“(W)Rapping” Traditions into Modernity: The Negotiation of Emilian and Esperanto Identities in YouTube Hip-Hop Songs

Abstract

This study stems from a doctoral research project which assesses attitudes and language use comparatively across Emilian and Esperanto speakers. The latter was chosen as a minoritized language whose vitality and number of L1 speakers is steadily increasing, and its insights may therefore be used to inform revitalization efforts for other languages at risk, such as Emilian. Selecting a rap song in Emilian and one in Esperanto, both uploaded by the artists on YouTube, the analysis is underpinned by considerations around the subversive power of hip-hop as a tool to resist normative narratives of what it means to be a speaker of the language. An integration of three different theoretical tools is applied to the analysis of the lyrics to unravel and expose how values and attitudes are negotiated in the construction of identity for the artists. The discussion is informed by relevant literature on digital polylanguaging broadly and on hyperlocal language revalorization more narrowly. Amplified by the resistance afforded by hip-hop discourse, the comparative element accomplishes a twofold objective in revealing shared struggles that both artists experience in being speakers of minoritized languages and bringing to the fore a reinvented image for both Esperanto and Emilian speakers. Finally, the results shed some much-needed light on how these languages are being used as part of modern communicative functions and how, in turn, the digital space is allowing their speakers to propagate new stories to overturn the status quo.