The subject of the research is the speech registers "yunbai" (rhymed speech) and "jingbai" (speech close to the Beijing colloquial language) in Peking opera. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic such as phonetic parameters (tempo-rhythmic, intonational, segmental), the distribution of these registers depending on character types and communicative situations (using the play "Yuitanchun" as an example), as well as the mechanisms of their semiotic functioning. Special attention is given not only to the established correspondences between the register and social status but also to situational flexibility, including switches between registers and the phenomenon of divergence between the form and content of utterances. The object of the study is the system of stage speech in Peking opera as a holistic cultural text, within which yunbai and jingbai form a binary opposition that encodes social distance, the degree of institutionality, and the nature of interaction between characters. The methodological foundation of the research is social semiotics as interpreted by the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school (Y. M. Lotman), as well as methods of phonetic analysis and contextual analysis of theatrical text. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, unlike previous works focused on the formal-phonetic differences between yunbai and jingbai, this work conducts a systematic analysis of them as a semiotic system from the perspective of social semiotics. Three main mechanisms for the formation of social meaning have been identified: opposition, correlation, and variability. It is shown for the first time that the distribution of speech registers is determined not only by the character's social status but also by the communicative situation, which can redefine the normative choice of register (for example, in the case of the character Chun Gundao switching from jingbai to yunbai in a courtroom scene). Furthermore, the phenomenon of "functional permeability" of registers has been discovered: stylistic characteristics associated with jingbai (irony, freedom of expression) can manifest within the framework of yunbai without formal switching of registers. The conclusions of the research indicate that the system of speech registers in Peking opera represents a dynamic semiotic field in which meaning arises from the interaction of stable structures and their variable realizations. This system facilitates the transmission of socially significant information while maintaining the flexibility necessary for artistic expressiveness.
Shengteng Yao (Sun,) studied this question.