Lexical Features of American Rap Lyrics: A Pragmatic Approach

Introduction. Modern linguistics shows a great interest in discourse analysis of rap lyrics as a marker of cultural and language dynamics. American rap lyrics is currently in the focus of song lyrics studies due to its dominant status in the global rap culture. The aim of the study is to reveal the vocabulary features of American rap lyrics of the XXI century and define the pragmatic intentions of the rap singers. Materials and Methods. The study material included the rap lyrics by popular American rappers of the XXI century. The number of analyzed lyrics totalled 20 rap songs. The method of content analysis, classification of lexical units, pragmatic analysis were used. Results. The classification of lexical units frequently used in modern American rap lyrics was developed, which includes slang, obscene vocabulary, abbreviations, metaphors, name-dropping, phrasal verbs and idioms. The thematic groups of the lexical units were defined. The analysis of rap lyrics by Kendrick Lamar and Cardi B showed the differences in their vocabulary choices and pragmatics of the vocabulary use revealing individual stylistic preferences of the rappers. Discussion and Conclusion. The study expands scientific knowledge of the lexical and semantic features of English-language rap lyrics and demonstrates how vocabulary choices can show pragmatic intentions of the rappers. The study results can be useful for further studies of English-language rap lyrics in the framework of gender linguistics, cultural linguistics, sociolinguistics.