau, Erin
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeJanzen, Terry (Linguistics)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeRosen, Nicole (Linguistics)
dc.contributor.supervisorLoureiro-Rodríguez, Verónica
dc.date.accessioned2023-09-06T16:09:53Z
dc.date.available2023-09-06T16:09:53Z
dc.date.issued2023-08-22
dc.date.submitted2023-08-22T15:27:22Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2023-09-06T15:03:26Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineLinguisticsen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts (M.A.)
dc.description.abstractThis project investigates the utilization of linguistic practices by Canadian woman MCs for identity construction and performance, aiming to further understand their social realities, experiences, and the priorities of their self-representation. Qualitative analysis of the lyrics of six notable artists (Michie Mee, Eternia, Eekwol, Tasha the Amazon, Haviah Mighty, Backxwash) finds patterns in the data for personal claims to language, territory, and ethnicity, as well as for self-assertions, Forman’s (2021) tropes of internal sensitivity and vulnerability, and positive reappropriations of derogatory terms such as bitch. By taking the comprehensive perspective of analyzing MCs’ language over time through their careers, these findings challenge existing work which has described women’s personas as reflexive of their representations by men in the genre, and which has found difficulty reconciling the authenticity of seemingly-contradictory indexical claims. Findings show that indexing duality and multi-faceted identity—including specified claims to their multicultural ethnicities—are consistent themes in the Hip-Hop of these women, and are in fact necessary for keepin’ it real. This study challenges the concept of stylization as strategic inauthenticity (Coupland, 2001) and instead introduces the notion of dialectic identity as a priority for these MCs, where multiple aspects of identity are performed without challenging one another’s authenticity. This view of women’s language in Hip-Hop encourages a renewed look at these MCs as an agentive group with their own Hip-Hop language traditions, resistant to external simplification or generalization, and concerned with nuanced self-assertion.
dc.description.noteOctober 2023
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/37576
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectCanadian Hip-Hop
dc.subjectwomen MCs
dc.subjectCanadian MCs
dc.subjectmulticulturalism
dc.subjectsensitive MC
dc.subjectstrategic authenticity
dc.subjectdialectic identity
dc.title"That's just not me": stylistic language and authentic dialectic identity in Canadian women MCs
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
local.subject.manitobano
oaire.awardTitleUniversity of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship
oaire.awardURIhttps://umanitoba.ca/graduate-studies/funding-awards-and-financial-aid/university-manitoba-graduate-fellowship-umgf
project.funder.identifierU of M: https://doi.org/10.13039/100010318
project.funder.nameUniversity of Manitoba
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