Skip to main content

Cecelia Cutler

City University of New York, Linguistics (Graduate Center) ; Education (Lehman College), Faculty Member

Followers

242

Following

32

Co-author

1

Public Views

Cecelia Cutler works on language and identity, particularly among young people in the U.S. who affiliate with hip-hop culture. Some of her current work explores multilingualism and alignment in computer mediated communication among Mexican-American youth and language attitudes towards Scottish English on YouTube. She is also working on a three-year collaborative NSF-funded project on variation and change in New York City English with Christina Tortora, Michael Newman, and Bill Haddican.
Supervisors: John Victor Singler

less

Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of British Columbia

Western Sydney University

Microsoft Research

Albert Bastardas-Boada

Universitat de Barcelona

Petros Karatsareas

University of Westminster

Louis de Saussure

University of Neuchâtel

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Interests

Uploads

Books by Cecelia Cutler

(2014) White Hip-Hoppers, Language and Identity in Post-Modern America. Routledge.

Papers by Cecelia Cutler

Language, hip hop, and identity work on YouTube

Routledge eBooks, Nov 15, 2023

Introduction: The Oralization of Digital Written Communication

Springer eBooks, 2022

You Shouldn't Be Rappin', You Should Be Skateboardin'the X-Games

Global linguistic flows: hip hop cultures, youth …, 2009

... iin] Eyedea lines Ø the only way you&amp;#x27;ll eve [ә] sell a reco [rr] d. 4. So why&am... more ... iin] Eyedea lines Ø the only way you&amp;#x27;ll eve [ә] sell a reco [rr] d. 4. So why&amp;#x27;d you do that? 5. You don&amp;#x27;t wanna be (()). ... Representing the real: Exploring appropriations of hip hop culture in the Internet and Nairobi.(Senior undergraduate thesis, Lewis and Clark University, 1996). ...

She's so Hood': Ghetto Authenticity on the White Rapper Show

The Languages of Global Hip Hop, 2010

... and presuppositions are indirect ways of instantiating identity, involving the use of coded o... more ... and presuppositions are indirect ways of instantiating identity, involving the use of coded or indirect language (eg, the word 'hood'or 'ghetto ... hip-hop history, focusing on its African American roots in the Bronx and some of its male founders (Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Melle ...

Orality, Alignment, and Stance in YouTube Comments About the New York City Accent

Springer eBooks, 2022

AAE and Variation in Teachers’ Attitudes: A Question of School Philosophy?

Linguistics and Education, 2003

Linguists and other social scientists have identified school curriculum, teacher education, langu... more Linguists and other social scientists have identified school curriculum, teacher education, language policy and testing as pedagogical domains in which to address issues and develop tools that foster greater academic achievement of African American English-speaking students, and nonstandard English speakers more generally. This article focuses on the intersection between teachers’ attitudes toward African American English and language policy, or lack

Conclusion: Sociolinguistic Implications of Digital Orality and New Directions

Springer eBooks, 2022

New York City dialect, speech acts, and anti-blackness in Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland

Stylistic Approaches to Pop Culture

Showcasing the Translingual SL/FL Classroom: Strategies, Practices, and Beliefs

In an article published in this journal 15 years ago, Vivian Cook argued that it was time to ques... more In an article published in this journal 15 years ago, Vivian Cook argued that it was time to question the time-honoured view that the native language (NL) should be avoided in the classroom by teachers and students. The justifications for this perspective hinged on a questionable compartmentalization of the two languages in the mind. The conventional wisdom has been that the NL has no place in the second language (SL) or foreign language (FL) classroom and that teachers should focus on getting students to think and interact exclusively in the target language (TL). In Linguistic Imperialism, Phillipson debunks five fallacies that are foundational in the field of applied linguistics, among them, the monolingual fallacy or the idea that a second or foreign language is best taught monolingually. Questioning monolingual pedagogies is at the heart of the investigations assembled in this Special Issue

Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas: In honor of John V. Singler

Yorkville Crossing: White teens, hip hop and African American English

Journal of Sociolinguistics, 1999

This case study focuses on a white upper middle class New York City teenager who employed linguis... more This case study focuses on a white upper middle class New York City teenager who employed linguistic features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). It describes some of these features, discusses their origins, and explores the complex dynamics of identi®cation with hip hop, a youth subculture involving the consumption of rap music, baggy clothes and participation in activities like break dancing, writing grati and rapping.

Cross-speaker covariation across six vocalic changes in New York City English

American Speech, Mar 26, 2022

This article examines differences in the way that innovative variants for six vocalic changes in ... more This article examines differences in the way that innovative variants for six vocalic changes in New York City English-too-fronting, raising of price and face and lowering of bad, thought and dress-co-occur across speakers, and explores social correlates of these patterns of covariation. We report on an analysis of a recently developed corpus of conversational speech from 140 speakers. The analysis suggests that patterns of covariation across speakers are conditioned by the local social embedding of the changes. Changes affecting highly localized realizations for raised bad and thought are distributed differently from supra-local changes affecting too and dress.

“Pink Chess Gring Gous”

Multilingual Youth Practices in Computer Mediated Communication

Accentedness, “Passing” and Crossing

White Hip Hoppers, Language and Identity in Post-Modern America

Hip‐Hop Language in Sociolinguistics and Beyond

Language and Linguistics Compass, 2007

... White (2006) is a further exploration of Eminem's authenticity, from the perspective of ... more ... White (2006) is a further exploration of Eminem's authenticity, from the perspective of mediastudies/cultural studies. ... White claims that Eminem establishes a relationship to constructions of authenticity within hip-hop culture through his self-projection as 'White trash' (a ...

Aspects of change in New York City English short-a

Language Variation and Change

This article focuses on change in the “short-a system” of New York City English (NYCE). Recent re... more This article focuses on change in the “short-a system” of New York City English (NYCE). Recent results suggest that a complex set of tensing rules traditionally described for NYCE are being replaced by several simpler systems. This article reports on a study of this change using a recently developed large audio-aligned parsed speech corpus (CoNYCE). This change is similar to the simplification reported for Philadelphia by Labov et al. (2016). Unlike in the Philadelphia case, however, our results do not show evidence of a single abstract process of change. Our findings, rather, suggest at least two separate changes in the community—one affecting short-a in prenasal contexts and a second affecting pre-oral obstruent contexts. In addition, the results suggest an additional independent process of lowering and retraction affecting short-a sounds in contexts not targeted by the process of phonological reorganization, that is, “trap-backing.”

Metapragmatic comments and orthographic performances of a New York accent on YouTube

World Englishes

The co-construction of whiteness in an MC battle

Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

Within hip-hop, MC (Master of Cermonies) battles are one of the most visible and potentially humi... more Within hip-hop, MC (Master of Cermonies) battles are one of the most visible and potentially humiliating venues for demonstrating one’s verbal skill. Competitors face each other in front of an audience. Each has a minute to “diss” his or her opponent against a backdrop of rhythms produced by a DJ. Each participant’s performance generally consists of “freestyle” or spontaneously generated rhymes designed to belittle some aspect of the opponent’s appearance, rhyming style or place of origin, and ritual insults directed at his or her mother, sister, or crew. Opponents show good will by embracing afterwards. Ultimately the audience decides who wins by applauding louder for one opponent than the other at the end of the battle. Using the framework of interactional sociolinguistics (Goffman 1974, 1981), I will analyze clips from a televised MC battle in which the winning contestant was a White teenager from the Midwest called “Eyedea.” I will show how Eyedea and his successive African Amer...

(2014) White Hip-Hoppers, Language and Identity in Post-Modern America. Routledge.

Language, hip hop, and identity work on YouTube

Routledge eBooks, Nov 15, 2023

Introduction: The Oralization of Digital Written Communication

Springer eBooks, 2022

You Shouldn't Be Rappin', You Should Be Skateboardin'the X-Games

Global linguistic flows: hip hop cultures, youth …, 2009

... iin] Eyedea lines Ø the only way you&amp;#x27;ll eve [ә] sell a reco [rr] d. 4. So why&am... more ... iin] Eyedea lines Ø the only way you&amp;#x27;ll eve [ә] sell a reco [rr] d. 4. So why&amp;#x27;d you do that? 5. You don&amp;#x27;t wanna be (()). ... Representing the real: Exploring appropriations of hip hop culture in the Internet and Nairobi.(Senior undergraduate thesis, Lewis and Clark University, 1996). ...

She's so Hood': Ghetto Authenticity on the White Rapper Show

The Languages of Global Hip Hop, 2010

... and presuppositions are indirect ways of instantiating identity, involving the use of coded o... more ... and presuppositions are indirect ways of instantiating identity, involving the use of coded or indirect language (eg, the word 'hood'or 'ghetto ... hip-hop history, focusing on its African American roots in the Bronx and some of its male founders (Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Melle ...

Orality, Alignment, and Stance in YouTube Comments About the New York City Accent

Springer eBooks, 2022

AAE and Variation in Teachers’ Attitudes: A Question of School Philosophy?

Linguistics and Education, 2003

Linguists and other social scientists have identified school curriculum, teacher education, langu... more Linguists and other social scientists have identified school curriculum, teacher education, language policy and testing as pedagogical domains in which to address issues and develop tools that foster greater academic achievement of African American English-speaking students, and nonstandard English speakers more generally. This article focuses on the intersection between teachers’ attitudes toward African American English and language policy, or lack

Conclusion: Sociolinguistic Implications of Digital Orality and New Directions

Springer eBooks, 2022

New York City dialect, speech acts, and anti-blackness in Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland

Stylistic Approaches to Pop Culture

Showcasing the Translingual SL/FL Classroom: Strategies, Practices, and Beliefs

In an article published in this journal 15 years ago, Vivian Cook argued that it was time to ques... more In an article published in this journal 15 years ago, Vivian Cook argued that it was time to question the time-honoured view that the native language (NL) should be avoided in the classroom by teachers and students. The justifications for this perspective hinged on a questionable compartmentalization of the two languages in the mind. The conventional wisdom has been that the NL has no place in the second language (SL) or foreign language (FL) classroom and that teachers should focus on getting students to think and interact exclusively in the target language (TL). In Linguistic Imperialism, Phillipson debunks five fallacies that are foundational in the field of applied linguistics, among them, the monolingual fallacy or the idea that a second or foreign language is best taught monolingually. Questioning monolingual pedagogies is at the heart of the investigations assembled in this Special Issue

Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas: In honor of John V. Singler

Yorkville Crossing: White teens, hip hop and African American English

Journal of Sociolinguistics, 1999

This case study focuses on a white upper middle class New York City teenager who employed linguis... more This case study focuses on a white upper middle class New York City teenager who employed linguistic features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). It describes some of these features, discusses their origins, and explores the complex dynamics of identi®cation with hip hop, a youth subculture involving the consumption of rap music, baggy clothes and participation in activities like break dancing, writing grati and rapping.

Cross-speaker covariation across six vocalic changes in New York City English

American Speech, Mar 26, 2022

This article examines differences in the way that innovative variants for six vocalic changes in ... more This article examines differences in the way that innovative variants for six vocalic changes in New York City English-too-fronting, raising of price and face and lowering of bad, thought and dress-co-occur across speakers, and explores social correlates of these patterns of covariation. We report on an analysis of a recently developed corpus of conversational speech from 140 speakers. The analysis suggests that patterns of covariation across speakers are conditioned by the local social embedding of the changes. Changes affecting highly localized realizations for raised bad and thought are distributed differently from supra-local changes affecting too and dress.

“Pink Chess Gring Gous”

Multilingual Youth Practices in Computer Mediated Communication

Accentedness, “Passing” and Crossing

White Hip Hoppers, Language and Identity in Post-Modern America

Hip‐Hop Language in Sociolinguistics and Beyond

Language and Linguistics Compass, 2007

... White (2006) is a further exploration of Eminem's authenticity, from the perspective of ... more ... White (2006) is a further exploration of Eminem's authenticity, from the perspective of mediastudies/cultural studies. ... White claims that Eminem establishes a relationship to constructions of authenticity within hip-hop culture through his self-projection as 'White trash' (a ...

Aspects of change in New York City English short-a

Language Variation and Change

This article focuses on change in the “short-a system” of New York City English (NYCE). Recent re... more This article focuses on change in the “short-a system” of New York City English (NYCE). Recent results suggest that a complex set of tensing rules traditionally described for NYCE are being replaced by several simpler systems. This article reports on a study of this change using a recently developed large audio-aligned parsed speech corpus (CoNYCE). This change is similar to the simplification reported for Philadelphia by Labov et al. (2016). Unlike in the Philadelphia case, however, our results do not show evidence of a single abstract process of change. Our findings, rather, suggest at least two separate changes in the community—one affecting short-a in prenasal contexts and a second affecting pre-oral obstruent contexts. In addition, the results suggest an additional independent process of lowering and retraction affecting short-a sounds in contexts not targeted by the process of phonological reorganization, that is, “trap-backing.”

Metapragmatic comments and orthographic performances of a New York accent on YouTube

World Englishes

The co-construction of whiteness in an MC battle

Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

Within hip-hop, MC (Master of Cermonies) battles are one of the most visible and potentially humi... more Within hip-hop, MC (Master of Cermonies) battles are one of the most visible and potentially humiliating venues for demonstrating one’s verbal skill. Competitors face each other in front of an audience. Each has a minute to “diss” his or her opponent against a backdrop of rhythms produced by a DJ. Each participant’s performance generally consists of “freestyle” or spontaneously generated rhymes designed to belittle some aspect of the opponent’s appearance, rhyming style or place of origin, and ritual insults directed at his or her mother, sister, or crew. Opponents show good will by embracing afterwards. Ultimately the audience decides who wins by applauding louder for one opponent than the other at the end of the battle. Using the framework of interactional sociolinguistics (Goffman 1974, 1981), I will analyze clips from a televised MC battle in which the winning contestant was a White teenager from the Midwest called “Eyedea.” I will show how Eyedea and his successive African Amer...

Introduction: Showcasing the Translingual SL/FL Classroom: Strategies, Practices, and Beliefs

Canadian Modern Language Review

(2013). “Ets jast ma booooooooooooo”: the social meanings of Scottish accents in contemporary animated children’s films. Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on the Linguistics of Contemporary English 5. September 25-29. U. of Texas, Austin.

(2013) No soy de aquí, no soy de allá: immigrant rappers’ discursive expressions of identity, alienation and place in the US context. Paper presented at the International Society for Language Studies (ISLS). June 12-15. San Juan, Puerto Rico.

(2013) “Hi, I’m Andre and I’m a Black Nerd”: stylistic variation and gesture as metapragmatic social commentary in YouTube comedy routines. Paper presented at NWAV 42, October 17-20, Carnegie Mellon University.

(2012) Mi hijo será presidente de este pinche país: Chicano rap and the politics of language choice. Paper presented at NWAV 41, October 26, 2012. University of Indiana, Bloomington.

'You Shouldn’t Be Rappin’, You Should Be Skate Boardin’ the X-Games': The Coconstruction of Whiteness in an MC Battle

Accentedness, “Passing” and Crossing in John Levis and Alene Moyer (eds.). Social Influences in L2 Pronunciation. De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 145-167.

This chapter considers how practices such as passing, styling, crossing, and stylization can info... more This chapter considers how practices such as passing, styling, crossing, and stylization can inform our understanding of L2 pronunciation from the speaker’s perspective. Drawing on data from adolescents who have learned English as a second language or who are second generation immigrants, it explores how they draw on stylistic features from different varieties of the target language in order to construct their identities and alignments in interaction, as well as the motivations and limits of doing so.