Research Of The Dialectal Phenomena In Shaoyang Flower-Drum Opera

Flower-drum opera is the most fashionable local operatte in Hunan province. If language is the form of life in talking-singing arts, the utilization of local language will be the source of quyi or Chinese folk art forms. As a product of Huxiang culture and one of the most influencial local drama in the whole province and even the whole nation, the flower-drum opera of Hunan province deserves great attention.Taking the dialect used in Shaoyang flower-drum drama as the object of study, this thesis conducts a systematic research on the dialect with combination of the form and meaning, and the description and explanation under the guidance of the theories in traditional Chinese opera and dialects and makes every effort to make the observation, the description and the interpretation thorough, exact and accurate.This paper consists of six parts.First is the introduction. Here, the author gives a brief introduction to Shaoyang flower-drum opera, summarizes the research status of Shaoyang flower-drum opera, states the content and significance of the study, elaborates the research methodology and the source of language to be used in this paper and introduces the phonetic system of Shaoyang dialect.Part Two tells about the overall utilization of dialect in Shaoyang flower-drum opera. To start with, the features of dialect used in Shaoyang flower-drum opera are analyzed. Then, the differences between scripting language and stage language in Shaoyang flower-drum opera are drawn. At last, this part briefly discusses the reasonability and limitation of using dialect in Shaoyang flower-drum opera.Part Three is about the utilization of dialect pronounciation in Shaoyang flower-drum opera. First, it analyzes the phonetic system of Shaoyang flower-drum opera. Second, it makes a comparison between the phonetic system of Shaoyang flower-drum opera and that of Shaoyang dialect and expounds the harmonization between the tones of Chinese characters and the tune of the song with examples in flower-drum operas. At last, it displays and analyzes the rhymes in libretto of Shaoyang flower-drum opera.The fourth part is the utilization of dialect vocabulary in Shaoyang flower-drum opera. With specific flower-drum operas as the source of research language, this part investigates the elements of dialect, which mainly fall into nouns, verbs and folk adages and elaborates their expressive functions in displaying the regional culture, painting a local color and portraying local characters in flower-drum operas.The fifth part analyzes figures of speech in dialect in Shaoyang flower-drum opera. With examples from flower-drum operas, this part expounds the dialectal figures of speech, such as metaphor, pun, exaggeration and feibai(a kind of rhetorical device in which the writer or speaker writes or says something wrong on purpose to create amusing, humourous and specail effects).The conclusion summarizes the study in this thesis and points out the value of dialect pronounciation, dialect vocabulary and figures of speech in dialect in the creation of flower-drum operas. It also sets forth the main ideas and the innovative part of the paper. In addition, it mentions the limitations of this study and gives some questions remaining to explore.