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Comparison of Transmission Aspects of Folk ballads in Yeongnam and Honam District

  • The Studies in Korean Poetry and Culture
  • Abbr : Korean Poetry and Culture
  • 2011, (28), pp.339-370
  • Publisher : The Society of Korean Poetry and Culture
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

Young-Sook Suh 1

1한남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper investigated the transmission aspects of folk ballads in Yeongnam and Honam district comparatively. I surveyed 1,101 versions (644 versions in Yeongnam district, 457 versions in Honam district) of folk ballads and the database of them in Yeongnam and Honam district. Yeongnam and Honam district have the most abundant versions of folk ballads in Korea. The most briskly transmitted versions both in Yeongnam and Honam district was the Ba type (A weaving woman wait for her husband). The second one was the Bc type (A wife who suicide because of her husband's dissipation) the third one was the Ia type (A maiden who lose her pigtail ribbon). These are recognized as the nationwide types. However, the Ea type (A sister who suspected from the unchastity by her brother) and the Gb type (A bridegroom who died of a woman's curse) are recognized as the regional types of Yeongnam district. In the contrast of that, the Ad type (A daughter-in-law who break a vessel), the Ae type (A daughter-in-law who expelled from her parents-in-law), the Ah type (A daughter-in-law who protest to her sister-in-law) and the Ge type (A bride who gave a birth on her wedding day). Especially the Sijipsarinore (Folk ballads about the woman's sufferings from her husband's family) including the type Aa which was handed down the most briskly in the Honam district. The reason of these phenomena was that Yeongnam district have been the authentic confucian society. The married women could not sing freely. I divided Yeongnam and Honam district into 2 cultural regions separately, the west region and the east region. Folk ballads were handed down the more briskly in the west of Yeongnam district. On the contrary, the least folk ballads were handed down in the east region of Honam district. I could find that the folk ballads about the woman's sufferings from her husband's family in the Honam and the west of Yeongnam region were handed down mostly. I analysed the structure of 4 types that show different aspects. As the result, I found that the subtypes in most cases are constituted with the core paragraphs in Honam district. On the contrary, the subtypes in most cases are constituted with the combination of core paragraphs and auxiliary paragraphs in Yeongnanam district. Moreover, the mixed types between Yeongnam and Honam were found mostly in the west of Yeongnam district. Those were results of the cultural exchange between Yeongnam and Honam districts. In order to confirm the results of this study, the more expended surveys to the whole districts should be continued.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.