On the Origin of Chinese Tonal Prosody
Argumentation from a Case Study of Shen Yue's Poems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13087802 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hongming Zhang (0000-0002-7652-5837, Nankai University; University of [email protected], corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 347-379 |
| Publication date | 2015-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2329-0056 • E-ISSN: 2329-0048 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/23290048-3324140 |
| OpenAlex | W2289687782 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 1 |
Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) is widely believed to have created the poetic metrical theory of si sheng ba bing 四聲八病 (four tones and eight defects) and divided the four tones into ping 平 (level tone) and ze 仄 (oblique tone) categories, thus forming the binary contrast prosodic system in Chinese regulated-style verse. Victor Mair and Tsu-lin Mei have further argued that the rules of the “eight defects” and the concept of ping-ze contrast were designed by Shen Yue under the influence of Sanskrit prosodic theory. The most challenging puzzle that remains for scholars in the field is to understand why Shen Yue and the other Six dynasties poets failed to follow their own prosodic theory in their composition practices. The rise of regulated-style verse in the history of Chinese literature still remains something of a mystery. Through a case study of Shen Yue's poems, this essay aims to solve the puzzle by exploring: (1) the nature of poetic prosody, (2) tonal prosodic patterns in Chinese regulated verse, (3) problems with the Sanskrit origins hypothesis of Chinese tonal prosody, and (4) the pathways of Chinese poetic metricalization from the Six dynasties (222–589) to the Tang dynasty (618–907)
Art · Contrast (vision · Linguistics · Literature · Ping (video games · Poetry · Prosody · Sanskrit · Style (visual arts · Tone (literature · Artificial Intelligence · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · History · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,36 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2024 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |