The linguistic construction of gender in English language culture based on rap

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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

«NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

«HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS»

School of Foreign Languages

Bachelor thesis

Educational program “Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication”

The Linguistic Construction of Gender in English Language Culture Based on Rap

Mariia O. Kozitsyna

Moscow, 2020

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Cognitive linguistics and gender within it

1.1 Cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics; the main postulates

1.2 The notion of gender in the English language

Chapter 2. Gender in music as a discourse genre

2.1 Music in terms of discourse

2.2 Gender in rap music

Chapter 3. The analysis of gender-imbued vocabulary in top rap songs of the 2000s

3.1 The characteristics of male gender in rap

3.2 The image of females in rap songs

3.3 Gender inequality represented in hip-hop music via language

Conclusion

References

Application

Introduction

The language we speak is a means of transmitting our messages to the world. Via language we communicate our ideas, beliefs, and existing images, so, it is inevitably linked to human cognition. Thus, the corpus of the language used by all of its speakers can be considered material for better understanding of a broader image in terms of cultural identity and values.

The idea of the correlation between language and cognition had not received much attention until the 1920s when Sapir (2004) proposed the idea that language we acquire since the very childhood influences the way we perceive reality. This idea, later attributed to as linguistic relativity hypothesis, was a basis of the works of N. Chomsky, G. Lakoff, V. Maslova, etc. In 1980-s, cognitive linguistics as a new branch of linguistics appeared, and its focus is the way cognitive processes and language perform together.

As the correlation between language and worldview cannot be denied, it is safe to say that biases and stereotypes are expressed linguistically, too. Gender stereotypes are one of those aspects reflected in language. The issues of how gender is represented in language have been the focus of studies of R. Lakoff, L. Boroditsky, E. Kitaygorodskaya, O. Kamenskaya, etc. A new scientific direction called gender linguistics has appeared recently, which explores how gender is manifested in language and how communicative behaviours of men and women differs.

The researches have shown that the rule of patriarchy can be clearly noticed in speech, and gender roles are defined distinctively. Women often are seen as less intelligent, less independent and weaker than men and tend to use more polite ways of expressing their ideas and expect their words to be perceived as insignificant. Males, vice versa, are the ones in power, so they tend to be tough and use orders and strictly indisputable statements.

Songs, being one of the forms human speech exists in, show the same gender bias as other genres of discourse. S. McClary examined music as an area in which masculinity is observed, and she confirmed the fact that genders representation in music differs. However, the research dates back to1991 and focuses on classical music, so, a more recent study is needed. Considering the growing popularity of rap music with the younger audience, it is a fruitful material for the further investigation of the most recent tendencies of linguistic gender construction. There is a number of articles addressing the problem of misogyny in hip-hop, but the linguistic aspect of the issue has been overlooked, which makes our paper topical.

Considering the need for a research, its aim is to explore and define the ways genders are represented in rap music linguistically, with particular attention to vocabulary units, describing or naming males or females. To achieve our goal, we need to fulfil the following objectives:

1) analyse the lyrics of top hip-hop hits from "Billboard" top charts in search of vocabulary units, used to describe or name male and female characters;

2) synthesise four common images of men by men, men by women, women by women, women by men, based on the vocabulary;

3) compare and contrast the images and outline the differences in the male and female characters pictures created by men and women;

4) establish the reasoning behind the existence of certain tendencies of linguistic gender construction within the current social background.

The paper is going to answer the following research questions:

1. What vocabulary tends to be chosen to refer to or describe men and women in recent rap songs?

2. Do the gender images created by male and female artists differ?

3. What currently are the general tendencies of linguistic gender construction in rap, and how can they be explained?

The questions answered will attempt to test the following hypothesis: despite the spread of feminist ideas in English-speaking countries, there is a significant difference in the language used to talk about men and women in the hip-hop songs of the 2000s, even though there is expected to be less sexism present in the songs by female artists.

To testify the hypothesis, several various research methods will be employed. During the first stage of the research, the works on cognitive linguistics and gender linguistics will be analysed, paying particular attention to the way language constructs gender roles. The literature on the issue of gender representation in music, hip-hop as a genre in particular, is to be analysed, too, and this will constitute the theoretical basis of the paper. Secondly, the qualitative content analysis and quantitative analysis of the lyrics of top 2000s hip-hop songs (according to the "Billboard" charts) will be conducted in search of gender-imbued vocabulary. The methods of classification and generalisation will be used to create the images of genders in rap, and comparative analysis will be employed to contrast the images of men and women.

This paper is divided into three main parts: the first chapter will be devoted to such aspect as gender in cognitive linguistics; the second part will cover representation of gender in music; the third chapter will focus on how gender is constructed in rap music.

As far as the practical significance of the research concerned, there is a further room and a devised pattern for investigation on how gender is represented in other musical genres. Besides, the qualitative analysis may be further applied to the results of the content analysis, and the frequency of using certain vocabulary units can be investigated more thoroughly. The results of the research might be included in cross-cultural communication and gender linguistics coursebooks.

Chapter 1. Cognitive linguistics and gender within it

1.1 Cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics; the main postulates

The issue of language and its influence on the way people perceive the world has not received much attention until the XX century. Otto Jespersen was the first to consider language to be a "living organism" and "purposeful activity" (Jespersen, 1954, p. 7). Until then, the language had been studied as a set of grammar rules and vocabulary units, and the prescriptive approach to language was utilised. In other words, the right way to use the language was mainly the focus of studies back then. Jespersen, on the other hand, addressed language and its functions and, thus, specialised in English grammar.

The idea of language having a mind-shaping function was first contemplated on by Edward Sapir. He specialised in anthropological linguistics, and the area of his research was the languages of Indigenous American peoples. Implementing the comparative analysis of language, Sapir suggested that the difference in language explains the tribes' versatile attitude towards such concepts as time and direction and everyday things like instruments and pieces of clothing (Sapir, 1968). He claimed that "the fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group" (Sapir, 1990, p.161).

Sapir's younger colleague Benjamin Whorf shared his mentor's interest in the field of language and mind correlation. He added cultural aspect to the comparison of tribal languages and insisted that culture is reflected in language, too. Whorf highlighted that the semantic categories existing in a certain culture correlate to the structures used in the language. Thus, different languages' speakers perceive various actions from different perspectives. The representatives of one culture may focus on the end result mainly, whereas the representatives of the other pay more attention to the process itself, and this difference was claimed to be shaped by common experience. Sapir also proposed the general framework addressed to as "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis" to be called the principle of linguistic relativity. In the middle of the XX century, this framework was criticised heavily due to the lack of clarity and anecdotal evidence only (Lennenberg, 1962). It was even suggested that the results of Wharf's study on several tribes were far from reality, and the difference between languages in several aspects was neglected.

Nevertheless, the issue of language and mind relations was still topical, and Noam Chomsky is one of the scientists contemplating on it. According to him, language should be studied as an area of cognitive science, as human cognition is what determines the language and its structures. In his works, Chomsky suggested a new principle, according to which all the linguistic systems are innate and are present in all humans' minds, which differs heavily from the "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis". Moreover, such structures are claimed to be universal for every human being, whichever background they come from (Chomsky, 1959). Generative linguistics is a model within cognitive science, introduced by the researcher, which focuses on studying such structures.

In the 1970, Chomsky's approach was criticised by George Lakoff, and the so-called linguistic wars occurred (Harris, 1955). Lakoff supported the cognitive relativity viewpoint and advocated for the idea of language shaping and reflecting a certain person's worldview. Thus, he argued that semantics is a primary source of meaning rather than grammar. Even though Lakoff and his peers were defeated in the linguistic wars, he insisted on his viewpoint and, in the 1980s, he and Ronald Langacker came up with "cognitive linguistics" as a new framework. Lakoff's researches centre on such concept as a metaphor, and it is claimed that metaphor plays the central role in human cognition, which is reflected in various areas of life (Lakoff, 1987). According to the cognitive linguistics principles, every person has their own conceptual system, which is a system of knowledge and viewpoints reflecting the person's experience, and these concepts are reflected, and hierarchically ordered (Maslova, 2005). Lakoff's colleague Ronald Langacker studied the issue of cognitive grammar and research how grammar and concepts form a continuum which creates meaning (Langacker, 1991). So, as a whole, cognitive linguistics focuses on the conceptual structure of languages and advocates for language and cognition depending on each other.

Another framework that looks at the factors influencing the language is sociolinguistics, but, unlike cognitive linguistics and generative grammar, it studies the external factors, not human cognition. It describes how social aspects (norms, values, expectations, behavioural patterns, etc.) influence language use within one social group and suggests that language reflects all those aspects. Linguistic ideology is a notion which needs to be addressed here, as it is extensively used within the framework. Language ideologies show how language as a system represents a speaker's beliefs, background and stands on various issues (Irvine, 2012). A speech community is another concept used by sociolinguists, which can be defined as a social group which uses language in a certain shared way, this way being unique. National cultural space, in turn, is the informational and emotional field, within which a person and their community exist and function.

One such speech community is African Americans, and their variety of English, African American Vernacular English (AAVE) was studied by William Labov. Labov is considered to be a founder of sociolinguistics, the development of which started with his research of AAVE. According to the scientists, this variety of English should not be considered as illiterate, even though its grammar and phonetic rules differ from standardised ones, because it is a separate variety, existing in a particular social group (Labov, 1972). This study added to the methodology of sociolinguistics, and since then, the linguistic peculiarities of various speech communities have been studied with relation to their background. We consider this framework to be relevant within our research, and we are going to approach the English-speaking rap community as one of such speech communities.

1.2 The notion of gender in the English language

As we are talking on national cultural space, we cannot but mention the concept of stereotypes as its element. Stereotypes are a particular aspect of cultural worldview, existing in mind, and they can be seen as structured "complex of valence links <...> representing a concept of a phenomenon" (Krasnykh, 1998). Within our research, we address the issue of gender stereotypes in human cognition, so the issue of the relevant definition of gender appears. There are many definitions of gender, and in linguistics, the notion of grammatical gender is traditionally used. However, as the focus of our research is in the field of semantics, we perceive gender as "the behavioural, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex" (Merriam-Webster.com, "gender"), so, the investigation of how women and men are seen in English-speaking rap community will be conducted.

The issues of gender have been extensively researched in terms of gender studies as a scientific direction. It is an interdisciplinary approach aimed at analysing how genders are identified and represented in various aspects of life. Its rise is connected with the rise of feminist ideas in the 1960s when many female scholars started focusing more on the issues of different attitudes to men and women and their reasoning. Thus, gender studies brought awareness to the existing gender stereotypes and played a huge role in their reduction (Bucholtz, 2014). From the viewpoint of this scientific approach, genders can differ from being male and female only, and they are called non-binary genders, as they do not fit into the biological perspective (Bucholtz and Hall, 2004). However, within this paper, we will stick to the binary system, as it is traditionally more widely represented in culture.

In order to define the way gender stereotypes are represented in language, we need to address such a notion as gender construction. It is an important notion used in gender studies, which is an idea that different gender roles are prescribed to men and women from their childhood, and these roles directly correlate with the existing gender stereotypes. So, gender construction is a form of how gender roles ascribed to certain biological sex realised. (Bucholtz, 2004). Having acquired such gender roles for granted, people translate the same gender stereotypes when they grow up and act according to them. Such construction can be seen in language, views on hobbies, everyday routine, expected occupations, social status, rewards, etc. This is closely connected to the process of gender socialisation, which takes place when a child of a certain gender unconsciously acquires the said gender roles in their social groups. According to scientists, all societies are gendered, so gender socialisation inevitably occurs (Stockard, 2014).

As it has been mentioned earlier, gender construction occurs on every stage of human life and starts from the youngest age. This means that gender identity tends to be formed in children, and Julia Kristeva, a psychoanalyst and a semiotician, focused on the issue of notions of "masculine" and "feminine" at the earliest stages of a child's development. She claims that girls associate themselves with their mother figures and, oh the other hand, reject her figure to become an individual. This is where an inner conflict occurs, which, according to Kristeva, results in the fact that females are subconsciously scared of getting close to their mothers, as it may mean the loss of personal identity. This complex process is claimed to be a reason for derogatory attitude towards mother figure and, consequently, the image of women in general (Kristeva, 1989).

In general, Kristeva focuses on the issue of gender representation in linguistics and suggests that language enables to trace and analyse certain stereotypes and attitudes. This issue is one of the aspects which is central to gender linguistics or linguistic genderology. Two main fields of study of gender linguistics as a scientific direction are the way genders are represented in language and how the language used by men and women differs. Robin Lakoff carried out a number of her researches in the framework of gender linguistics and with the help of comparative analysis outlined the general tendencies of men and women's linguistic differences. In her publication "Language and Woman's Place", R. Lakoff drew a conclusion that men and women use different syntactic structures and vocabulary and are spoken of differently, too (Lakoff, R., 1973). Summing up her findings, women are generally expected to act "like a lady", which means to choose a softer tone of voice, not to discuss "complex" issues and use more interrogatory sentences. Men, vice versa, are the ones to make "real-life decisions", make orders rather than requests, speak for a less amount of time. In terms of vocabulary, women tend to use more euphemisms and be spoken of with the help of euphemisms, and the word "lady" is one of the most obvious of them. It is almost considered to be rude to refer to someone as a "woman", and there seems to be a certain level of sexualization, when this word is used. On the other hand, there is not any negative connotation in the word "men", which is a direct counterpart of a "woman". Women are also often identified via their relationships with men and are less likely to be a seen as a self-sufficient person, whereas there is no such thing with men. (Lakoff, R., 1973). All in all, these findings show that there is a huge difference in ways genders are represented in language, and the main aspects of difference are the degree of power and sexualisation.

According to more recent researches, there is a view that linguistic construction gender occurs on a number of levels of explication, but the nominative level is the most transparent one. Gender-imbued vocabulary units, which are the units somehow marking the referent's gender, are what serves for gender construction in the first place (Gritsenko, 2005).

Chapter 2. Gender in music as a discourse genre

2.1 Music in terms of discourse

Music has been a part of human culture for about 50,000 years, so, it is a means of communicating ideas and beliefs, just like language. Does it really have a meaning, and can it be studied from the viewpoint of semantics? An idea has been proposed that music is a specific language, as it uses a certain system of signs, communicates messages and has sets of rules and structures. Kofi Agawu, a researcher in the field of music semantics, claims that music is a type of discourse in itself (Kofi Agawu, 2009). There is a number of ways music can express meanings. They are sound patterns (such as dynamics, tempo, timbre), general mood, context and associations (like traditional Christmas songs), and, finally, language as it is.

Music is an essential matter of studies, as, according to McClary, it has more impact on the audiences in comparison with other art forms and media, and listeners tend to underestimate the power of the said influence on them. Furthermore, music can serve as an inspiration to the creators of other genres, such as films and fiction. As music is inevitably related to the issue of gender construction, it also influences the sexual politics within the creations based on musical compositions.

It has to be highlighted that the gender aspect of music cannot only be reflected via the vocabulary in lyrics but also in melodies themselves, or the 'absolute music'. Even though the music in, for example, symphonies is pure and free of any words, it still expresses certain ideas, and the concepts of sexuality and genders can be found in it. Nevertheless, as our research lies in the field of linguistics, the lyrics of the songs will be or focus. Lyrics are defined as the words of a song, and it can be equated to poetry. There is a question of whether song lyrics are a separate literary genre (Culler, 2009). However, it certainly is a genre of discourse, so it, just like any other genre, provides a room for communicating attitudes and emotions, and it tends to be more expressive, than everyday conversations. Taking all those facts into consideration, we need to state that we are going to study song lyrics from the point of view of linguistics in terms of semantics.

As it has been mentioned above, music translates the talker's (artist's) thoughts, stereotypes being a factor influencing them. Gender stereotypes are one of the aspects most widely represented in music, whatever the genre is. The issue of gender representation in music is extensively investigated in Susan McClary's works. She developed and implemented a new approach to studying music, which is called the new musicology. New musicology is an interdisciplinary study, concluding in the analysis of music from gender studies. It was devised in the 1980s by Adorno as a reaction to the traditional study of musicology (Rosen, 2000), so, the raise of interest to the ideas of unequal gender representation and feminism appeared in music later than in other fields of culture.

According to Foucault (Foucault, 1990), it was not until the 16th century that the discourse of sex was developed in Western culture. In the 17th century the viewpoints on the issues of gender and sexuality changed significantly. So, "the 'putting into the discourse of sex' <...> has been subjected to a mechanism of increasing incitement". The concepts of gender and sexuality not only received more attention than they used to before but even started to take the central role within Western culture. This is the time when new public arts appeared and developed the techniques for influencing the recipients' sexual desire and, thus, grabbing the audience's attention. During that period the development of the vocabulary of dramatic characters in music took place as the creators formlated it, and it continued until the 18th century when the so-called 'fabrication of sexuality' in music occurred; and composers devised the characteristics of masculinity and femininity in their works.

The notions were at first used in their literal meaning, and the two features were applied to describe female and male characters in compositions, especially in opera. In her "Sexual Politics in Classical Music" McClary focuses on the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet and Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony. The analysis has shown that the image of women is often associated with a threat of some kind, and females are seen from the perspective of the opposition between men and women. Furthermore, females are seen as the ones more prone to be unnecessarily emotional and are more likely to have mental breakdowns, thus, causing more issues. To sum up, the overall image of women in music at that time is rather negative.

Since the 18th century, the metaphors of gender have also been extensively used in music, such as, 'feminine cadence', meaning the one having a weaker beat or the one placed after the opening ('masculine') cadence. Thus, besides the female characters being weaker and in opposition to male characters, the word 'feminine' perpetuates the connotation of weakness and insignificance in the theory of music, too.

According to the musicologists, the opposition of the notions 'masculine' vs 'feminine' is based primarily on the concept of strength. McClary claims the phenomenon of such codes appearing is related to the everyday attitudes of the composers' time, so, the beliefs of the Europeans of the 18th century influenced and were reflected in the structure of music and terminology. As some social attitudes have not changed much since then, such codes are still existent and can also be found in more modern music. It goes along with the issues of race, class, etc., and the negative perception of the 'other' based on those criteria can prevails up until the 20th century. The said criteria are, for sure, not the same but are the common reasons for discrimination and humiliation, and, thus, are traditionally reflected in art altogether, which is destructive from McClary's point of view: "I wish to argue that these pieces themselves suggest that no one wins within the strictures of traditional modes of organizing gender and sexuality." (McClary, 2002, p.79). Nevertheless, the construction of gender has been challenged by pop artists of the end of the 20th century, and such artists and bands as "The Smiths", "Guns N' Roses", Madonna, etc. create different understanding of feminine and masculine.

The new musicology approach was criticised by a number of researchers in the realm of music, due to a number of reasons. First of all, they claim that one code cannot be applied to every type and genre of music, so, an opera cannot be compared to recent pop hits. Therefore, the question arises about how Tchaikovsky's symphony and Madonna's track were analysed within one framework. Context also matters, according to Biddlecombe (1992), as one vocabulary item or image can differ in its meaning in versatile surroundings. What is more, there is the lack of explanation of how exactly the said code functions and how the signs of this code can be found in music creations.

Taking all the criticism into consideration, we limit the analysis within our research to the lyrics of the songs only. Furthermore, more precise criteria for the analysis are going to be devised and implemented, so that the research is transparent and objective.

2.2 Gender in rap music

In order to analyse the aspect of gender in modern rap music, the background of the genre has to be understood. The history of rap music dates back to the 1970s when it emerged in the African American community in New York as a new course of youth poetry. The problem of self-identification was urgent for the most of black men and women of the USA in the 20th century, as they had to adapt to a foreign culture and a different lifestyle, and the issue of social discrimination towards black people and the slavery background was still urgent. The skin colour became not only part of ethnic identity but also constructed the social identity.

The search for identity and the feeling of opposition to white Americans had led to forming the nationalist movement of the 1960s when the assimilation to white culture was opposed (Ransby, Matthews, 1993). It was the source of inspiration for the children born and raised during that time, so, they were extremely defensive and acted reactionarily when grew up in order to defeat racism. This process could not but lead to the development of extremely distinctive culture and the community character. Art, being one of the essential aspects of any community and a medium of direct or indirect expression of feelings, developed incredibly, and we cannot but mention the development of music, e.g. Harlem jazz, here (Rose, 1994).

The newly obtained feeling of freedom, especially amongst the youth evolved gradually. It took the shape of a new poetry style called rap, which is "a type of popular music with a strong rhythm in which the words are spoken, not sung" (Cambridge Dictionary, 'rap'). It was a means of translating certain feelings and ideas and putting them into words, just like any other form of poetry, the researchers call rap 'the voice of the streets'. The issues of racism, poverty and derogatory attitude were primarily addressed in the early rap songs, as they were what bothered young people at the first place, and putting the anger into words and signing gave them the feeling of sharing the same difficulties. However, as the spectrum of topics developed in the 1980s, misogyny started to be apparent in rap lyrics and soon has become its essential feature. Misogyny, in general, is "hatred of women" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 'misogyny'). In rap, it has a form of "promotion, glamorization, support, humorization, justification, or normalization of oppressive ideas about women" (Adams, Fuller, 2006, p. 940).

There was a number of ways in which misogyny was expressed in the early hip-hop songs, but objectification of various degree was the main common thing for all of them, i.e., women were treated like objects with no will and opinion and not deserving any respect. Women were often seen as "are only good for sex and abuse" (Adams, Fuller, 2006). This perfectly corresponded with the general sexist tendencies in music of that time and added to the construction of the female role as highly insignificant.

Even though the general context is clear, we need to analyse and understand the roots and precursors of misogyny in rap culture. According to the researchers, the derogatory attitude towards women in hip-hop has much deeper roots in history as one may suggest (Addams, Fuller, 2006). We need to look into the history of the United States as this is the country where hip-hop emerged as a genre. It is also crucial to understand that the history of African American women particularly should be examined, as it is the black culture that created this type of music. So, black women were humiliated for both being black and being women.

The American culture of the 19th and the 20th century was oriented on the values of wealth and power, and such social system can be considered as patriarchal in such a sense that men were the only in power as they were the people being able to obtain that wealth and power. It influenced not only the social life of the country but also the economy and politics. Furthermore, the African heritage played a significant role, as the patriarchy was historically more than common for the countries of origin of the African Americans, so, both parts of black identity can be considered male-centred. The previously mentioned nationalist movement led to the release of anger and aggression, which was a reaction to the years of oppression. Nevertheless, it was not the white population who were the victims of this aggression but the black women, as they had the weakest position in the society, thus, being the easiest target. Moreover, the movement was mainly male-led, e.g., Malcolm X was the role model for the young black people in the 1990s. So, the interests of men were the centre of discussion primarily, and it was reflected in media, too.

At the end of the 20th century, African American women were often portrayed as lazy, inadequate, poor and of low morals. This image was typical for popular culture and media, despite the race of the artists or authors. Single mothers gained the most of humiliation and derogatory attitude, due to their position in the society and the lack of abilities and resources to oppose that oppression. Hip-hop songs of that time were not the exception and exploited the negative image of an African American woman extensively.

According to the analysis by Dunyasheva (2012), there is a number of ways in which women were treated in a derogatory way in African American music discourse. Women were primarily described within their relationship with men, not as individuals, and, for instance, a breakup was considered to be a huge misfortune for women. Besides, harassment (both physical and psychological) was found to be one of the topics, and abuse was normalised. Furthermore, the objectification of women was the motive of hip-hop discourse, which has been discussed earlier.

On the other hand, the researcher claims the comparative analysis of the songs from different time frames shows that there are dynamics in gender representation. The songs of the end of the 20th century showed a less clear definition of gender roles, and the general worldview appeared to be less androcentric. The image of a confident and self-sufficient woman started appearing more frequently, so, it can be stated that the ideas of freedom of ideas, feminism and gender equality influenced the African American music discourse heavily. However, these were only tendencies, but the huge shift did not happen in the 20th century, so, the research on the further development of rap music has to be conducted.

Chapter 3. The analysis of gender-imbued vocabulary in top rap songs of the 2000s

As it can be noticed, the previously mentioned researches on rap musiс and gender construction focused on the history of hip-hop and the songs of the 20th century mainly. However, in order to understand the ways gender roles are constructed in music currently and what influence it might have on the younger generations, the analysis of more recent rap hits has to take place. The beginning of the 21st century seems to be associated with a significant social shift; thus, the examination of the lyrics of the most popular 162 songs of 2000 -- 2019 will be conducted in the current research.

Hence the United States is the country of origin of rap music, and the songs will be chosen according to the chart of the most popular hip-hop songs by 'Billboard', an American music magazine. The charts have been created weekly according to the number of streaming on radio and the number of sales of a song. As the technologies developed, the number of streaming on such services as Apple Music, Spotify, etc., and online sales on iTunes, GooglePlay, etc., started to be taken into consideration, too.

Even though the development of the music industry has allowed every person to find the most appealing genre, artist, song, we should focus on the most representative material. It has to be mentioned that the set of songs is in no way universal, as music taste is extremely subjective. However, we find this criterion to be representative, as it shows what songs a huge part of the US population finds genuinely appealing and wants to listen to over and over again. Such interest to the song cannot but be connected with the fact that people's views, opinions and interests are represented by the artists, so, it is a way in which public consciousness can be recognised.

The procedure of the analysis is going to be as follows: every song's lyrics are going to be read through, and the gender-imbued words will be highlighted. As the category of gender is a complex phenomenon in English, we are going to limit ourselves to the words used to name or describe male and female characters in songs. Hence, we hypothesise that the images of genders created by male and female artists differ, every word will be added to one of four groups being 1) men about men; 2) men about women; 3) women about women; 4) women about women. Having finished the analysis of the lyrics, the generalisation of the four images and their comparison with each other will take place. The peculiarities and differences in language use will be indicated, too. Thus, the general tendencies of gender construction by male and female will be outlined and contrasted.

3.1 The characteristics of male gender in rap

As it can be seen from the Application 1, this group of vocabulary units is the largest, which is in the first place explained by the fact that the number of male hip-hop artists prevails, so, whenever they refer to themselves, they talk about men. What is more, it is the patriarchy that might influence the fact that songs are, for the most part, written about male characters.

First of all, let us focus on the group 'Men about men' (Table 1, Appendix 2), which is the biggest group of all. The most common noun used to refer to or address men in songs is 'nigger', and 71 artists used it in their tracks. The rappers both named themselves and referred to other men with the help of this vocabulary unit. It is a shortened form of the word 'nigger', which was used as a "verbal picture of negative stereotypes" by the white population of the United States when talking about black people (Kennedy, 2011). This word has been used in a derogatory manner and had a negative connotation.

Nevertheless, the rise of the black nationalist movement was the reason why this noun is widely used by the black population of the U.S. This is considered to help embrace one's origin and eliminate the negative connotation of the vocabulary unit, so, the use of the word is viewed as a form of rebellion. Thus, if we look at the collocations with the word, we see such phrases as "wild niggas", "loud niggas" (Nelly -- Country Grammar); "my niggas is savage, ruthless" (Migos (ft. Lil Uzi Vert) -- Bad and Boujee); "some hot nigga" (Bobby Shmurda -- Hot Boy). All of those collocations refer to savage lifestyle, being ferocious and not caring about anything, which is expected to be typical of black men.

The next noun used to talk about male characters is the word 'man'/'men' itself. It is neutral in terms of connotation. However, if we look at it in context, we can find a number of gender-constructing phrases containing this noun, such as "live a big man's life" (Lil' Romeo -- My Baby), "a killa man" (Dem Franchize Boyz (ft. Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat & Bow Wow) -- I Think They Like Me), "da iceman" (Nelly (ft. Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp) -- Grillz), where 'ice' refers to the drug known as methamphetamine, etc. We would like to emphasise one more phrase, "I'm the man" which can be found in a few songs from the charts (Chingy (ft. J-Weav) -- One Call Away, Young Dro (ft. T.I.) -- Shoulder Lean). It is pronounced in dialogues with female characters and is used to highlight the dominance of a man over a woman and his power, confidence and masculinity as it is.

The image of a man as the one in power runs throughout practically all 162 songs analysed. It is expected that a man makes decisions, fights for himself and his beloved ones, a man can even be pretty rough. Such images as those of 'soldier'/'soulja' and 'Superman' are used in the songs multiple times: "soulja boys got gats", gats meaning guns (No Good -- Ballin' Boy), "I'm Superman with the wind at his back" (Eminem (ft. Rihanna) -- Love the Way You Lie). As for being rough, we can find such descriptions of men as "quick to put a bullet in a stranger's dome" (Big L -- Flamboyant), "born to die" (Master P -- Souljas), "my heart's become too cold to break" (G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha -- Me, Myself & I), etc. So, whether the images created in the songs are negative or positive, masculinity is embraced and is characteristic of pretty much every male character of the songs.

The word 'boy'/'boys' is used half as many times as the noun 'man'. The primary difference between these two vocabulary units is the age of a referent. However, in the songs examined the noun 'boy' does not necessarily mean a child or a teenager, it can mean any male character, like in collocations "big boy" (T.I. -- Whatever You Like, Nelly (ft. Kyjuan, Ali & Murphy Lee) -- Air Force Ones, etc.), "bad boy" (Nelly, P. Diddy & Murphy Lee -- Shake Ya Tailfeather) and "pretty boys" (Nelly -- Country Grammar (Hot Shit). What is more, there is a negative shade of meaning in some contexts and phrases where the word 'boy' is used, which might be related to the fact that younger people are often not taken seriously. Thus, calling an adult man a boy can be a form of making fun of that person, e.g., "boys be stressin us" (No Good -- Ballin' Boy), "alphabet boys" which refers to governmental institutions such as FBI, ATF, etc. (Young Jeezy (ft. Akon) -- Soul Survivor). So, it takes some effort to be considered a real man, i.e., to be respected.

The next vocabulary unit we would like to discuss is the word 'motherfucker' and its variants like 'muthafucker'. It is mentioned in 21 hits out of 162, which makes about 13 per cent of the songs. The etymology of the word is pretty obvious, but in fact, it does not have a meaning of having sexual intercourse anymore. Nevertheless, we have to understand that the roots of the noun as it is still can easily be traced, so, the connotation of offence towards a person and their mother still exists. Its usage can be compared to that of the word 'nigga': "young handsome motherfucker" (Waka Flocka Flame (ft. Wale & Roscoe Dash) -- No Hands), "thug mutha fucker" (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek -- Move Somethin).

Now, let us turn to the pair of words 'homeboy' and 'homie' as its form. They were used just as often as the previously mentioned unit. It is used to refer to people from the same neighbourhood, childhood friends, etc. The use of this noun tends to be used to highlight the importance of friendship, having a so-called gang. For instance, such phrases as "Don't want no problem with you homie" (Lil Zane (feat. 112) -- Callin' Me) and "my homeboy still be around" (T.I. (ft. Justin Timberlake) -- Dead and Gone) demonstrate that.

Having touched upon the concept of friendship, we cannot but mention the nouns 'brother' and its derivative 'bro'. They are mainly used not only to talk about relatives but to refer to close friends who are claimed to be as close as members of a family. The importance of such concept as 'brotherhood' can be traced in a number of expressions: "Those my brothers, I ain't even gotta say it" (Drake -- Headlines), "brotherhood come first" (Wiz Khalifa (ft. Charlie Puth) -- See You Again) " my big brother Big Lee" (Big L -- Flamboyant). We should also realise that such connection can only exist between men, and no female was referred to as 'bro' or 'sister' in the lyrics analysed.

One more important pair of words to discuss is the nouns 'cat' and 'dog'/'dawg'. Just like in nature these two animals are expected to have animosity towards each other, the words in their figurative meanings are also used to talk about the opposites. Contrary to the expectations, they do not mean a man and a woman. Instead, the word 'dog' is used to refer to a member of a group and generally tends to have neutral or even positive connotation. For example, it can be illustrated with the phrases like "big dawg now" (Mr Cheeks -- Lights, Camera, Action!) or "I'm a dog, woof" (Migos (ft. Lil Uzi Vert) -- Bad and Boujee). It is often used as a form of address, synonymous to the more conventional 'mate', e.g., "Yeah, dog" (Travis Scott -- Highest in the Room) and " I took 'em all, dog" (D12 -- Purple Pills). On the other hand, the noun 'cat' primarily has the shade of animosity in its meaning. It can frequently be found in referring to a member of a counter gang, so, the connotation is negative. Let us explore the examples of the unit use: "you cats to get paid today" (T.I. (ft. Rihanna) -- Live Your Life), "them cats" (Wiz Khalifa -- Black and Yellow). There are also the cases of the word 'cat' neutrally, like in "to my rich cats" (Lil Zane (feat. 112) -- Callin' Me) or in " I'm that cat by the bar" (50 Cent -- In da Club). Having looked at the opposition between these two words, we have noticed the hostility between men if they are the members of different companies.

The same attitude and antagonism are represented by the use of a number of nouns and adjectives, such as 'fags', the derivative of 'faggot', 'sissy', 'dick' and many more humiliating words. As can be seen, homophobic slurs and sex-related words are used as an insult. They are used by male artists to refer to their opponents or even enemies. Such confrontation is particularly outstanding in the following phrases: "You that faggot-ass nigga" (50 Cent -- In da Club); "little gay-looking boy" and "you fags" (Eminem -- Rap God); "sissy nigga" and "these sucka niggaz" (YoungBloodz (ft. Lil Jon) -- Damn!); "outside dick" (Juvenile (ft. Soulja Slim) -- Slow Motion) and many more. However, not all of such phrases include sexualised words, a number of utterances use words neutral in that sense but still express animosity: "Harder than y'all cause I'm smarter than y'all" (Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch (ft. Nate Dogg) -- Oh), "ready for war" (Master P -- Souljas), etc.

Commonly the feeling of hostility derives from the opposition between criminal gangs, and the criminal lifestyle is extensively described in the lyrics analysed, especially if we look into the earlier tracks. We can find a few examples of using such units as 'g's', meaning gangsters, and 'thug', meaning a person related to crime. Here we can provide such examples as "the realest G's" (No Good -- Ballin' Boy), "10 g'z will take ya daughter" (The Game (ft. 50 Cent) -- Hate It or Love It); " ain't nothing but a young thug" (Young Jeezy (ft. Kanye West) -- Put On), "true thugs out there" (Lil Zane (feat. 112) -- Callin' Me). The reason for referring to such criminal way of living is the fact that criminal street gangs were still widely spread in the States in the very beginning of the 21st century, and hip-hop artists frequently were a part of those gangs.

As alcohol consumption and substance abuse are an integral part of such manner of living, they have become two issues frequently raised in the lyrics of popular songs. There are many slang words meaning being drunk or drugged, and they are extensively represented in rap songs: "cocked" (Young Jeezy (ft. Akon) -- Soul Survivor), "been crunk since first day" (Ying Yang Twins -- Whistle While You Twurk), "smoking on dubs in clubs" (Nelly -- Country Grammar (Hot Shit)), " dope-heady guy (D12 -- Purple Pills), "and I'm higher than a plane; I'm drunk and high at the same time" (Dem Franchize Boyz (ft. Lil Peanut and Charlay) -- Lean wit It, Rock wit It). The characters tend to realise that their lifestyle is against the law; however, they enjoy it and consider themselves "righteous above the law" (Nelly -- Country Grammar (Hot Shit)).

Money is another issue closely related to such lifestyle, and wealth is embraced by rap artists. It is something to be proud of and even the reason why a man can be considered better than the others. The fact of having money is emphasised multiple times by the artists: "hella rich" (Big Sean (ft. E-40) -- I Don't Fuck with), "married to the money" (Fetty Wap -- Trap Queen), "golden diamond teeth wearing" (DRAM (ft. Lil Yachty) -- Broccoli), "I'm on Gucci" (Childish Gambino -- This Is America). Being poor is, on the contrary, a reason for teasing in such songs: "po' cats" (Lil Zane (feat. 112) -- Callin' Me), "poor baby, born by a whore lady" (D12 -- Purple Pills).

One more aspect which is closely associated with the lifestyle described is the relationship with women and having sex. Not caring for feelings and just being passionate is normalised in the hip-hop tracks we examined. Having many sexual partners is seen as being 'cool', particularly in the earlier songs: "surrounded by chicks" (Lil Bow Wow (feat. Xscape) -- Bounce With Me), "I'm into havin' sex, I ain't into makin' love" (50 Cent -- In da Club), "l I swooped on her ike an eagle swoopin' down on its prey" (Chingy -- Right Thurr) and many more. An image of a 'pimp', or a procurer, appears in a number of songs, too. So, rappers claim not only to be promiscuous but also to have control over the women from their circle: "I'm a motherfuckin' P I M P", "hoe make a pimp rich" (50 Cent -- P.I.M.P.); "don't let another brother pimp you" (Twista -- Overnight Celebrity). Furthermore, this image of a more powerful and controlling man can be noticed when such vocabulary units as 'daddy'/'dadda' are used: "Smile fo me daddy" (Nelly (ft. Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp) -- Grillz), "she be calling me daddy" (R. Kelly (ft. T.I. & T-Pain) -- I'm a Flirt), "ask da damn dadda der" (Naughty by Nature (ft. 3LW) -- Feels Good).

On the other hand, if we look into the lyrics more attentively, we may notice a change in the topics of hip-hop main hits and the values welcomed by the artists. The main characters are no longer looking for money and promiscuity; they are more humane and start to talk about their feelings. The year 2011 is when the song "Niggas in Paris" by Kanye West and Jay-Z got into the chart, and here we can find such lyrics as "psycho, I'm liable to go Michael" meaning about to go crazy, "I'm suffering from realness" and "they going gorillas", meaning to go crazy, too. It seems to be the first time when the mental state of a male character is touched upon. This topic continues to be raised in the "I Cry" by Flo Rida, where the artist says: "Bitter moments got me feeling like a lemon", "I cry just a little". Therefore, we can claim that the lyrics become more personal, and the characters open up from a different angle. We see that it is not only being money hungry, and sexual desire that bothers the characters, they do have emotions. It needs to be emphasised that it is not just a few popular songs that touch upon the feelings of the main characters; it gradually becomes one of the central topics in the genre. The track Me, Myself & I by G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha shows the loneliness of the main character; he says: "I'm anxious", " I'm sick with it", "my heart's become too cold to break". This tendency goes on during all the las years, too: "I'm just a sucker for pain" (Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons with Logic and Ty Dolla Sign (ft. X Ambassadors) -- Sucker or Pain), "I feel good, sometimes I don't" (Drake -- God's Plan), "I'm sad" and "I'm lost" (XXXTentacion -- Sad!) and "now I'm just better off dead" (Juice Wrld -- Lucid Dreams). So, in more recent songs does not have to be only strong and hard, it is okay for him to be emotional. This change might be related to raising the awareness of the importance of mental health in the U.S. (Prasad, Angothu, Mathews & Chaturvedi, 2016).