1. How has jazz terminology changed over time?
Finding Trends in Jazz Terminology Using TIME Magazine Corpus Olivia Herschel American University
Question
How has jazz terminology changed over time?
So much of Jazz is intertwined in language, and so much of that language also has to do with coded language around race and culture
Goal: shed light on the evolution of culture, language, music, and people
Results
Collocates: most themes resulted in collocates relating to jazz terminology. Therefore, jazz terminology is a closed relationship that rarely mixes with other lexigraphy's. However, the discrepancies are interesting to note:
Ellington: Most Pop Coll- Duke, 2nd Most Pop Coll.- Armstrong
Jazz Band: Most Pop Coll- Dixieland, 2nd Most Pop Coll.-Orleans
Bebop: Most Pop Coll- Jazz, 2nd Most Pop Coll.- Swing
Frequency: themes including Musicians, Instruments, Elements of Music, and Dance Lingo have highest frequency rates in the s. Discrepancies to note:
Duke Ellington most commonly published in the 1990s
Slide Guitar most commonly published in the 2000s
Improvisation most commonly published in the 1990s, then in the 1960s
Bebop most commonly published 1990s, then in the 1940s
Method
Select terms- the chosen words came from McRae’s list of jazz dictionaries and glossaries (terms chosen in attempt to conduct a well-rounded study with terminology taken from different genres, eras, and cultural themes of jazz culture)
Run Data- explore trends and their use by using collocates and frequency as a way to explore relationships between terms in TIME
Collocates: Allows the user to see what words occur near other words m Frequency: The rank-ordered list of words or phrases in the results set Figure 1: Initial list of terms
Figure 2: Original research from TIME Magazine Corpus: Instruments
Term
Most Pop Coll.
2nd Most Pop Coll.
Most Pop Decade
2nd Most Pop Decade
Trombone
Trumpet
Choir
1960s
1940s
Player
Call
1950s
Slide Guitar
His
Snaky
2000s
1990s
Xylophone
Vibraphone
Like
1930s
Saxophone
Playing
Musicians
Instruments
“Elements of Music”
Genre
Dance Lingo
Drug Lingo
Phrases
Albert Ayler
Trombone
So what chord
Bebop
Jitterbug
Vipers
Dead soldier
Charlie Parker
Trumpet
Lick
Bop
Swing
Weed hounds
Giggle water
John Coltrane
Slide guitar
Jam Session
Blues
Jive
Tea Man
House feathers
Benny Goodman
Bottleneck guitar
Improvisation
Fusion
Boogie Woogie
Muggles
Copacetic
Bessie Smith
Kazoo
Rhythm
Ensemble
Charleston
Heroin
Fuzzy
Billie Holiday
Dog house
Riff
Ragtime
Lindy Hop
Razz
References
Ake, David. "Re-Masculating Jazz: Ornette Coleman, "Lonely Woman," and the New York Jazz Scene in the Late 1950s." American Music 16, no. 1 (1998):
Brown, Lee B. “Postmodernist Jazz Theory: Afrocentrism, Old and New.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (1999):
Davies, Mark. “TIME Magazine Corpus: 100 million words, 1920s-2000s.”
Guldi, Joanna. "The History of Walking and the Digital Turn: Stride and Lounge in London, 1808–1851." The Journal of Modern History, (March 2012):
McRae, Rick. ""What Is Hip?" and Other Inquiries in Jazz Slang Lexicography." Notes 57, no. 3 (2001):