A study by Paula Chesley of the University of Alberta published in the December issue of the online journal PLoS ONE reveals that people who listen to hip-hop music can learn new vocabulary, even though the lyrics may be difficult to understand.
The author discovered that participant’s knew and used more words and phrases used in hip-hop songs that are not part of the ordinary language, like for example ‘road dog’ (friend) or ‘guap’ (lots of money), the more hip-hop artists the participant listened to.
Chesley also found that participants tend to recognize vocabularies, if the artist they listen to uses these words and phrases in their lyrics. According to Chesley, these effects remain even when accounting for different demographics, knowledge of general pop culture or overall musical preferences.
Given that the majority of language learning through the media is either targeted on infants or non-native speakers, evaluating how adolescents voluntary learn language by listening to music reveals unique characteristics of how new vocabularies are learnt whilst considering the listener’s intention and motivation. Developing a vocabulary, or how a person speaks, can be a very important part of defining a person’s identity. By conducting further research into the mechanism of language development, science may discover more on how a person’s identity is defined.
Dr. Chesley concludes:
“These findings indicate that listening to hip-hop is not just an aesthetic experience; listeners are also learning language. In an age where adolescents and young adults are increasingly constructing their identities through their iPod playlists, this research suggests that hip-hop, a prominent musical genre with a unique importance placed on language, plays a larger role in language learning than previously thought.”
Written by Petra Rattue