Syllable Isochrony in Selected Nigerian Hip-Hops: Implication for Nigerian English Pedagogy

Scholarly attention, especially in the context of rhythmic patterns of Nigerian Hip-hop and implication for Nigerian English pedagogy has been very rare. Hence, the study inquires into whether or not Nigeria Hip-Hop could be an alternative medium to teaching English rhythm in Nigerian schools, especially due to its influx on Nigerian youths, and thereby improve on the pronunciation of L2 learners/speakers. The study sampled four songs from two artists’ rhythmic patterns-Temilade Openiyi (TEMS) and Adedamola Adefolahan (Fireboy DML). The lyrical lines of the selected songs were analysed using metrical grid; an aspect of metrical phonology) to establish the isochronic patterns in the sampled Nigerian Hip-hop songs through segmentation of selected lines of the lyrics in order to establish whether or not divergence or convergence exist in the rhythm patterns of selected Nigerian Hip-hop as noticed in Standard English songs. Boersma and Weenink (2010), software tool for speech signal editing and labeling, this was evident in the following instances://aɪ////keɪm////ˈsɔːdɪnlɪ://realised at equal timing of 0.2886 milliseconds (ms).//aɪ həv bɪn kɪlɪŋ////ˈɛvriˌθɪŋ//at 0.1904ms.//aɪ///əm////ə////kɪŋ//at 0.2251ms;//juː////dəʊnt////fiːl//at 0.2901ms;//aɪ////wɪʃ////aɪ////kʊd////fiːl////jɔː////peɪn//at 0.210ms;//aɪ////traɪd////tu////tiːtʃ////ˈjuː//at 0.3071ms;//aɪ////wɪl//maɪnd///maɪ////mænəs//at 0.310ms;//fɪə////ɪn////mai////maɪnd///ɪz///ə////ˈwɔːnɪŋ//at 0.215ms;//aɪ////sɛd////faɪv////ɪn ðiː////ˈmɔrnɪŋ//at 0.234ms;//fɪə////ɪn////mai////maɪnd///ɪz///ə////ˈwɔːnɪŋ//at 0.3092ms;//aɪ ˈtraɪ tu////ˈgɛt baɪ////bʌt aɪm ˈbɜːnɪŋ//at 0.2967ms;//sɛnd////miː////a////lʌv////ðæt////juː////kænɒt////mɪz//at 0.214ms;//aɪ////wɪl//maɪnd///maɪ////mænəs//realised at 0.221ms;//wəʊnt////teɪk////ədˈvɑːntɪdʒ//at 0.318; and//nəʊ////mɔ////dæmeidʒɪs////naʊ//realised at 0.2011ms. This means the syllables were realised at relatively equal timing. The study concludes that there is a divergence in the rhythm patterns of Nigerian Hip-hop which makes it significantly different from Standard British English rhythm structure. This implies that the Nigerian Hip-hop rhythm tilts more towards syllable-timing than stress-timing as earlier posited by Nigerian linguists hence may not be appropriate to teach rhythm in Nigerian schools due to its inability to meet national, international and social acceptability standard. © 2023, University of Oran 2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed. All rights reserved.