Reality rhymes – Recognition of rap in multicultural Norway

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of Hip Hop and rap lyrics in the reevaluation and legitimisation of a new mulitethnolectal speech style developed in multiethnic and multilingual environments in Oslo, Norway. This speech style, commonly refered to as "Kebab-Norwegian", has been met with negative attitudes not only from the establishment but also in mainstream media. However, attitudes seem to be changing, partly due to the efforts of rappers from immigrant backgrounds who promote themselves as users and propagators of the new speech style. They take a clear stance against the prevalent idea that "Kebab-Norwegian" poses a threat to the Norwegian language. In our paper we present on-going research on some of the most recent high school textbooks where lyrics from these performers have been included, and we also consider the strategies of promotion employed by some of the publishing houses.

Chapter 4. Modeling regional variation in voice onset time of Jutlandic varieties of Danish

“…Therefore, the premise of this article is that the material is representative of the city's current vernacular speech. Much like the case in neighboring Denmark (Staehr & Madsen 2017), Germany (Androutsopoulous 2000, and Norway (Cutler & Røyneland 2015;Opsahl & Røyneland 2016), the link between Swedish hip hop and Stockholm's multiethnolect (locally known as Suburban Swedish) is well-established. The first dictionary of "suburban slang", for example, was co-authored by Dogge Doggelito, a member of the hip hop group Latin Kings (Kotsinas & Doggelito 2004).…”

“…Rinkeby Swedish is generally recognized as Europe's earliest-known and Scandinavia's first multiethnolect (Kotsinas 1988a). The linguistic situation in Stockholm is matched by a parallel linguistic development that is ongoing across Europe, referred to by as multiethnolects and by Rampton (2011) as contemporary urban vernaculars. Rampton (2011) describes these linguistic developments as Europe-specific late-modern phenomena with the following three properties:…”

Dead, but Won’t Lie Down? Grammatical Gender among Norwegians

“…However, there are several observations pointing toward the continuous existence of a style or register characterized by many of the same features as described in the UPUS data. For example, in widely used high-school textbooks, multiethnolectal speech styles are discussed alongside more traditional dialects (Opsahl & Røyneland 2016). Furthermore, in 2017, Zeshan Shakar wrote a highly acclaimed, bestselling novel Tante Ulrikkes vei [Aunt Ulrikke's Road] about two boys growing up in the northeastern multiethnic part of Oslo.…”

The perception of multiethnolectal Zurich German: A continuum rather than clear-cut categories

“…The labels given to the various multiethnolects (see Nortier & Dorleijn, 2013) are mostly 'etic' terms (Pike, 1967) coined and used by researchers and/or the adult population; but they are hardly used by the adolescents. Such labels include Kebab-norsk in Oslo (Opsahl & Røyneland, 2016), Rinkeby Svenska in Stockholm (Kotsinas, 1988), Straat taal in Amsterdam (Appel, 1999), Citétaal in Genk (Marzo & Ceuleers, 2011), Kiezdeutsch in Berlin (Wiese, 2006), and Türkendeutsch in other regions of Germany (Androutsopoulos, 2001;Auer, 2003).…”