A Study Of The Versification Of Taixia Xinzou

Taixia Xinzou is a collection of Southern ballads compiled by Feng Menglong, a representative of Wujiang school. Founded on the predecessors' academic researches, this dissertation systematically investigates the versification of several ballad composers, uncovering thereby the characteristics of versification of the Southern ballads, and the complexity of phonology represented in the mandarin of the recent epoch.The versification system of Taixia Xinzou essentially conforms to that of Zhongyuan Yinyun, with some exceptions influenced largely by the Southern dialects. Wujiang school has assumed an excessive importance in the propagation of versification and the development of traditional Chinese opera. Albeit the extensive employment of Zhongyuan Yinyun, it didn't receive the acknowledgements of the Southern ballad composers, the cause of which is attributed to the impact of conventionalized "normal versification" on the cognition of the ballad composers.The embattled ground between the Southern ballads and the Northern ballads rests in the entering tone, which is of paramount importance for the versification of Southern ballads. Commencing with the essence of the entering tone, this paper explores its rhyme and tune, surmounting successfully the problems of the entering tone in the Southern ballads.Versification is the representation of phonological system, and the epochal embodiment of the phonological state. A study of the versification of Southern ballads equips us with more knowledge of the mandarin in the Ming dynasty.