The Graduate Center’s Linguistics Ph.D. / M.A. Program

invites you to the

Sociolinguistics Lunch Lecture Series

“Choutouts: Language contact and Latin@ identity in Latin hip hop online”
Matthew Garley (York College, CUNY)   

Hispanic or Latin@ Americans feature prominently in many long-standing and continuing sociopolitical debates about immigration, assimilation, and culture, and the Latin hip hop community presents a particularly complex and controversial image. At the same time, this subculture provides a unique window into language contact and repertoires of language mixing and code-switching. This study investigates the use and mixture of Spanish and English varieties in Latin hip hop lyrics alongside language production in community interaction in new media, focusing on YouTube video comments. I examine the use of English and Spanish varieties in Latin hip hop in terms of both lyrics and community reaction/discussion of artists’ linguistic choices. Building on Cutler’s (2012) research on Chicano hip hop videos and comments, this qualitative analysis reveals further complexities of regional ties and demographic differences in the US-Latin@ community, identity performance, and authenticity through language use in Latin hip hop.

Date:    Friday, February 26^th

Time:    2pm-4pm

Room:   9207

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the lecture.