出版物 ｜Sophia Linguistica
クロード・ロベルジュ 北代美和子
From the Rhythm of the Body to the Rhythm of the Speech through the Nursery Rhymes — The Case of English Language
Professor Guberina says: “Rhythm has priority and precedes speech rhythm.” So, when we consider how a language is learned and developed by a child or an adult, it is necessary to take into consideration speech rhythm, which is specific to each particular language. And what is more important is to relate it to the rhythm of the body, which is universal and common to all the human languages. From this perspective, this article considers the question of what are the role and the nature of the English nursery rhymes. Why we treat them? Because they represent the rhythm of English language entirely; their internal structures totally reflect the passage from rhythm of the body to the speech rhythm of the English.
In the first section of this article, we will define the English nursery rhymes and propose new criteria for their classification. Then, we will consider them in the perspective of the Verbotonal Method. A rhythmical point of view by some ethnomusicologists will also be discussed. Finally, we will treat them as a mean for the training of the English and present some body movements which represent the phonetic characteristics of English language. These movements should be useful in its oral training.
This article was written in 2013, in celebration of the Centennial anniversary of Professor Petar Guberina (1913-2005).
