Negotiating Authenticity in Casual Speech: Moroccan Rappers and the /t/ Variable

Abstract

This study undertakes an acoustic analysis of the casual speech of 4 Moroccan rappers in order to: 1) acoustically describe the variation in realizations of the phoneme /t/ in two different dialects of Moroccan Arabic, 2) evaluate the extent to which Moroccan Hip Hop artists do or do not shift to the variant used in the city of Casablanca, 3) understand the role that linguistic style-shifting plays in the performance of authenticity, or “keepin it real”, in the Moroccan Hip Hop community. The study definitively shows regional dialectal variation in realization of the phoneme, but the sociolinguistic implications of this variation were less definitive. While one Meknassi artist does claim that he tries to use Cassaoui speech, this was not borne out by acoustic measurements, suggesting that there may be other, more salient acoustic features that constitute linguistic capital within the Moroccan Hip Hop community. The results of the study also suggest an interesting divide in strategies for accessing power and artistic authenticity within the community – while the aforementioned speaker did affiliate the Cassaoui dialect with the code of the streets, and attempted to adjust his speech thusly, the other Meknassi speaker explicitly preferred to use his native pronunciation in order to remain authentically Meknassi. This reflects the inherent tensions in “keepin it real”, with the first speaker focusing on the authenticity inherent in repping the larger Hip Hop community in Morocco, and the second speaker focusing on the authenticity inherent in repping his hometown.

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