粵語字調在古詩唱誦中的運用

粵語字調很有趣的一點是它在唱歌時能保留，在絕大多數情況下都能與音樂旋律相匹配，粵語母語者能從歌中清楚地分辨出各個字調。粵語字調在說話和唱歌時都能保留，在兩種言語形式中的聲學表現差異主要體現在是否受降勢音高 (delination) 影響方面︰在說話時，無論是語句層面還是在音節層面都疊加了降勢音高；在唱歌時，則不受降勢音高影響，保持水平甚至略微向上。本文正是根據粵語字調這方面的特點，依詩譜曲，根據字調的分佈特點，刻意去除降勢音高的影響，並調整節奏，就可加強詩句的音樂性，使之成為唱誦的表現形式。唱誦與過往常用的表現形式如朗讀、朗誦、吟誦有所不同，在「唱」方面的特色更明顯。把粵語唱誦應用於古詩，能幫助學童更快更有效地學習和記憶古詩。
The preservation and realization of Cantonese lexical tones in singing is an interesting phenomenon. Unlike Mandarin Chinese or other Chinese dialects, in which lexical tones are neutralized in singing, Cantonese lexical tones match the musical melody in most cases and are clearly discernible in singing by native speakers. The difference between the realizations of lexical tones in speaking and in singing is that the speaking speech is carrying the universal declination intonation at both syllable and utterance levels, while singing is free from the effect of declination and keeps a level or even slightly rising intonation. Based on these observations, we would like to apply the features of Cantonese lexical tones in singing and compose the singsong style of Chinese classical poems. To implement composition, we can fit the pitch variations to accommodate the lexical tone distribution of the verse while getting rid of the effect of declination. We can also adjust the rhythm of the verse and make it more melodic. This singsong style is a little different from the so-called “reading aloud” “recitation” and “chanting”, which is also clarified in this paper. The singing speech stylecan help children to memorize Chinese classical poems more quickly and effectively. Copyright © 2019 商務印書館.