Research On The Phonology Of Gannan Guwen

As a form of folk rap,Gannan Guwen is included in the Encyclopedia of Opera and Drama in China,and is listed as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage in Jiangxi Province.It exist in Yudu,Xingguo,Xinfeng and Ruijin counties in southern Jiangxi.In the Ming Dynasty,under the influence of Northern Quyi,Gannan Guwen is evolved from Daoqing and script for story-telling,become a different form of rap and singing form.At first,the singers were generally blind,but now the singers are no longer confined to the blind.Gannan GuWen was popular in the 1970 s and1980s.Its singing style is generally sung by one person,and the content of singing is generally ancient drama.Gannan Guwen is sung with Hakka dialect and singers sing in their own local dialect.Dialect is the cultural essence that best reflects local characteristics.The geographical location of each county town are adjacent,but their dialects have their own characteristics.The degree of influenced by the PuTongHua are also different.There are more pronunciations similar as PuTongHua in YuDu Guwen.Compare with other county towns,PuTongHua has biggest effect in YuDu Guwen.The relationship between the melody and tune of the characters in Gannan Guwen basically conforms to the rule of "YiZiXingQiang".For example,value of the Yinping tone pitch in Yudu Guwen is 31,and the trend of some melody of charactersis from [6.] to [5.].The value of the Yangping tone pitch in Yudu Guwen is 24,and the trend of some melody of charactersis from [5.]to [6.].The value of Shangshen tone pitch is 213,and trend of some melody of charactersis is from[1] to [2].The value of the Yinqu tone pitch in Yudu Guwen is 41,and the trend of some melody of charactersis from [2] to [1].The value of the Yangqu tone pitch in Yudu Guwen is 52,and the trend of some melody of charactersis from [1] to [6.].However,there are some exceptions,such as the value of Yinping tone pitch is 31,and the trend of some melody of charactersis is from [5.] to[6.].The value of Yangping tone pitch is 24,and trend of some melody of charactersis is from [6.]to [5.].The value of Shangshen tone pitch is 213,and trend of some melody of charactersis is from[2] to [1].The value of Yinqu tone pitch is 41,and trend of some melody of charactersis is from [1]to [2].The value of Yangqu tone pitch is 52,and trend of some melody of charactersis from [5.] to[6.].We find that most tend of melodies are from [2] to [1] or [3] to [1].The main reasons for these exceptions are as follows: Firstly,it is related to the "initial state of pronunciation",it is the low-pitch that is [21-31].When Gannan Guwen is singing,the tone will return to the natural state of pronunciation and the melody will change accordingly.Secondly,the tone pitch is influenced by the rule that is “YiZiXingQiang”.In reality,many musical forms sometimes change the tone pitchs appropriately in order to achieve a pleasant and harmonious state.Thirdly,Gannan Guwen is an improvised rap art,which has strong flexibility.The singer sing according to the sense of hearing.The tone dose not match the pitch.The rhyme systems of each county towns in Gannan Guwen have great similarities.They all have vowel rhymes that belong to the most natural state of pronunciation,which is related to the principle of labor-saving pronunciation——[?]/ [?],they are mainly YangShenYun,which mostly belongs to the DangGengTongShe and XianShanShenZhenShe in the "Chinese Dialect Vocabulary",these ancient rhymes contain more words.The characters in Yudu Guwen are mainly composed of Zhengshe,Shanshe and Gengshe,accounting for 43% of them.The characters in Xingguo Guwen are mainly composed of Zhenshe,Gengshe,Dangshe and Xiaoshe,accounting for 39% of the them.The characters in Xinfeng Guwen are mainly composed of Zhenshe,Tongshe and Gengshe,accounting for 40% of the total.Most of them are RenChenZhe and JiangYangZhe,which are suitable for narrate and express emotion.There are many unique dialectal sentences in the libretto of Gannan Guwen in each country towns,as well as have the same and similar ancient words or Hakka dialectal sentences.Many dialectal words have only pronunciation and meaning but no writing form.We need to distinguish them and further find their original characters.The endangered situation of Gannan Guwen is very serious.Referring to nine indicators of language endangerment analysis published by UNESCO Special Expert Group on Endangered Languages,this paper quantifies the index of the degree of endangerment of Gannan Guwen.It was found that the vitality of Gannan Guwen was not enough and it was difficult to pass on posterity.We can predict that in the next few decades,the inheritors who can sing Gannan Guwen completely will not can be found.The protection and inheritance of Gannan Guwen is the responsibility of every generation.If the conditions permit,the government should increase the funds to improve the living conditions of inheritors.We can also enrich its singing form and its singing content,so that it can randomly create content according to policy and life so that its temporal spirit.The study of Gannan Guwen,which combines linguistic,musicological and sociological theories and methods,is beneficial to their mutual comparison and development,and is of self-evident value to the inheritance of endangered cultures and the research of dialects.