回到声音:凉山彝族传统民歌文本类型研究

Back to Sound: A Study on The Text Types of Traditional Yi Folk Songs in Liangshan

凉山彝族传统民歌的文本存在形式是多样的,依据口头诗学理论,可以分为口头文本、源于口头的书面文本、以传统为导向的文本、以表演为导向的文本四大类。口头性是彝族传统民歌最突出的特点,也是其生命力所在,没有了口头,就没有了民歌。有些民歌被吸纳到彝族毕摩经籍文献中,并在仪式中进行演述,构成了源于口头的书面文本。“以传统为导向的书面文本”更多的是作为文献资料存在,而非回归传统。“以表演为导向的文本”是将民歌演唱与游戏、舞蹈、戏剧、小品等表演内容相结合,民歌为表演服务,这些不同的表演单元共同构成了统一的“融文本”。

Findings show the texts of Liangshan Yi ethnic people’s traditional folk songs take various forms. Based on the theory of oral poetics,they can be divided into four categories: Oral texts,written texts originating from oral texts,tradition-oriented texts, and performance-oriented texts. The oral feature is most prominent in traditional Yi folk songs as well as its vitality. Without oral form,arguably there will be no folk songs.Some folk songs have been incorporated into the Yi Bimo scriptures and performed in the ceremony,forming a semi-oral text. “Tradition-oriented written texts”exist more in a literature form than in a real tradition itself. The “performance-oriented text”is another kind of text of Yi folk song,that is,in this case the folk song singing is combined with game,dance,drama,and other performance contents,serving the performance itself;and these different performance units constitute a unified“integrated text”.There apparently is an overlap between the text types of traditional popular songs of the Liangshan Yi ethnic people. Findings further demonstrate that the four types of texts are interlinked. Oral text seems to be the template of all traditional folk songs,and the latter two types of text cannot be completely separated from the template alone. In terms of function, the difference between these texts is mainly reflected in the different use of objects and cultural contexts. For example,oral texts and semi-oral texts can be passed on and developed by means of folk activities,while the use scope of tradition-oriented texts is closely related to the level of education. This paper mainly draws on the research results of Western oral poetics studies in an effort to classify the different text categories of the traditional folk songs of the Liangshan Yi,and this classification seems to fit the actual situation of the research object. In particular,a reflection on the problems caused by the tradition-oriented text is helpful for us to back to the essence of folk songs,which is the sound. This is also a positive practical response to the academic advocacy of“shifting from traditional written text research to oral-centered living text research”. It may open up a new horizon for the study of oral text popular songs of the Liangshan Yi people. Results also indicated that combining text analysis with context investigation can give a deeper understanding of the composition,performance,creation,and inheritance mechanism of oral texts of folk songs,rather than using text writing to replace or cover up the original face of folk songs.Folk songs originated from sound and must go back to sound. The oral tradition which is passedon oral-aurally is bound to return to the oral nature so as to deeply understand the process of its generation and development. The meaning of the oral tradition to human civilization should be deeply explored,including its inter-textual-constructive relationship with scripts,writing text,and multi-media text,so that the Yi traditional folk songs can return to the sound and retain their traditional sound. This is also the main purpose of this paper: Research on the text types of traditional folk songs of the Yi is not only for purely academic reasons,but more to deepen the understanding of Yi folk songs through theoretical research,and design a feasible methodology to promote the effective transmission and creative development of this tradition.