Abstract Many South African music genres, such as bubblegum, kwaito and local Afro-pop, originate in Johannesburg and mainly use ‘Jozi Sotho’ or ‘Jozi Zulu’. These two varieties are used as lingua francas in greater Johannesburg and thus reasonably have more ethno-linguistic vitality than other Southern Bantu languages spoken in South Africa. The musical genre of motswako defied tradition and effectively set an unprecedented trend in South Africa, firstly by mainly using Setswana and English code-switches and -mixes, and secondly by developing in Mahikeng. The aim of this article is to highlight this new trend, using qualitative content analysis to examine the lyrics of five popular motswako songs. The analysis illustrates that besides English, motswako mainly uses Setswana (both standard and non-standard varieties). The author proposes that motswako and motswakolistas are part of the identity of Batswana, and thus the growth and popularity of the genre inevitably promotes Setswana’s status in society.

中文翻译：

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通过嘻哈和 motswakolistas 推广 Setswana

摘要 许多南非音乐流派，如泡泡糖、kwaito 和当地的非洲流行音乐，都起源于约翰内斯堡，主要使用“Jozi Sotho”或“Jozi Zulu”。这两个变体在大约翰内斯堡用作通用语言，因此比南非使用的其他南部班图语言具有更多的民族语言活力。motswako 音乐流派打破传统，有效地在南非掀起了前所未有的风潮，首先主要使用 Setswana 和英语代码开关和混合，其次在 Mahikeng 发展。本文的目的是突出这一新趋势，使用定性内容分析来检查五首流行的 motswako 歌曲的歌词。分析说明，除英语外，motswako主要使用Setswana（标准变种和非标准变种）。