Language types in the collection of Chinese paper-cut patterns
Simply speaking from the pronunciation of words, homophony can be divided into two types: one is absolute homophony, that is, homophonic words in a complete sense. Two harmonious words have the same initial consonant, the same final syllable, and the same key signature. Same thing too. This direct phonetic transition, from the paper-cut scene to the overlap of the homophonic auspicious words, is in line with our modern language system, such as "Liansheng Guizi" → "Liansheng Takako", "Melon Butterfly Mianmian" → "Gua Lv Mianmian", etc. This type of homophony has been paid attention to by many experts and scholars who study folk art. The homophony in folk art that we often mention basically refers to this type of phonetic system. This homophonic way is the creation of collective thinking over thousands of years. It has its own nature, characteristics, scope, structural form and social functions. After thousands of years of spread and use, it still has strong vitality today.
The second type is near-syllable harmony, that is, only part of the initial consonants or finals are the same, and some are similar. The formation of homophony is more abstract. This kind of homophonic way, from the paper-cut picture to the homophonic auspicious language, is not very coherent and does not conform to our pronunciation habits, such as "gourd" → "fulu", "lotus" → "hefa" (the ancient Xiang dialect is not Fu Feng The spoken word "Xiao Xia Wu" is pronounced h or f, which is different from Mandarin) (Recommended reading: Ming Harmony and Dark Harmony in the Complete Collection of Chinese Folk Paper-cut Patterns). Another example is "Melon Butterfly Mianmian", because melon is homophonic to "baby" and because it has many children, folk custom uses it as a prop for praying for children. The melon used is pumpkin, which is homophonic to "male baby". Few people pay attention to this type of homophony. As for the reasons for the formation of this type of homophony, I made speculations in my research: Maybe it is due to the intersection of dialects in folk activities that the special homophonic expressions in folk paper-cutting are formed. . Since Qin Shihuang annexed the six countries and implemented the policy of "writing with the same text", although the writing has been unified, due to the merging of square Chinese charactersIt is not pinyin, so the unification of characters does not promote the unification of language, but makes the differences in dialects inert, because people using different dialects can express and communicate ideas with the help of the same characters. Reports and important communications between locations can be carried out with the help of a unified text. The classics of the Han Dynasty were only keen on interpreting the classics of the Pre-Qin Dynasty, that is, the elegant language of the Zhou Dynasty, and did not compile books such as rhyme books that provided standard pronunciation. The governments language policy can be said to be left to its own devices. Scholar-officials continued to write in the language of pre-Qin classics, while people in various places still used local dialects. Therefore, different regions and different languages ??have existed since ancient times. In addition to the continuous immigration in history, one is caused by wars and long-distance treks from place A to place B. Although they pass through a large piece of land in the middle, they do not stop. The other is from a certain area that was developed earlier and The economically developed and densely populated central area spreads and penetrates into the surrounding more wild areas. Such immigration activities are particularly evident in the convergence of pronunciation and dialects, such as during the Three Kingdoms period:
"Three Kingdoms·Wei Zhi·Jiang Ji Biography": "... Taizu refused to obey, but more than ten thousand people in the Jianghuai River fled Wu in fear." Also, "Three Kingdoms·Wei Zhi·Jiang Ji Biography": "In the early days, Cao Gong Fearing that the Jiangbin counties would be taken over by the powerful, the military orders were moved inward, and the people were frightened. More than 100,000 people from Lujiang, Jiujiang, Qichun, and Guangling all crossed the river eastward, leaving Jiangxi empty. There is only Wancheng south of Hefei." These two records indicate that at the end of the Han Dynasty, a large number of northerners brought northern dialects to the Wu-speaking area. They also indicate that the dialects or languages ??of Huaiyi, Jianghuai, and Xuyi during the Han Dynasty had basically moved southward by the end of the Han Dynasty. "Three Kingdoms ? Wei Zhi ? Biography of Wei": "The sacred land of Guanzhong was devastated, and more than 100,000 people moved into Jingzhou." This shows that the Guanzhong dialect has spread to the Jingzhou area at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the territory of the Jingchu dialect has shrunk. . …
Homophony is mainly a linguistic phenomenon formed by taking advantage of the phonetic characteristics of Chinese. Immigration brings about the intersection of dialects and folklore forms, and then the people in dialect areas create their own unique language forms of folklore; with the formation of new immigrants, this new folklore form is integrated into other areas. Therefore, folk custom forms that rely on homophony are passed on in different language types and will eventually form a new comprehensive state. This is why some homophonic expressions in folk paper-cutting do not conform to our modern Mandarin language system (further reading: the modeling language of folk paper-cutting).
