The Oxford English Dictionary credits William Shakespeare with coining up to 2,000 words we use today.

《牛津英語詞典》把我們當代常用的2000個單詞的誕生歸功于莎士比亞。 

But linguists from Manchester have found that rappers, such as Eminem and London-based Akala, are actually more adept at creating lyrics and prose than the 16th century poet.

曼徹斯特的一些語言學家卻發現痞子阿姆（Eminem）和倫敦音樂人Akala等說唱歌手在創作歌詞、散文方面其實比這位16世紀詩人更游刃有余。

By studying rap lyrics, the experts said that traditional and complex rhyming comes so easy to hip-hop artists, the skill is almost 'second nature' to them.

專家們通過研究說唱音樂歌詞發現，對說唱歌手而言，創作傳統押韻和復雜押韻作品簡直小菜一碟，就像他們的第二本能。

The research was led by Louise Middleton, a third-year linguistics student at Manchester University.

該項研究由曼徹斯特大學語言專業三年級學生露易斯·米德爾頓主持開展。

Lyrics were taken from Eminen's 'Rap God' and Akala's 'Shakespeare', as well as tracks by Public Enemy.

研究的歌詞包括痞子阿姆的《說唱之神》，Akala的《莎士比亞》以及公眾之敵（Public Enemy）的歌曲。

Ms Middleton found that while Shakespeare and poet John Keats, as examples, may have had a better style when it came to rhyming couplets and more traditional verse, modern rappers excel at rearranging sentences to make them fit.

米德爾頓發現，莎士比亞和濟慈（John Keats，18世紀英國詩人）長于創作押韻對偶詩句以及傳統詩歌，現今的說唱歌手則長于重組歌詞使它更押韻。 

This includes creating so-called half rhymes, which are typically much harder to create because traditionalists view them as incorrect.

他們會采用難度更高的所謂“半韻”，傳統作家認為這種根本算不上押韻。

For example, in Akala's Shakespeare track, he raps: ‘Its William back from the dead/But I rap bout gats [guns] and I’m black instead/ It’s Shakespeare, reincarnated/Except I spit flows and strip hoes [prostitutes] naked.’

比如，Akala在《莎士比亞》里的歌詞“Its William back from the dead/But I rap bout gats [guns] and I’m black instead/ It’s Shakespeare, reincarnated/Except I spit flows and strip hoes [prostitutes] naked."

Reincarnated and naked aren't traditional rhyming couplets but sound similar enough for them to work for the purposes of the song.

Reincarnated（轉世）和naked（赤裸）不是傳統押韻對偶句采用的韻腳，但放在歌詞里還算押韻。

Ms Middleton explained: ‘The high vocabulary score and high prevalence of ‘imperfect’ half rhymes and unique sentence structure, over and above the use of more traditional and deliberate rhyming couplets, show that rap music proves the theory that [its] biggest stars find their success in their ability to rhyme subconsciously.

米德爾頓解釋道：“說唱音樂豐富的詞匯量，流行的半韻和獨特的句型結構，超過傳統、直接押韻對偶句的使用，這證明了說唱明星的成功在于他們不假思索創作押韻歌詞的能力。

‘My research found that more than 70 per cent of the time, artists used half-rhyme, such as ‘hop-rock’, rather than traditional rhymes like ‘cat-mat’.

“我的研究發現，這些音樂人在70%以上的時間里都用半韻，比如hop-rock，而不是傳統的cat-mat?！?/p>

Experts said imperfect rhymes do not typically come naturally when writing, but the study said the skill is 'second nature' for popular rap artists.

專家們表示一般人在寫作時不會自覺使用不完全押韻，但該研究發現這個能力對于說唱歌手而言是“第二天性”。 

‘In Eminem’s track ‘Rap God’, he boasts of his rhyme skill saying: ‘But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes’ which proves the point made by my research - that rapping is outside his conscious control,' continued Ms Middleton.

米德爾頓繼續道：“在痞子阿姆《說唱之神》這首歌里，他吹噓自己的押韻能力道'但對我來說像臺電腦那樣說唱一定是我的基因使然（But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes）'這句歌詞證明了我的觀點：說唱不受他的意識控制?！?/p>

‘I think that hip-hop has the most sophisticated use of rhyme of any genre and when written down it reads just like poetry.

“我認為說唱音樂對押韻的使用比任何類型的音樂流派更復雜，說唱音樂的歌詞讀起來就像詩歌?！?/p>

Manchester University said previous studies in the field have explored the similarities between the vocabulary of popular hip-hop artists with the words of Shakespeare.

曼徹斯特大學研究人員表示，早前在該領域的研究發現說唱音樂人和莎士比亞的用詞有極大的相似性。

Last year, New York-based data scientist Matt Daniels analysed 35,000 lyrics hip-hop and rap lyrics, and compared the number of unique words to those used in the first 35,000 words of Shakespeare's plays and Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

去年，紐約數據庫科學家馬特·丹尼爾斯選取了35000個嘻哈和說唱歌詞，同時選擇了莎士比亞戲劇、赫爾曼·梅爾維爾的《白鯨》中的前35000個詞，來比較其中獨特字眼的數量。

In top spot was Aesop Rock who used 7,392 unique words, while DMX sat at the opposite end of the scale with 3,214 unique words.

排在首位的是Aesop Rock（說唱歌手），使用了7392個獨特字眼，排在末位的是DMX（說唱歌手），有3214個獨特字眼。

Shakespeare sat at 5,170 unique words alongside Beastie Boys and Outkast, while Melville scored higher at 6,022 words only beaten by Kool Keith, GZA and Aesop Rock.

莎士比亞用了5170個獨特字眼，和Beastie Boys（說唱歌手）以及Outkast（說唱歌手）不相上下，而梅維爾的使用的更多，有6022個獨特字眼。在他之上僅有Kool Keith，GZA，Aesop Rock三人。 

This suggested rappers today have a larger vocabulary than literary scholars.

這說明當今的說唱音樂人比文學巨匠詞匯量更大。 

Dr Wendell Kimper, Lecturer in Linguistics, said: ‘Louise’s research helps us to understand how our brains process and understand sounds.

語言學講師溫德爾·金珀博士表示：“露易斯的研究幫助我們理解我們的大腦如何運作以及理解聲音?！?/p>

‘It opens up other avenues of research which could allow us to find out why some kinds of rhyme come more naturally than others and why some kinds of sounds work better as imperfect rhymes than others.’

“該研究打開了多種研究道路，”我們可以從中發現為什么一些韻尾比其他的聽起來更自然，為什么有些發音不完全押韻中的效果比其他詞更好。”

Vocabulary

adept at：擅長

prose：散文

rhyme：押韻

rhyming couplets：押韻對句

（譯者：呂玲蔚SCNU  編輯：Helen）