Arabic Lexical Borrowings in German Rap Lyrics: Religious, Standard and Slang Lexical Semantic Fields

Abstract

This essay introduces the Arabic lexical field in German rap lyrics. The topic is understudied in the German scholarly literature and there are only a handful of articles that explore Arabic influences in urban German. The matter is scarcely known among English readers. Partly rooted in Jamaican toasting, the rap and hip-hop musical genre emerged in the 1970s in New York City (Chang 2005). Hip-hop music is comprised of an instrumental track called a “beat” and a lyrical track called “rapping.” Rapping is a lyrical form that uses poetic techniques to create an exciting rhythmic verbal flow for the delivery of “raps” which are poetic narratives. The poetic techniques include assonance, alliteration, rhyming, chopping, and acceleration, among others.