Untitled

Paper Proposal For Dr. Wolfgang Wölk
Sociolinguistics – Spring 2007- LIN 493/595

Prepared by:
nomadmatan

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on…The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
– Winston Churchill

When picking a topic for research, one need only look for what the masses cry out against as a legitimate topic to study. Find the person in the crowd with the largest amount of pride, the lowest understanding of theory and who has the most vocally righteous indignation and you will find the inspiration for your work. Approach them, find out what they’re fighting against and then you know who and what to study. Whomever a two-minute hate is being conducted against is often someone who, perhaps long after their death, will be recognized as a mover and shaker of the world around them. Their intelligence understated, the wave of public opinion sinisterly turned against them, yet they endure holding those who can’t begin to actually comprehend their work in smug disdain. These are the people who deserve study: the hated, the despised, the abject and the objectionable; the scapegoats and those whom are considered to be the skeletons in society’s closet. Namely, all of those people that academics purport to be the vanguard of and so often fail to defend.

Eminem has often come under attack for his work. The two most frequent charges filed against him are that he is a misogynist and a homophobe.

It is my hypothesis that these charges are primarily brought by the media and the public at large because he is a White artist who communicates both through African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Standard English (SE) in a medium that is not considered by many to be appropriate for him.

I propose that through a detailed analysis and dialectical translations of his works, we can begin to unravel what he’s actually saying. That through Spectrographic Analysis we can confirm that when Mr. Mathers is saying anything that can be construed as misogynist or homophobic he is in fact saying the opposite or that he has said the same (at least in concept through translation, if not in words) about heterosexual males and is therefore treating all sides with equal disdain and is therefore no more against women than he is against men and no more for women than he is for men. Through Spectrographic Analysis we can prove that his voice goes through a measurable and statistically significant shift in frequency, pitch and manner of articulation when he is imitating someone else while he makes fun of them and their ideas. Where voice change does not occur I believe we will see that, through studying Urban Discourse and the phenomena of Joshing, my arguments will still hold true.

I contend that the reason that he doesn’t fight the charges against him are because (among others) that it gives him some level of street credibility and more importantly, that he holds those who aren’t smart enough to understand his musical works in contempt as evidenced by his very lyrics themselves and the hidden responses that he has to the charges against him, found within his works. I will prove that he is very aware of the position of many people who line up against him and that his accusers aren’t astute enough to pick up on or understand his defense and that his defense is completely lost on them.

It is my intent to prove that Mr. Mathers is a feminist and is in full support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights even though he may not actively campaign for them and that his work will prove it. It is my intent to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accusations made against him by the Media, various social justice organizations and even some Gay rappers and some LGBT organizations is out of Ignorance, Racism, Separatism, Classism and, at times, even Misandry.

Those who already find themselves repulsed by the intent or the stance of this proposal should be the first to stand up for it and support the research: if I’m wrong it gives them a silver bullet in their arsenal and I’ll have done all of the leg work for them. However, if I’m right, as I believe I am, the data will exonerate him.

This paper will not be using live subjects and as such does not fall under the oversight of the Social Sciences Internal Review Board. This papers sources and utilities will be: Eminem’s music (Audio), Eminem’s Music (Lyrics/Transcripts), Previously Published Interviews with Eminem, Previously Published Interviews With Others, Praat (Software), Media Reports, Newspaper Clippings, News Reports (Audio, Audio/Visual) and Attitude Surveys (if available). If this proposal is approved, I will require once weekly meetings lasting no less than one half hour to discuss progress and receive guidance.

Submitted for approval and with the utmost respect,