A Case Study on Traditional Folk Arts in a Rural Community of Jidong District: from Language and Culture Life Perspective

Abstract

采用问卷调查结合访谈的方式，调查中国境内 冀东地区一个农村社区的语言文化生活和社区内 语言类传统民间艺术的活力。结果显示，调查地主 要以当地汉语方言和汉语普通话为交际语，二者既 互补又存在竞争。当地汉语方言是社区成员的母语 和主要交际语，汉语普通话仅是部分被调查对象在 特定交际场合使用的语言变体。社区成员对当地汉 语方言和汉语普通话的认同度都比较高，但二者侧 重点不同。对当地汉语方言的认同主要体现在情感 方面，认为当地汉语方言好听、亲切；对普通话的 认同表现为工具性，认为普通话有用、有助于找到 理想的工作。电视节目和现代音乐是调查地主要的 文化消费品，这些产品几乎全部采用普通话为载 体。由这些信息可以看出，虽然当地汉语方言是调 查地的主要语言，但汉语普通话越来越被社区成员 接受，其社会功能正在逐渐扩大。在这样的语言环 境下，当地传统的语言类民间艺术的生存空间越来 越小，仅15.6%的被调查对象自报经常收听或收看 传统戏曲，仅13.3%的被调查对象自报能够表演当 地语言类传统民间艺术，并且这些被调查对象多为 老年被调查对象。照此趋势发展下去，当地语言类 传统民间艺术的传承和发展令人担忧。基于以上事 实，本研究尝试提出了保护和发展当地传统民间艺 术的策略。 The current research studies the language and culture life in a rural community in Jidong area with the investigation methods of questionnaire and interview. It also analyses the vitality of traditional folk arts in the community. The investigation results show that the rural community is a diglossia community with the local Chinese dialect (LCD) and the Modern Standard Chinese (MSC) as its communicative tools. The two varieties complement and compete with each other. The former is the mother tongue and the main communicative language of the community members while the latter is a language variant used by a few of the respondents in some specific communication situations. Community members hold positive attitudes towards the two language varieties but from different perspectives. They view the LCD as a nice and cordial variety from emotional perspective, while the MSC as a useful language variety from instrumental perspective. TV program and modern music are the main cultural consumption goods in the community, which are performed by the MSC. The aforementioned information indicates that there is a trend that the MSC is replacing the LCD as the daily communication tool in the community with the MSC expanding its social functions. In this language circumstance, the social space of the local folk arts related to language is getting narrower and narrower. The investigation results show that only 15.6% of the respondents often listen to or watch traditional opera, while only 13.3% can perform the local traditional opera; In addition, most of those who listen to, watch or perform the local traditional opera are the elder people. The aforementioned findings indicate that the local folk arts are in the way of getting endangered. At the last part the study attempts to put forward some strategies of protecting and the local traditional folk arts.