From Dialect Tones to the Melody of Flute Pieces: The Acoustic Reconstruction and Literary Interpretation of Ci Poetry Using the Example of Sheng Sheng Man

Abstract

Research on the tone and metric rules of Song Ci poetry has long regarded the metric rules of Ci mainly as a textual phenomenon, separating them from actual sound production and singing. This study focuses on Li Qingzhao's work "Sheng Sheng Man"; with the help of publicly accessible databases for dialect tones and the melody contours of flute pieces, the metric tone order of the Ci as well as its phonetic and melodic foundations are computationally reconstructed. The work uses quantitative analysis methods, it analyzes validated open datasets on Cantonese and Minnan dialect tones as well as existing transcription materials of flute melodies, the focus is on the correspondence relationships between pitch and melodies as well as the melody contours. The study shows that there is a relatively stable correspondence between the categories of dialect tones and the movement of flute melodies; thereby the effect of entering tones and the melody course are important factors that influence the realization of the melody. The study connects phonetic linguistics with research on literary metrics; through the analysis of tone-melody correspondence a data-driven approach is offered to understand the acoustic dimension of Song Ci poetry anew.