Table Of ContentWhite Hip Hoppers, Language and
Identity in Post-Modern America
This book examines language and identity among White American middle
and upper-middle class youth who affi liate with Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop
youth engage in practices that range from the consumption of rap music and
fashion to practices like MCing (writing and performing raps or “rhymes”),
DJing (mixing records to produce a beat for the MC), graffi ti tagging, and
break-dancing. Cutler explores the way in which these young people stylize
their speech using linguistic resources drawn from African American Eng lish
and Hip Hop slang terms. She also looks at the way they construct their
identities in discussions with their friends, and how they talk about and
use language to construct themselves as authentic within Hip-Hop. Cutler
considers the possibility that young people experimenting with AAVE-styled
speech may improve the status of AAVE in the broader society. She also
addresses the need for educators to be aware of the linguistic patterns found
in AAVE and Hip Hop language, and on ways to build on Hip Hop skills
like rhyming and rapping in order to motivate students and promote literacy.
Cecelia A. Cutler received her Ph.D. from New York University in 2002. She
is currently an associate professor at Lehman College. Her research explores
the speech practices of white Hip Hoppers and how they construct their
authenticity linguistically and discursively. She has published pieces in the
International Journal of Bilingualism, Journal of Sociolinguistics, L anguage
and Linguistics Compass , Journal of Linguistic Anthropology , Language
Variation and Change, and L anguage and Education .
Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics
1 Emergent Lingua Francas and 6 Bilingual Pre-Teens
World Orders Competing Ideologies and Multiple
The Politics and Place of English Identities in the U.S. and Germany
as a World Language Janet M. Fuller
Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew
7 English Language Pedagogies
2 The Economics of the for a Northeast Asian Context
Multilingual Workplace Developing and Contextually
François Grin, Claudio Sfreddo, Framing the Transition Theory
and François Vaillancourt Dimitrios Michael Hadzantonis
3 Stories and Social Media: 8 White Hip Hoppers, Language
Identities and Interaction and Identity in Post-Modern
Ruth E. Page America
Cecelia A. Cutler
4 Language and Citizenship in
Japan
Edited by Nanette Gottlieb
5 Markets of English
Linguistic Capital and Language
Policy in a Globalizing World
Lionel Wee and Joseph Sung-Yul Park
White Hip Hoppers, Language
and Identity in Post-Modern
America
By Cecelia A. Cutler
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of Cecelia A. Cutler to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cutler, Cecilia A.
White hip-hoppers, language and identity in post-modern America /
Cecelia A. Cutler.
pages cm. — (Routledge studies in sociolinguistics ; 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Hip-hop—Infl uence—United States. 2. Hip-hop—Social aspects—
United States. 3. Language and culture—United States. 4. Group
identity—United States. 5. Sociolinguistics—United States. I. Title.
P40.5.H552U55 2014
306.44089'09073—dc23
2013036701
ISBN: 978-0-415-89004-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-85816-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to my parents, Joanie and
Garr Cutler, who taught me to be curious about
the world, and to my two grandmothers, Dr. Coral
Gordon Bolin and Dr. Virginia Farrar Cutler, who
showed me by example what women with much
greater challenges than I could accomplish.
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Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Abbreviations xiii
Transcription Conventions xv
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xix
Permissions xxi
1 Introduction: White Youth and the Appeal of Hip Hop
Culture in the 1990s 1
2 Yorkville Crossing: A Case Study of the Infl uence of Hip Hop
Culture on the Speech of a White Middle Class Adolescent
in New York City 27
3 “Keepin’ It Real”: White Hip Hoppers’ Discourse on Language,
Race, and Authenticity 41
4 Hip Hop, White Immigrant Youth, and African
American English: Accommodation as an Identity Choice 68
5 Brooklyn Style: Hip Hop Markers and Racial Affi liation
among European Immigrants in New York City 87
6 MC Battles: Seeing Oneself through the Eyes of the Other 104
7 “She’s So Hood”: Ghetto Authenticity on Reality TV 120
8 Conclusion: Implications for Theories of Style, Identity
Formation, and the Status of African American English in
the Hip Hop Age 143
Bibliography 151
Index 165
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Figures
4.1 t/d Deletion as a Measure of Identity Performance 77
4.2 Phonological and Morphosyntactic Variation 84
8.1 A Model of Style as Distance between the Self and One’s Voice 146
