Gender dimensions in the language of local Hip hop songs in kenya.
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Date
2012-05
Authors
Wanjala, Pamellah N.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The question of gender bias is now seen as a major challenge in almost every discipline
that deals with human behavior, cognition, institutions, society and culture. Therefore,
this study is an attempt to investigate gender dimensions in the language of local hip hop
songs in Kenya. It discusses the extent to which hip hop language is gender biased. It
focused on the popular local hip hop songs and video images that occur with the songs.
The study used the Social Semiotic Theory in the theoretical framework.
Ten hip hop songs and ten video excerpts were purposively selected for analysis. The hip
hop songs were coded according to the name of the artist and year of production. The
data was analyzed under three sections: Linguistic analysis, Image analysis and Gender
analysis. The study revealed that indeed there is gender bias in the language of the
favourite youth culture. This was revealed in the lexis that distinguishes gender, in the
syntactic analysis, in prosodic features and also in the image analysis. It was found that in
hip hop music, men tend to be regarded higher in terms of roles, occupation and general
human traits like strength and control than women. It also emerged that language (sheng')
used in hip hop music is simple in terms of structure for clarity. The simple structure is
also economical in terms of time and space and it is meant to reinforce meaning to the
target audience who are the youth. The study therefore recommends that radio and
television stations, and other advertising agencies should join the battle for women
liberation by using gender sensitive language and focusing on positive and constructive
societal changes in terms of gender roles.
The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one provides the preliminary information,
chapter two carries the literature review and the theoretical framework. Chapter three has
the methodology used in the study; Chapter four has the analysis of data and the
presentation of the findings and finally chapter five a summary of the findings and
conclusions.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the master of arts degree in english and linguistics to the school of humanities and social sciences, Kenyatta University, Nairobi. May 2012