Thai Rap Songs Through the World Englishes Approach : Code-Switching and Nativization

Authors

• Ekkarat Ruanglertsilp

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

This study examines the English elements and nativized English features present in recent Thai rap songs. The source data comes from a Thai rap playlist called Thai Rapper on the online music platform Spotify. All English units found in the lyrics were manually counted and classified. The results diverged from most studies of Thai-English code-switching in Thai media in that, among the English elements considered, sentences were employed most frequently. Among nativized English features, semantic shift was most frequently employed. I argue that the local and global English identity flows (Pennycook 2009) index a shift in the Thai rap community toward assimilation of their Thai hip-hop identity into global street culture, a phenomenon becoming more prevalent among today’s Thai youth.

DOI

10.1163/26659077-20242702

First Page

1

Last Page

23

Recommended Citation

Ruanglertsilp, Ekkarat (2024) "Thai Rap Songs Through the World Englishes Approach : Code-Switching and Nativization," Manusya, Journal of Humanities: Vol. 27: No. 1, Article 23.
DOI: 10.1163/26659077-20242702
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/manusya/vol27/iss1/23