4. An OT Analysis of Chinese Hymns
4.4 Rhythm of Neutral Tone Syllable
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Align-L (T, XP). Any of the two violations can eliminate (37c).
4.4 Rhythm of Neutral Tone Syllable
As observed in the corpus, it is found that neutral tone syllables tend to be shorter in music. In ordinary speech, neutral tone syllables such as, de, tend to be read shorter than its adjacent syllable, as exemplified below:
(39) HM003-001
In (39), de, which is an eighth note, is shorter than its adjacent syllables, hua and ren, which are both quarter notes. This phenomenon is governed by the following
constraint:
(40) Rhythm-N: Assign one violation mark to every neutral tone syllable that is longer than its adjacent syllable in music.
The following is the melody for HM 008-017:
‧
[All of the nations you made have to come and worship you.]
(42) a.
b.
(43)
This tableau only focuses on the rhythm of neutral tone, so line irrelevant constraints are not listed here. De is shorter than its adjacent syllables in (42a), so it is the optimal output. In (42b), de is longer than its adjacent syllables, zao and wan, so it
Rhythm-N
(42a)
(42b) *!
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
is ruled out.
However, it is observed in the corpus that neutral tone syllables can also be longer than their adjacent syllables as shown below:
(44)
The neutral tone syllable, de, is longer than its adjacent syllables so (44) Violates Rhythm-N. However, it still not ruled out because the constraint Align-R (Long, IP) suggests that the longest syllable should be in IP final position. De is the longest syllable in the relevant IP so it should be in the rightmost position of that IP. (45) is the constraint ranking:
(45) Align-R (Long, IP) >>Rhythm-N
The following is a verse line, wo de xin na, ‘O my soul,’ from the Single Bible.
As observed in the corpus, this verse line can correspond to two different melodies as shown in the following examples:
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
53
IP (46) HM 006-012
(47) HM 006-001
As shown in (46), na is not the longest syllable in the verse line while it is the longest syllable in (47).
The reason why na is linked to different rhythm is illustrated below:
(48) (49)
U
IP
σ
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
In ordinary speech, na is not parsed into the IP because it is an extrametrical syllable of the relevant IP, as shown in (48). When this kind of sentence reflects in music, na will not be the longest syllable in the IP. However, when the sentence is a sign with emotion, na becomes a focus element, emphasizing the feeling of the speaker. Under this situation, na will be parsed into the IP, as shown in (49). In music, this na will be the longest syllable and appears in the rightmost position of the relevant IP.
(49) is the melody for a hymn line. (51a) and (51b) are two possible output candidates:
(50) HM006-012 Melody:
Verse line:
[我 的 心]IP 哪 wo de xin na
‘1SG POSS soul PRT’
[O my soul.]
‧
In tableau (52), na is not the longest syllable of the sentence because it does not belong to the IP, wo de xin, ‘O my soul.’ (51a) is the optimal choice because the longest syllable, ‘xin’ is the rightmost syllable of the IP. However, (51b) is ruled out because wo, which is the longest syllable is not in the rightmost position in the IP.
The line and melody in (53) show the other way of parsing na, where na is parsed within the IP. (54a) and (54b) are possible candidates.
(53) HM006-001 Melody:
Align-R (Long, IP) Rhythm-N
(51a)
(51b) *!
‧
obeys Align-R (Long, IP). Therefore, it is the optimal output. As for (54b), wo is the longest syllable in the relevant IP. However, it is not the rightmost syllable in the IP so it is eliminated.Align-R (Long, IP) Rhythm-N
(54a) *
(54b) *!
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
57
Rest Peripherality Associate Note Align-R (Long, IP) Align-L (T, XP)
DEP-σ Rhythm-N Align-R (T,IP)
Uniformity-SM
4.5 Summary
This chapter sought to generalize the interaction between language and music under the theoretical framework of Optimality Theory. The correspondence between syllables and notes, the boundary alignment between language and music, and rhythmic harmony were discussed. In the relationship between syllables and notes, multiple notes may be linked to only one syllable or lyrics may be repeated to obey Associate Note. This can be accounted for by cophonology as shown previously in (19) in 4.4. Cophonology A is summarized into the following Hasse diagram:
(56) Cophonology A
Cophonology B is summarized into the following Hasse diagram:
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Rest Peripherality Associate Note Align-R (Long, IP) Align-L (T, XP)
Uniformity-SM Rhythm-N Align-R (T,IP)
DEP-σ (57) Cophonology B
As shown in (56) and (57), in cophonoology A, DEP-σ ranks higher than Uniformity-SM, whereas in cophonology B, Uniformity-SM ranks higher than DEP-σ.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
59
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
This paper analyzes the interaction between language and music by examining Chinese hymns. In chapter 3, I construct a corpus of Chinese hymns recording the phenomena of the interaction between language and music and examine the tendency of the phenomena. It is found that the correspondence of syllable and note is on a one-to-one corresponding basis. In addition, every note must be associated with at least one syllable. The composer does not prefer to insert syllables that do not appear in the original biblical verse. However, the repetition of syllables that is inserted to the lyrics is still found in the corpus. This is to satisfy the music template. It is also found in the corpus that rest marks do not appear in the medial position of an XP. Aside from the above findings, language and music interacts at boundaries. The longest syllable occurs at the right edge of an IP. Moreover, the left edge of a tiercet is linked to the left edge of an XP while the right edge of a tiercet is linked to the penultimate syllable in an IP. As for the rhythm of the lyrics, it is found that the neutral tone syllables are not longer than their adjacent syllables. This is similar to ordinary speech. In ordinary
‧
speech, neutral tone syllables are read shorter than their adjacent syllables.
In chapter 4, Optimality Theory is employed and the following is cophonology A and cophonology B in the Hasse diagram below:
(1) Cophonology A
(2) Cophonology B
In cophonology A and cophonology B, Rest Peripherality ranks high to prevent rest mark from appearing in XP medial position. Align-R (Long, IP) is more dominant than Rhythm-N, which shows that neutral tone syllables may also be long. As for the
Rest Peripherality Associate Note Align-R (Long, IP) Align-L (T, XP)
Uniformity-SM Rhythm-N Align-R (T,IP)
DEP-σ
‧
correspondence of tiercet and lyrics boundaries. However, in order to obey Associate Note, in,cophonology A, DEP-σ ranks higher than Uniformity so multiple notes may be linked to only one syllable while in cophonology B, Uniformity-SM ranks higher than DEP-σ so lyrics can repeat.To conclude, the composer composes music for the verses and may adjust the music to match the lyrics. On the other hand, the composer may also adjust the lyrics to satisfy the music, which may serve as a template. Both cases show the interaction between language and music.
The future study can focus on the tonal interaction between language and music in Chinese hymns according to Yang’s (1998), principle. Yang (1998) proposes the principles to describe the relationship between syllable tone and note pitch as illustrated in table 5.1.
Table 5.7: Correspondence between syllable tone and music pitch
Tone Tone
55 Lower rising pitch
(shangshen)
21 High pitch 55 Falling pitch 51
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The six principles proposed by Yang (1998) can be generalized into the following line which is proposed by Xu and Gao (2003):
(3)
high pitch (55)>falling pitch (51)> rising pitch (35)> lower rising pitch (214)
In Chinese hymns the syllables and pitch of the melody may interact. The future study can investigate the reason why and why not syllables pitch corresponds to music melody.
(yinsheng) (qusheng)
Rising pitch (yangsheng)
35 Lower rising pitch
(shangshen)
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‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
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Education M.A. in Linguistics, July 2010 National Chengchi University
B.A. in Chinese, June 2007
National Taiwan Normal University Grants and Scholarships
2010 The member of the Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society of the Republic of China
2010 Graduate Institute of Linguistics Scholarship National Chengchi University
2009 National Chengchi University Travel Grant for attending the 42nd International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics 2009 National Science Council Travel Grant for attending the fifth Corpus
Linguistics Conference. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Project No. NSC-98-2922-I-004-031
2009 Graduate Institute of Linguistics Scholarship National Chengchi University
2008-2010 Phonological Theory Laboratory Assistantship National Chengchi University
2008-2009 National Science Council Research Scholarship Project No. NSC 97-2410-H-004 -111 -MY3 2007-2008 National Science Council Research Scholarship
Project No. NSC 96-2411-H-004-004
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2007 National Science Council Research Scholarship Project No.NSC 95-2411-H-003-022
Publication
Wang-Chen Ling. (2009) Textsetting Strategies in Mandarin Hymns. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Teaching of Chinese Language. 5-14—5-23.
Wang-Chen Ling. (2009) The Phonological-Musical interaction in Chinese Hymns:
An OT Analysis. Paper presented at Mao Kong Forum-The First International Graduate Student Conference on Modern Phonology. Taipei, Taiwan: National Chengchi University, December 19
Wang-Chen Ling. (2009) The Phonological-Musical Strategies in Textsetting of Chinese Bible verses: A Corpus-based Analysis. Paper presented at the 42nd International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Payap University, November 2
Wang-Chen Ling & Siaw-Fong Chung. (2009) The Mandarin (Reflexive) Pronoun of SELF (zi4ji3) in Bible: A Corpus-based Study. Paper presented at the Fifth Corpus Linguistics Conference. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University, July 21
Wang-Chen Ling. (2009) Lyric Modifications in Mandarin Hymns as a Case of Music Template Satisfaction. Paper presented at the 2009 Graduate Student Workshop on Phonology. Taipei, Taiwan: National Chengchi University, January 11
Wang-Chen Ling & Li-Ting Wang (2008). Mandarin-Accented English: A syllable Template Perspective. Paper presented at the 2008 Student Workshop on East Asian Linguistics. Hsinchu, Taiwan: National Tsinghua University, July 2