Sociolinguists frequently examine the nature of gradual, internal shifts in languages and dialects over time, arguing for both cognitive and cultural factors, as well as those that might be somehow internal to the language itself. Similarly, musicologists have often argued that musical genres and even specific songs can be examined through gradual diachronic shifts, which seem to be especially accelerated in traditions that rely on oral transmission. For example, Spitzer (1994) examined the stemma of “Oh! Susanna” and noticed that it tended to become more pentatonicized at cadence points by dropping scale degree seven, and suggested that this might be true with folk songs in general. To test this, we employed both experimental and corpus-based paradigms. The experimental approach attempted to simulate oral transmission in a compressed timeframe by involving singers who heard and replicated short musical excerpts, and then would teach a colleague, who in turn passed it on to another participant. Similarly, we conducted a corpus analysis that examined the prevalence of descending stepwise endings in styles of music primarily transmitted orally compared with those transmitted primarily through notation. The experimental results suggest that cadence points in Western folk music are more likely to lose scale degree seven through the act of oral transmission, and the corpus study suggests that, although stylistic constraints play a large role in folk music, there might also be a relationship between transmission and physical affordances.

中文翻译：

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研究口头传播对民歌的影响

社会语言学家经常考察语言和方言随着时间的推移而逐渐发生内部变化的本质，并争论认知和文化因素，以及语言本身内部可能存在的因素。类似地，音乐学家经常争辩说，可以通过渐进的历时转换来检查音乐流派甚至特定的歌曲，在依赖于口头传播的传统中，这似乎尤其加速。例如，斯皮策（1994）研究了“哦！Susanna”，并注意到通过降低7级音阶，它倾向于在节奏点上变得更加五音化，并暗示一般情况下民间歌谣都是如此。为了测试这一点，我们同时采用了实验和基于语料库的范例。实验方法试图通过让歌手听到并复制简短的音乐摘录，然后在压缩的时间范围内模拟口头传播，然后再教一位同事，后者又将其传递给另一位参与者。同样，我们进行了语料库分析，检查了主要通过口头传送的音乐风格与主要通过记号传送的音乐风格的逐步降序的普遍性。实验结果表明，西方民间音乐的节奏点更容易通过口头传播而失去七度音阶，而语料研究表明，尽管风格约束在民间音乐中起着很大的作用，但也可能存在某种关系。传输和实物支付之间。然后会教一个同事，然后将其传递给另一位参与者。同样，我们进行了语料库分析，检查了主要通过口头传送的音乐风格与主要通过记号传送的音乐风格的逐步降序的普遍性。实验结果表明，西方民间音乐的节奏点更容易通过口头传播而失去七度音阶，而语料研究表明，尽管风格约束在民间音乐中起着很大的作用，但也可能存在某种关系。传输和实物支付之间。然后会教一个同事，然后将其传递给另一位参与者。同样，我们进行了语料库分析，检查了主要通过口头传送的音乐风格与主要通过记号传送的音乐风格的逐步降序的普遍性。实验结果表明，西方民间音乐的节奏点更容易通过口头传播而失去七度音阶，而语料研究表明，尽管风格约束在民间音乐中起着很大的作用，但也可能存在某种关系。传输和实物支付之间。我们进行了语料库分析，研究了主要通过口头传送的音乐风格与主要通过记号传送的音乐风格相比，逐步下降的结尾的普遍性。实验结果表明，西方民间音乐的节奏点更容易通过口头传播而失去七度音阶，而语料研究表明，尽管风格约束在民间音乐中起着很大的作用，但也可能存在某种关系。传输和实物支付之间。我们进行了语料库分析，研究了主要通过口头传送的音乐风格与主要通过记号传送的音乐风格相比，逐步下降的结尾的普遍性。实验结果表明，西方民间音乐的节奏点更容易通过口头传播而失去七度音阶，而语料研究表明，尽管风格约束在民间音乐中起着很大的作用，但也可能存在某种关系。传输和实物支付之间。