中英現代悼亡詩的聲情研究

Abstract

筆者97 年國科會計畫目前根據中國古代悼亡詩詞語料庫針對韻腳(rhyming syllables) 得到以下幾項觀察： (一) 陽聲韻出現最頻繁，陰聲韻次之，入聲韻最罕用 (二) 陽、入聲韻伴隨介音的比例極高 (三) 陽、入聲韻伴隨高元音韻核的比例極低 (四) 陰聲韻常見單用高元音韻核 (五) 聲母偏好舌根音、陽聲韻尾多舌根鼻音、入聲韻尾多舌根塞音 (六) 聲調在中國古代悼亡詩詞並非引發悲情效應的理想媒介 即便中國現代悼亡詩語料庫的建立才剛開始，初步古今對照隱約可見，陰聲韻確實常見 單用高元音韻核，而且陽聲韻尾多舌根鼻音。不過，中國現代悼亡詩選用仄聲字的比例 遠遠高於古代。 有鑒於筆者國科會計畫的最新研究成果及相關文獻回顧，本計畫擬就中英現代悼亡 詩的聲情效應進行跨語言比較，從而檢視悲情營造的語言共性及個性。研究重點如下︰ (一) 韻腳的音段訊息，包括聲母、介音(許是漢語才有)、韻核及韻尾有助營造悲情 效應？若有，何以致之？ (二) 韻腳的超音段訊息，如聲調或重音類型(stress pattern)可與「悲」產生連結嗎？ 若可，何以致之？ (三) 頭韻(alliteration)有助引發悲情氛圍嗎？若是，何以致之？ (四) 句中韻有助引發悲情氛圍嗎？若是，何以致之？ (五) 個別音韻訊息透過哪種語音介質傳達悲情效應？ (六) 檢驗相關語音、音韻學理。 本計畫在學術上的預期貢獻除了檢驗悲情效應的相關語音、音韻學理，更因為漢語 和英語具有非常不同的音韻系統，探討悲情效應的語言共性之餘，還可以釐清語言個性。

Based on a corpus on ancient Chinese poetry of mourning established by the present author, some observations were made simply about rhyming syllables: (a) Among the tripartite rhyming structures in ancient Chinese, nasal-ending syllables occur most frequently and stop-ending syllables are rare. (b) The medial glide is very often an element in nasal- and stop-ending syllables. (c) High vowel nucleus seldom occurs in nasal- and stop-ending syllables, as opposed to glide-ending syllables. (d) The onset and the coda prefer velar consonants. (e) Tone does not serve as an indicator of sadness symbolism. Though the corpus of modern Chinese poetry of mourning is yet to be completed, a tentative diachronic comparison seems to show the high vowel nucleus preference in glide-ending syllables and the velar coda preference in nasal-ending syllables. A striking difference is that oblique tones outnumber even tones in modern Chinese poetry of mourning. In view of the updated research results and close examination of relevant acoustic literature, this project aims to undertake a cross-linguistic investigation of sadness symbolism between modern Chinese and English poetry of mourning. Important issues to be explored include: (a) Does segmental information, such as onset, medial glide (perhaps exclusive for Chinese), nucleus vowel, and coda, in the rhyming syllables help to create sadness symbolism? If so, how? (b) Is suprasegmental information, such as tone and stress pattern, associable with sadness? If so, how? (c) Can alliteration serve as an effective indicator of sadness symbolism? If so, how? (d) Is assosance a viable medium of sadness symbolism? If so, how? (e) To what phonetic cue(s) does specific phonological (including segmental and suprasegmental) information attribute to achieve sadness symbolism? (f) How could current theories on prosody and motion accommodate research results obtained from this cross-linguistic investigation on sadness symbolism? Focused on language universal and language-specific sadness symbolism between modern Chinese and modern English, this project not only makes a deeper dig into the exploration of prosody and emotion from the phonology and phonetics perspective, but also suggests a future feasible perceptual study of sadness by native speakers of different languages.