词曲“以牌称调”考论

A Textual Research on the Phenomenon of “Calling Melody as Pai”

“以牌称调”最早发生在明中期,是中国文化史上非常引人瞩目的现象。“牌名”是明清两代学者固定使用的专有名词,本义是骨牌名。骨牌名与曲调名用词趋同,在酒令游戏的过程中引申为调名。“词牌”“曲牌”是“牌名”的衍生词,实际流行的时间较晚,“词牌”又晚于“曲牌”。“以牌称调”的根本动因是表达需要,人们缺乏专门用来表示南北曲乐调的名词,所以“曲牌”一词更容易被曲学家接受。“词牌”被引入词学研究也是由于在一些民国学者眼中“词调”是指宫调,“词牌”的说法能够减少歧义。调牌是词曲学的核心,相比“曲”“调”等泛用语,“牌”这一专有概念更能展现文体特色。

Calling melody as pai first appeared in the middle of the Ming dynasty,which is a fascinating phenomenon in China's cultural history.Paiming was a term particularly used by scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties,whose original meaning represented the names in card games.As the use of terms in card games and classical melody tended to be similar,the names of cards were adopted as the names of melody during drinking games.Cipai and qupai were derivative words of paiming,which became popular at a later time.The primary cause for this phenomenon was the need for expression.As specific nouns to represent the melody of drama were absent,the term qupai was more readily accepted.The introduction of cipai into the study of ci-poetry resulted from the fact that“the melody of ci-poetry”could also refer to musical mode.The term pai can better express the stylistic characteristics of ci and qu genres.