Study on the sound representation of Nushu

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370507
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Seijo University
• Principal Investigator: liu ying 成城大学, 文芸学部, 教授 (10307118)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 女書歌 / 吟唱 / 女書伝承者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Based on the basic studies of Nushu melodies that I conducted previously, in this study, I recorded new songs and took down the musical notations. Through on-site research and analysis of the musical notations, I came to the following conclusions:
1.Nushu is a special kind of verse that is different from the traditional Chinese Classical Verse (I.e. old-style poetry and metrical poems). It does not strictly follow the rules of rhymes or level and oblique tones.2.It does not follow the level and oblique tones, rather it is chanted from one sentence to the next in a flow.
3.In the recent years the local dialect became more restricted by the standards of Mandarin. This had strong impact on the creation of new Nushu songs and its rhythms. As a result, the inheritance of this traditional and unique art form had become increasingly more difficult.4.Nushu is also influenced by modern music, the tendency of changing its rhythm from chanting to singing is recognized.

Free Research Field

人文学