A Study of Southern Hokkien in Taiwanese opera and popular songs records by Nippon Phonograph Company

• Main Authors: Yick-sau Lau, 劉亦修
• Other Authors: 楊秀芳
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8k6x8x

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 台灣文學研究所 === 104 === Recording technology hits Taiwan in the early 20th century. People in Taiwan used gramophone to record and listen to sounds. The content of these recordings vary from traditional music such as nanguan and beiguan to newly composed popular songs and Taiwanese opera, and from classical Chinese music to humorous anecdotes. Listening to music and sound was apparently a unique mental experience for the public. In addition, historical recordings not only recorded music and gave birth to sound culture in Japanese colonial Taiwan, but also contributes to the study of languages and linguistics in that particular era, as they have captured the sound of the different languages in Taiwan including Southern Hokkien, which is one of the major languages among all. Focusing on Columbia records, Red Regal records and Black Regal records by Nippon Phonograph Company, this thesis aims to discuss the characteristics of Southern Hokkien in recordings and explain the causes and significance of the mixture of dialects. The structure of this thesis is as follows. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 examines the phonological structure of Southern Hokkien in Taiwanese opera (歌仔) and popular songs recordings respectively, and discusses the different usages and distribution of Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Amoy dialects and the significance of music genre and performer causing the difference in language use. Chapter 4 discusses the different forms of Chinese writing shown in the lyrics of Columbia Taiwanese opera recordings, such as phonetic loan words and transcriptions, and analyzes the relationship between the writing system and sound of Southern Hokkien in Japanese colonial Taiwan, highlighting the importance of sound in Southern Hokkien writing.