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lewis lister - chapter 4: results lyrics

4. results
this section will present and discuss the findings of the study outlined in section 3, above. the study aims to -ssess the extent to which each rapper represents their african-american cultural heritage through their adherence to the aave dialect. in the results, adherence to aave will be reflected by a high frequency of aave variants: the higher the percentage, the more aave variants used, signifying a more prominent projection of african-american ident-ty through language use
the frequency of the eight aave variants is displayed in the tables (figs. 6 & 7) and graph (fig. 8) below

4.1. distribution of variants
the tables below (figs. 6 & 7) show the variable use of aave features in the speech of jay-z and nas (respectively) in the lyrics of their debut albums. this section will begin with a brief overview of the results in table and graph form, and the results of each variable will then be presented. each variable will then be examined individually, and in great detail, followed by a discussion of the general trends revealed by quant-tative -n-lysis of the data. note that the variable number 4 (use of remote time stressed ‘been’) has been excluded from -n-lysis (see section 3, above). the numbering of the variables (1-8 (omitting number 4)) remains unchanged for the sake of continuity, despite the fact that there only 7 remaining variables eligible for -n-lysis

fig. 6: table showing the use of aave variants in the speech of jay-z

fig. 7: table showing the use of aave variants in the speech of nas

fig. 8: graph showing the use of aave variants in the speech of jay-z and nas

4.2. results by variable
4.2.1. variable 1: devoicing of voiced stops in stressed syllables
jay-z and nas devoiced voiced stops in stressed syllables with a relatively high frequency (64% and 68%, respectively). there is no real marked difference between the two frequencies: both jay-z and nas favour the aave variant over the sae variant

4.2.2. variable 2: present tense, third person –s absence
jay-z and nas differed considerably in their deletion of present tense, third person –s. jay-z exhibited a frequency of 24% deletion in his speech. nas, by contrast showed zero variation in his use of the sae variant, producing 38 tokens of the sae variant, but none of the aave equivalent. the results show that his use of the sae variant was categorical in this regard. clearly, present tense, third person –s absence is a feature of jay-z’s speech, but not of nas’

4.2.3. variable 3: plural –s absence on general cl-ss of noun plurals
jay-z deleted plural –s with a frequency of 7.82%, and nas with a frequency of 2.08%. this is a comparatively low frequency, showing that plural ¬–s was retained, not deleted, on the majority of noun plurals. although rarely used, this feature forms part of the speech of both artists

4.2.4. variable 5: possessive –s absence
for jay-z, there were no tokens of the aave variant, and just one token the aave variant. given this negligible token number, no conclusions can be drawn about his use of this variable: there is simply no enough data for valid -n-lysis. nas, however produced 1 token of the aave variant, but produced 14 tokens of the sae variant, showing almost zero variation in his adherence to the standard variant. it is for this reason that the results for this variable have not been excluded: nas’ near-categorical use of the standard variant may well be accountable for given the correct application of variationist -n-lysis. however, this frequency is based on relatively small token numbers (only 1 token of the aave variant out of a total of 15), so -n-lysis of this frequency will be tentative at best

4.2.5. variable 6: reduction of final consonant cl-sters when followed by words beginning with a vowel
out of all eight variants, reduction of final consonant cl-sters when followed by words beginning with a vowel had the highest statistically-significant frequency of all. between 86% (jay-z) and 82% (nas) of all consonant cl-sters followed by words beginning with a vowel were reduced. not only are these frequencies very high but they are also very similar, differing by only 4%

4.2.6 variable 7: copula and aux deletion involving ‘is’ forms
jay-z exhibited copula/aux deletion involving ‘is’ forms with a frequency of 4%, showing a near categorical adherence to sae forms. while nas’ frequency of deletion was slightly higher (12%), the results indicate that neither rapper used aux/copula deletion with a particularly high frequency

4.2.7 variable 8: use of habitual ‘be’
jay-z and nas both used habitual ‘be’ with a relatively high frequency of 26%. this data confirms that in just over a quarter of all possible situations where use of habitual ‘be’ was possible, the two artists used the aave variant over the standard. this frequency is moderate, but statistically significant. the result is even more important, given that the frequency of use for each rapper is identical, as will be explained in more detail in section 5.1.7

- lewis lister lyrics

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