#phonemes

[d1s4strous]

c-allophone-ia girls,

we are predictable,

distinct speech sounds,

easy to spot

[scribblesnest]

A Linguistic Analysis of Kendrick Lamar

The sounds that we make are called phonemes. They construct the entirety of any spoken language. But when they are used in music, or poetry, they can have a different utility to what we may be used to. Rap music, which we will be focussing on, has flow. Flow is the way the words come out, and their link to the music. It is a critical part of rap. A bad flow can completely ruin a song, and an artist’s reputation. Kendrick Lamar has an excellent flow, not least because of his interest in poetry. This is, I would argue, what separates Lamar from other artists. When you listen to his music, there is no sense that the words were only put there for the purpose of the flow. Instead, they feel natural, and organic, which, as someone who writes poetry is very impressive. It takes a lot of skill to have the rhyming structure flow naturally, and to then fit with the music. I will be exploring Humble and Alright  from a linguistic, and musical perspective through the rhymes used, and how that fits with the flow.

Lamar mainly uses open vowels in the opening bars of HUMBLE. The open, and rounded nature of the vowel pulls the listener along with the music, until this tension is cut with the closed ɪs phonemes. For example, ‘some counterfits, now I’m countin’ this.’ Open vowels are so called because the mouth, and throat are at their most open. The /a/ phoneme is an open vowel, which is followed by a fronted plosive /t/ in ‘counterfits.’ The fronted plosive acts as percussion. Krims (2000), defined flow in three ways: sung, percussion-effusive, and speech-effusive. Percussion-effusive is, basically, using particularly consonants, but the mouth more broadly, as a percussive instrument. The main way most rappers flow is in a speech-effusive style. In terms of the internal rhymes in Humble, it is a similar technique to what Edgar Allan Poe was doing in The Raven. Lamar is using internal rhymes, and percussive-effusive flow to create the pace of the rap. These rhymes line up with the percussion, thus further emphasising it.

One other place percussion-effusive flow is seen is with the line ‘D’ussé with my boo bae, tastes like Kool-Aid for the analysts.’ /d/, /b/, /t/, /k/, and /α/, all act as plosives, creating an internal beat within the line. D’ussé is a high-end French cognac, backed by Jay-Z. This is juxtaposed with Kool-Aid, which is an affordable drink mix. For Lamar, and his ‘boo bae’, the cognac is an expensive, and luxurious drink. However for the ‘analysts’, whether that be financial analysts, or analysts of his music, and success, it tastes like Kool-Aid. For those who are already rich, the more expensive things in life are not luxuries, but, rather, day-to-day items. There is no reverence, or thought put towards possessing expensive things. Perhaps this is who Lamar is telling to be humble, those who already possess wealth. For those who have made it, who have reached success off of their own hard work, some flaunting is okay. However, for those who have possessed wealth all their life, they are the ones who should be humble. There is another layer to the Kool-Aid line. In 1978, the Jonestown Massacre occurred. 909 people, including 304 children, either suicided, or were murdered by cult leader Jim Jones, and other members of the People’s Temple. This event led to the, frankly, offensive, and insensitive phrase “drink the Kool-Aid.” This essentially means that one passively accepts a certain belief system, or ideology. “Drinking the Kool-Aid” of rap, and hip-hop music may mean to accept that bragging, and flaunting wealth is part of what makes a rap artist. However, Lamar is refuting that by encouraging people to do the opposite.

There is also the use of sibilance in Humble that very effectively draws in the next part of the line. Lamar says that he remembers ‘syrup sandwiches, and crime allowances’, and that there is a ‘soprano C’. Sibilance is the repetition of the /s/ sound, which is a voiceless fricative. In paralinguistic terms, it is typically used to get someone’s attention. We can see this through colloquialisms such as ‘shh,’ or ‘psst.’  It also slows down the text, making the reader pay more attention that way. Here, Lamar is pushing us to pay attention to ‘syrup sandwiches, and crime allowances.’ Syrup sandwiches are bread with syrup on it, a staple of a poverty food diet. It was also referenced on a Nas track, No Introduction. This is then, through the sibilance, coupled with the crime allowances. Crime, and the money earnt from it, is tied to poverty. Low-income is one of the biggest drivers of crime, not because those living in poverty are inherently criminal, but because desperate people will do desperate things. This focus on poverty then contrasts the grand aesthetics of the music video. Conspicuous consumption is the buying, and displaying of things that look/ are expensive. It is quite common among the nuevo riche (new money), especially in the Black American community. This is exemplified excellent in the music video for Ape Shit, The Carters. Displaying wealth is proof that you have made it. All of the wealth seen in the Humble music video, however, is undercut by the songs didactic message of maintaining grace, and modesty in the face of success.

Lamar is known to play with the down beat to create an interesting rhythm, as seen in To Pimp a Butterfly. Hip-hop is mainly in the metre of 4/4 time, this is four beats per bar. Typically, the first beat, the 1, is obvious, however in Alright this is not the case. This creates a restrained feeling that is later released with the chorus, ‘We gon’ be alright.’ The downbeat is on beat 4, with little emphasis to create a bouncy feeling without getting in the way of the lyrics. The half-time backbeat, with the snare being on beat 3, and 7 adds to this. The key chord progression slides down a semi-tone from Abm9 to Gm9. This, all together, gives the song a strong sense of arrival. The sense of arrival is further emphasised with the /ɹ/ in the word, ‘alright.’ Originally, Pharrell pronounced the phrase, ‘we gon’ be alright’ in a Louisiana accent: ‘we gon-be al-ight,’ however, Lamar pushed him to further annunciate the phrase to make the sounds clearer. This added to the sense of arrival captured in the music, as the /ɹ/ phoneme was emphasised as the music kicked in. The strong chorus is one of the best things about the song, and what makes it so iconic. In 2020, it was used as a protest chant to demonstrate, and support Black joy in the face of overwhelming oppression.

The beginning of verse 2 opens: ‘What you want you, a house? You, a car?/ Forty acres, and a mule? A piano, a guitar?/ Anything, see my name is Lucy, I’m your dog/ Motherfucker, you can live at the mall.’ Lamar uses a series of open vowels here in rapid succession to bring the listener with him. The words in bold are these open vowels. These let the music step back from being percussive, as we are suspended for these few lines with the song. Then the percussive-effusive flow, and percussion in the music kick in, making it hit the listener harder. This gives the song more weight, and impact then it might have possessed otherwise. Alright is a hard hitting song because of the unity between the flow, and the music.

Kendrick Lamar is obviously one of the most skilled rappers in, at the very least, a generation. His use of linguistics, however subconscious, only adds to the percussive-effusive flow. This compounds with the music to create some of the best songs, personally, I have ever heard. 

[yula-e]

So-- I'm really bad at phonetics lmao- and I'm not sure if my conlangs make any sense at all.

Does anyone have some feedback for me on this one? Or any tips on how to go about making sound inventories? I'd like to get better at them.

I just don't know what distribution of phonemes makes sense, and sound change has always been a mystery to me-

[german-enthusiast]

what's your favorite phoneme?

@favorite-phoneme-creature

probably /y:/ and /Y/ ! :>

(e.g the ü in the German "über" and "Hütte" respectively)

[kanuorde]

Marathi allophones for /ə/

So, Marathi has three allophones for the /ə/ phoneme:

[ə]: found on most occasions (e.g. अंग [əŋɡə], “body”)

[ʌ]: rare; usually found before the [ɦa] syllable (e.g. महाराज [mʌɦaɾaːd͡z], “king”)

[ɤː]: more prevalent; usually found before [ɭ̆] (e.g. कळ [kɤːɭ̆], “twinge”).

(Originally posted on Threads.)

[buckochamp]

Sometimes, you have to figure out juuuuust what level of animation fidelity you can achieve for a project that has a strict budget and deadline. Here's how I broke down some options for the client! In the end, we used a mix of rigged puppets in After Effects and moments of hand-drawn animation for impact.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

In this same section, he lets us hear his own voice: one page consists of the same, short letter, written twice: once conventionally, and once in the distinctive mishmash of English, Greek and Hebrew characters that he used as a phonemic alphabet. By the weight of the ink one can see that Newton had to take care with this second version, writing each word slowly as he sounded it out to himself.

Loving ffriend, It is commonly reported that you are sick. Truly I am sorry for that. But I am much more sorry that you got your sicknesse (for that they say too) by drinking too much. I ernestly desire you first to repent of your haveing beene drunk & then to seeke to recover your health. And if it pleas God that you ever bee well againe then have a care to live healthfully & soberly for time to come. This will bee very well pleasing to all your freinds & especially to Your very loving friend

Try reading this aloud, and enjoy the roll of Newton's vowels:

Luvin ffrend It iz komonloy ripωωrted đat yw ar sik. Triuli Oy am sori for đat. But Oy am mutש mωωr sori đat yw got {yur} siknes (for that đee see tu) boy driעkin tu mutש. Oy ernestloy dizoir yw furst tω ripent of yur heviע byn druעk and đen tω suk tω rikover yur helθ. And if it plijz God that yw iver by well egeen đen heev ee kaar tω liv helθfuli & sωωberli for toim tω kum. đis wil by veri wel pliiziע tω ool yur frendz & ispeשali tω Your veri luviע frend

Even at a distance of four centuries, Newton's rendering of 'I' as 'oy', -ly as 'loy', time as 'toim' and desire as 'dizoir', and his doubled-up long vowels in 'more'/mωωr and 'again'/egeen locate the speaker firmly in the English East Midlands.

"The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper" - Roland Allen

[sillysnaddweller]

theres this linguistic thing i cant stop thinking abou t where like. IDRK WHERE I HEARD ABT IT FROM it might be korean but i swear theres some language that like. has two of the same phoneme in a row . but not geminated its like distinctly two phonemes. specifically in the word. susujeo /sʊ.sʊ.d͡ʒo/ ?. okay so like this but the first two vowels get elided so its like /s.s.d͡ʒo/ but the /s/ dont sound like a geminate

it might be a stress thing? like /ˈs.s./

or maybe its a tone within the consonant? if thats a thing? /s˥.s˩/

its really inchresting to me . if anybody could educate me abt it or smth i would greatly appreciate