A Comparative Genre Analysis of Chinese Folk Song Huar Based on Digital Humanities

Abstract

As an intangible cultural heritage, the folk song Huar is a precious name card of Chinese national culture. Its protection and inheritance are of great significance for promoting multi-ethnic cultural identity and enhancing cultural confidence. Genre research is an important topic in the study of Huar. However, current Huar genre researches are mainly based on qualitative methods. Digital Humanities is an emerging discipline that applies computing and digital technology to the study of the humanities. Comparing to traditional methods, Digital Humanities is a more accurate and efficient method of style analysis on literary texts. Through the methods of Digital Humanities, we can objectively show and verify the similarities and differences between Huar genres, and make up for the lack of objectivity in the traditional Huar genre research. Therefore, in this paper we combined qualitative and quantitative methods to make a comparative style analysis on Hehuang Huar and Taomin Huar from two aspects, namely rhythm and sentence pattern. Furthermore, we explored the reasons in depth behind these surface rules from the perspectives of music, literature, nationality and history. We simultaneously use hierarchical clustering to verify the discrimination of genres on specific style features. The result of this research shows that the research perspective and methods of digital humanities can provide objective conclusions for Huar researches, which can provide data support and scientific basis for researchers or enthusiasts to distinguish, appreciate and study Huar.