What is the word for obtaining a rhyme by mispronouncing a word using a regional dialect?
Take the lyrics:
... Now he lives in the islands
Fishing the pilin's (instead of pilings) ...
Is there a word that means to alter the pronunciation to achieve a rhyme (in song)?
In rap music, the term bending words is used when rappers create rhymes where there otherwise wouldn't be a true rhyme.
Here is a YouTube video where the artist Eminem talked with the news program 60 Minutes on this topic.
There may be other names for this rhyming device, too – I'm not claiming this is the right answer. Or, put another way:
There may be other terms, too, maybe ones that are fancier
I'm not saying that this is the only right answer
But if you don't like it, please don't be cussin'
I thought it was worth mentioning in our discussion
The term I've heard used for this sort of fudging is "allowable rhyme" - meaning that it's allowable by a generous interpretation of the rules, but it just ain't right.
H.P. Lovecraft (he of Gothic-horror fame, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!) wrote a famous essay on the topic called, appropriately enough, The Allowable Rhyme. He did not approve.