A Study Of Discursive Strategies In The Tujia Ethnic Group’s Bridal Laments From The Perspective Of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

Bridal laments serve as a significant marital ritual in Tujia ethnic group.At the crucial transition of their life,Tujia brides express their complicated emotions such as gratitude,complaint,anxiety,indignation with wailing songs.Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments in western Hubei province are the most representative from the perspective of historical development,spreading scope,documentary records,ritual content and artistic quality(Yu,2004a;Pei,2006).In 2011,Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments of Yongshun and Guzhang counties in Hunan province were listed as a national intangible cultural heritage and those of Laifeng county in Hubei province were listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage,whose artistic value has been recognized.However,Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments border on the verge of extinction on account of urbanization,modernization and globalization.Thus,the historical and cultural significance of this ritualized discursive practice is well worthy of researching and preserving.With abundant exclamations and rhyme in local accents,Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments are tuneful,spontaneous and colloquial.And the bride articulates her intense feelings with the most telling realities she underwent,such as local dialects and expressions regarding natural phenomena.Besides,the imbrication of flexible and concise syntactic structures and copious rhetorical vehicles derives from the collective wisdom of Tujia women,which renders the bridal laments vivid,splendid and heartrending.This study,drawing on the framework of Discourse-Historical Approach(DHA)and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis(FCDA),aims to investigate the bridal laments of Tujia ethnic group in China.Based on ethnographic observations,this study collects oral and written materials relevant to the bridal laments from the internet and in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture,Hubei province.With DHA,this study demonstrates how Tujia women in the past gradually assimilated the gender ideology and patriarchal social order through the ritualized event.And a FCDA of the discursive practice may probe into ideology and power relations and explore female consciousness incorporated in this ritualized discourse.This study addresses three research questions:(1)What kinds of female identities are constructed in Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments?(2)What discursive strategies are utilized to legitimize their attitudes and stance? And(3)What kind of ideology and power relations can be revealed in relation to those female identities?This study finds that Tujia ethnic group’s bridal laments categorize three major identities/life stages for Tujia women,including the identities/stages of bride-to-be,wife and mother-in-law.With discursive strategies,each female subject justifies her attitudes and stance.Mainly with nomination and predication strategies,the bride-to-be voices her ambivalent resistance to patriarchy.On the one hand,the bride discloses her strong resistance to androcentric ideology through her reluctance to leave natal family,uncertainty and anxiety about the future life and curse at the matchmaker.Paradoxically,she delivers her craving for male identity and privilege via highlighting wide disparity between females and males on the other hand.Majorly with argumentation strategy,the wives(mother,aunt and sister-in-law)try to mitigate the brides’ antipathy towards the arranged marriage and therefore persuade the bride into accepting the inevitable fate with various topoi and past/present-to-future imaginaries.And primarily with nomination,predication and intensification strategies,the mother-in-law is portrayed as malicious in an exaggerated manner,who suppresses and abuses the daughter-in-law mercilessly.During this rite of passage,a hapless life circle has been formulated: Tujia females alter their attitudes from paradoxical resistance to patriarchy to gradual acceptance of it and then to ultimate assimilation of the androcentric ideologies.Additionally,this historical and cultural heritage reflects Tujia women’s pursuit and construction of female consciousness in the past,which is of significant cultural value.At the same time,it is instructive to construct equal and harmonious gender relations in modern society.Through the investigation of ritualized discourse,this study aims to enhance the critical consciousness of the audience of intangible cultural heritage discourse so that they can treat intangible cultural heritage rationally,deeply and historically.Moreover,the positive role of intangible cultural heritage in the construction of spiritual civilization can be fully carried forward.