Noun-epithets of Dongba and Daba oral traditions

• 主要作者: Xu, Duoduo
• 其他作者: School of Humanities
• 格式: Article
• 語言: English
• 出版: 2022
• 主題: Humanities::Linguistics; Chant; Formula
• 在線閱讀: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161993

Dongba and Daba chants represent two of the few oral traditions still surviving in the world. In both traditions, the main category of formulaic expressions consists of traditional noun-epithets describing spirits. Dongba and Daba spirits can be classified into five categories, of which the noun-epithets used to describe them share similar features. Another significant percentage of noun-epithets portray figures of animals. Dongba and Daba chants are both chanted in odd-numbered metric patterns in which noun-epithets are adapted to the metric context. Besides the core expression (often a tetra-syllabic compound), several monosyllabic words not affecting the core meaning may be inserted as optional morphemes to modify the number of syllables in the noun-epithet. This study provides a systematic philological analysis of the vast repertoire of Daba and Dongba noun-epithets. Comparative mythology and comparative linguistics combine to present a comprehensive description of the stylistic features of Daba and Dongba noun-epithets.