The Semantics of Chinese Music: Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts

320 Pages·2015·3.21 MB·English

by  Adrian Tien

he Semantics of Chinese Music
Cognitive Linguistic Studies
in Cultural Contexts (CLSCC)
issn 1879-8047
his book series aims at publishing high-quality research on the relationship between
language, culture, and cognition from the theoretical perspective of Cognitive
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Editors
Ning Yu and Farzad Shariian
Pennsylvania State University / Monash University
Editorial Board
Antonio Barcelona Charles Forceville Zouhair Maalej
Universidad de Córdoba University of Amsterdam King Saud University
Erich A. Berendt Roslyn M. Frank Fiona MacArthur
Assumption University, University of Iowa Universidad de Extremadura
Bangkok
Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. Todd Oakley
Alan Cienki University of California, Santa Case Western Reserve
VU University Amsterdam Cruz University
& Moscow State Linguistic
Masako K. Hiraga Chris Sinha
University
Rikkyo University Hunan University
Alice Deignan
Zoltán Kövecses Gerard J. Steen
University of Leeds
Eötvös Loránd University VU University Amsterdam
Vyvyan Evans
Graham Low Hans-Georg Wolf
Bangor University
University of York Potsdam University
Volume 5
he Semantics of Chinese Music. Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts
by Adrian Tien
he Semantics of Chinese Music
Analysing selected Chinese musical concepts
Adrian Tien
National University of Singapore
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
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      (-)
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Table of contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Tables and igures xv
chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 What musical concepts? 4
1.1.1 Musical concepts as cultural key words? 9
1.1.2 Musical concepts and domain-speciicity 10
1.2 Musical “meaning” in academic discussions since the 20th century 14
1.3 Musical “meaning” in linguistic discussions since the 20th century 16
1.3.1 Cognitive semantic approach 16
1.3.2 Semiotic approach 18
1.4 Analysing and discussing Chinese musical concepts 21
1.4.1 Analysing Chinese musical concepts using
the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) 23
1.4.1.1 Semantic molecules 25
1.4.1.2 Cultural script 27
1.4.1.3 Application or applicability of the NSM to analysing
Chinese musical concepts 27
1.4.1.4 Core versus peripheral meaning in NSM analyses 28
1.4.1.5 he “sememe” in Chinese lexicon and its implication
for NSM analyses 30
1.5 Chinese music and Chinese language: a case of pas de deux 32
1.6 Chapter plan 34
chapter 2
“Where Have the Geese Gone?” Chinese concepts related
to sonic experience 37
2.1 Chinese interpretation of sonic presence (“sound”)
and sonic absence (“non-sound”) 38
vi he Semantics of Chinese Music
2.2 Chinese concepts related to sonic presence (“sound” and “music”) 47
2.2.1 Sheng 聲  49
2.2.2 Yin 音  53
2.2.3 Yin yue 音樂 and yue 樂  57
2.2.4 Compound words between sheng, yin and yue 59
2.2.5 Qu 曲  62
2.3 Chinese concepts related to sonic absence (“non-sound”) 69
2.3.1 Jing 靜  70
2.3.2 Mo 默  74
2.3.3 Ji 寂  75
2.3.4 Xiu 休  77
2.4 Concluding remarks 79
chapter 3
“Following one’s intonation”: Concepts related
to musical articulation, interpretation and perception 81
3.1 Yiyang duncuo 抑揚頓挫  82
3.2 Yun 韵  91
3.3 Shi 實 versus xu 虛  98
3.4 Nong 濃 versus dan 淡  109
3.5 Conclusion 115
chapter 4
Being “graceful”, “well-moderated” and “restrained”:
Concepts related to emotional and aesthetic expressions of music 117
4.1 Emotion words and emotional musical concepts 118
4.2 Emotional musical concepts weiwan, wanzhuan, wanyue,
hanxu and daqi 121
4.2.1 Weiwan, wanzhuan, wanyue, hanxu and daqi:
their semantic and translational issues 124
4.2.2 Cultural underpinnings of weiwan, wanzhuan, wanyue and hanxu:
emotional indirectness, implicitness and restraint 127
4.2.2.1 Indirect expressions of emotions 128
4.2.2.2 Indirect and implicit expressions of emotions 132
4.2.2.3 Indirect and restrained expressions of emotions 134
4.2.2.4 Expressions of emotions: two important provisos 136
4.2.3 Semantic analyses of weiwan, wanzhuan, wanyue,
hanxu and daqi 139
4.2.3.1 Weiwan 委婉  139
4.2.3.2 Wanzhuan 婉轉  151
Table of contents vii
4.2.3.3 Wanyue 婉約  159
4.2.3.4 Hanxu 含蓄  164
4.2.3.5 Daqi 大氣  171
4.3 Conclusion 176
chapter 5
Interpreting Guqin Master Xu’s “24 virtues” with NSM 181
5.1 Preliminaries 181
5.1.1 Guqin aesthetics as a signiicant dimension
of Chinese musical aesthetics 185
5.1.2 he 24 guqin concepts by Master Xu as a representative
dimension of guqin aesthetics 186
5.1.3 Taking stock of the 24 guqin concepts as “virtues
of guqin music” 188
5.2 Semantic analyses of the “24 virtues of guqin music” 191
5.2.1 He 和 ‘harmonious’ 193
5.2.2 Jing 靜 ‘quiet, silent, tranquil, still’ 199
5.2.3 Qing 清 ‘clear, pure’ 202
5.2.4 Yuan 遠 ‘distant, far and profound’ 204
5.2.5 Gu 古 ‘ancient, archaic, nostalgic’ 207
5.2.6 Dan 澹/淡 ‘placid, plain, simple, quiet, unsophisticated’ 210
5.2.7 Tian 恬 ‘calm, peaceful, tranquil, serene’ 212
5.2.8 Yi 逸 ‘leisurely’ 213
5.2.9 Ya 雅 ‘exquisite, elegant, graceful, reined’ 215
5.2.10 Li 麗 ‘beautiful’ 219
5.2.11 Liang 亮 ‘bright, resonant, transparent, clear’ 220
5.2.12 Cai 采 ‘luminous, lustrous’ 222
5.2.13 Jie 潔 ‘clean’ 223
5.2.14 Run 潤 ‘warm, moist, moderate, smooth, sleek’ 225
5.2.15 Yuan 圓 ‘well-rounded, seamless, unblemished, immaculate’ 228
5.2.16 Jian 堅 ‘irm, solid, strong’ 233
5.2.17 Hong 宏 ‘grand, impressive, magnaminous’ 235
5.2.18 Xi 細 ‘ine, minute, subtle’ 238
5.2.19 Liu 溜 ‘gliding, slippery’ 240
5.2.20 Jian 健 ‘lively, energetic’ 241
5.2.21 Qing 輕 ‘light, sot’ 244
5.2.22 Zhong 重 ‘heavy, weighty, strong’ 246
5.2.23 Chi 遲 ‘slow, delayed’ 248
5.2.24 Su 速 ‘switly, rapidly’ 250
5.3 Conclusion 253
viii he Semantics of Chinese Music
chapter 6
Conclusion 259
6.1 “Musical meaning” revisited 260
6.2 Appreciating Chinese music with the mind’s ear 261
6.3 Appreciating Chinese music with the mind’s eye 262
6.4 Musicking 263
6.5 Chinese musical, linguistic and literary concepts 264
6.6 he main indings 265
6.7 Outstanding issues 267
6.8 Suggestions for further research 268
appendix i
Xi Shan Qin Kuang 溪山琴況 ‘he State of Guqin Art of the Xi Shan School’ 271
References 289
Index 303
Preface
Music is a widely enjoyed human experience, whether in performance or when
listening to (although “enjoyment” may not be the best word to capture the situa-
tion cross-culturally, since music to some cultures is not so much about listening
pleasure as the socio-functional purpose it serves e.g. ceremonial). Owing to our
fondness for music and its crucial relevance to our sheer existence, it only seems
natural that we have wanted to describe, document, analyse and, somehow, grasp it.
In academic research of Western music at least, there has been a “division of efort”
between those who concentrate on music as a form of performing art (e.g. musi-
cians) and those who make it their primary preoccupation to describe, document
or analyse music in a way as rigorous as would those working in the various areas
of social sciences (musicologists, including music historians, music critics, etc.).
hose who make music their business following this Western tradition generally
have no qualms about their being either musicians or musicologists.
Yet the idea that there should be a division between music and musicology at
all may be arbitrary or ethno-centric in the irst place. In other music traditions
such as Chinese music, one who is involved with performing the music is also very
much concerned with what people have said or written about it (especially people
from past generations). As a matter of fact, the notion of “musicianship” from the
perspective of Chinese musical tradition demands not only musical mastery but
also scholarship which encompasses knowledge of language and literature, along
with all other relevant scholarly domains e.g. philosophy and history, with “musi-
cological” knowledge being one of these scholarly domains.
I have entered this scene neither as a musician nor a musicologist, despite
having been trained as both. In fact, the approach adopted in the present volume
is fundamentally linguistic. What makes the current contribution new and even
groundbreaking is that it focuses on spoken or written language relating to music,
in particular, words or phrases that are used to describe or refer to music. In doing
so, it shows that there is nothing surprising about bringing linguistic considera-
tions into the picture in our musical or musicological concerns since language has
always been an important part of “music talk” i.e. talk about music. When music
is being described, documented or analysed, people are saying something about
music, either in their spoken or written language, using words and phrases, etc. to
convey what they think or feel about it. Musicians as much as musicologists in the