Dear Colleagues,

This special Languages issue focuses on sociolinguistic analyses of language as used in recorded songs.  The goal of this volume is to further our knowledge and deepen our understanding of the role of language features in artists’ building of identities in performance. We welcome quantitative and qualitative sociolinguistic analyses of the production of a single artist (e.g., Jansen & Westphal 2017, Konert-Panek 2017, Loureiro-Rodríguez et al. 2018), or different performers (e.g., Trudgill 1983, O’Hanlon 2006, Duncan 2017). Submissions may focus on the production of phonetic variables (e.g., Trudgill 1983, Simpson 1999, Beal 2009; Gibson 2023), morphological features (e.g., Werner 2012, Moyna 2015), stylistic constructions and indexical expressions of authenticity (e.g., Eberhardt and Freeman 2015, Lin and Chan 2022,), or the role of code-switching (e.g., Lee 2004, Loureiro-Rodríguez 2017), among other topics. We welcome a diversity of approaches as well as submissions exploring under-researched musical genres and/or linguistic varieties.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]) or to Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References:

Beal, J. C. (2009). “You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham”: Dialect and identity in British indie music. Journal of English Linguistics, 37(3), 223–40.

Duncan, D. (2017). Australian singer, American features: Performing authenticity in country music. Language & Communication 52, 31–44.

Eberhardt, M., & Freeman, K. (2015). `First things first, I’m the realest’: Linguistic appropriation, white privilege, and the hip-hop persona of Iggy Azalea. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 19(3), 303–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12128.

Gibson, A. (2023) Pop English as a supralocal norm. Language and Society. doi:10.1017=S0047404523000131.

Jansen, L., & Westphal, M. (2017). Rihanna works her multivocal pop persona: A morpho-syntactic and accent analysis of Rihanna's singing style: Pop culture provides rich data that demonstrate the complex interplay of World Englishes. English Today, 33(2), 46–55. doi:10.1017/S0266078416000651. 

Konert-Panek, M. (2017). Americanisation versus Cockney: Stylisation in Amy Winehouse’s singing accent. In V. Kennedy & M. Gadpaille (eds.), Ethnic and cultural identity in music and song lyrics (pp. 77–94). Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

Lee, J. S. (2004). Linguistic hybridization in K-Pop: Discourse of self-assertion and resistance. World Englishes, 23(3), 429–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0883-2919.2004.00367.x.

Lin, Y., & Chan, M. (2022). Linguistic constraint, social meaning, and multi-modal stylistic construction: Case studies from Mandarin pop songs. Language in Society, 51(4), 603–626. doi:10.1017/S0047404521000609.

Loureiro-Rodríguez, V. (2017). Y yo soy cubano, and I’m impatient. Frequency and functions of Spanish switches in Pitbull’s lyrics. Spanish in Context, 14(2), 250–272. https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.14.2.05lou.

Loureiro-Rodríguez, V., Moyna, M. I., & Robles, D. (2018). Hey, baby, ¿qué pasó?: Performing bilingual identities in Texan popular music. Language and Communication, 60, 120–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2018.02.009.

Moyna, M.I. (2015). Voseo/tuteo variation in Uruguayan popular songs, 1960-2010. Romanische Forschungen, 127 (1), 3–28.

Simpson, P. (1999.) Language, culture and identity: With (another) look at accents in pop and rock singing. Multilingua, 18(4), 343–367.

Trudgill, P. (1983). Acts of conflicting identity: The sociolinguistics of British pop- song pronunciation. In P. Trudgill (ed.), On Dialect: Social and Geographical Perspectives (pp. 141–160). Oxford, U.K.: Basil Blackwell.

Werner, V. (2012). Love is all around: A corpus-based study of pop lyrics. Corpora 7, 19–50.

Tentative Completion Schedule

Abstract Submission Deadline:  August 30th, 2023

Notification of Abstract Acceptance:  October 15th, 2023

Full Manuscript Deadline: March 31st, 2024 (Manuscript length: 8,000 – 10,000 words)  

Dr. Verónica Loureiro-Rodríguez
Prof. Dr. María Irene Moyna
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• popular music
• songs
• lyrics
• sociolinguistics
• identity
• performance