Transcultural Voices

In Transcultural Voices, Singh offers a gripping account of how young male hip hop artists in Delhi, India orchestrate their voices in dialogue and narrative to transform and transgress their gendered and classed positionalities. Singh also powerfully demonstrates what a reflexive and sincere ethnographic approach that foregrounds collaboration can provide to sociolinguistics and the making of linguistic theory. This book will undoubtedly become an interdisciplinary classic and is a must-read for anyone interested in global hip hop, linguistic theory, and the changing contours of urban India. * Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK *
Transcultural Voices marks the entry of a refreshing new scholar in sociolinguistics. Jaspal Singh takes us on an unforgettable journey through Delhi’s urban hip hop scene, revealing an ethnographic world with a descriptive flare that is both honest and provocative. Singh's highly approachable book unravels how young male hip hop practitioners, marginalized in the city as migrants from elsewhere, transform the cosmopolitan magic of their fine art into a powerfully local and compelling way of life. * Kira Hall, University of Colorado Boulder, USA *

Transcultural Voices brings a much-needed progressive approach to the sociolinguistics of hip hop. Singh pushes the boundaries of the global study and analysis of English, genre, gender, and hip hop culture, illuminating the transformative power of voice in hip hop narratives. A beautiful linguistic ethnography of hip hop in Delhi. Brilliant!

* Quentin Williams, University of the Western Cape, South Africa *

An important contribution to sociolinguistic accounts of hip hop, Jaspal Naveel Singh’s ethnography of hip hop culture in Delhi both builds on and departs from previous studies [...] by developing a programme that he terms ‘global hip hop linguistics’ (p. 26). The result is a captivating and analytically robust exploration of the narrativisation of voice, anchored in the complexities of globalisation. 

* Katy Highet, University of the West of Scotland, UK, Sociolinguistic Studies, Vol. 17 2023 *

...this book will undoubtedly be of great interest to those invested in the growing sub-field of hip hop linguistics. It will also be beneficial to readers and scholars with an ongoing interest in the role of language and context, language and culture, and importantly, the way language is intertwined with identities. Finally, those with such interests will be rewarded by meeting the cast of characters that enable this knowledge to be brought to light.

-- Andrew Ross, University of Canberra, Australia, Journal of Sociolinguisticsm, 2023