Towards an understanding of the use of English and Malay in Malaysian-Tamil Hip-Hop songs

ABSTRACT

This article describes and investigates the phenomenon of code-switching in Malaysian-Tamil Hip-Hop songs, which are often trilingual. Apart from the Tamil language, these songs also contain Bahasa Malay and English, reflecting the linguistic landscape and repertoire of the Malaysian-Tamils. While the bulk of the research on code-switching is limited to the spoken word in bilingual communities, there has been very little research on both the Hip-Hop genre and trilingual communities. This paper argues that in the case of Malaysian-Tamil hip hop songs, while English is often used in these songs to signal genre and fulfil a lexical gap, the Malay language goes beyond merely fulfilling a lexical gap as it allows for the localisation of the Malaysian-Tamil music, adding uniqueness to it. In other words, there is both a local, regional, and transnational dimension to these songs, reflecting the complex hybrid reference points for Tamil speaking youth in Malaysia.

KEYWORDS:

• Malaysian-Tamil
• Hip-Hop
• code-switching
• identity
• code-mixing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Hemma Balakrishnan has a BA in Linguistics and Multilingual Studies from Nanyang Technological University and an MA in Southeast Asian studies from the National University of Singapore. Her current research interests include cultural heritage maintenance and revitalization among the South Asian diaspora in Southeast Asia.

ORCID

Hemma Balakrishnan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7292-9594