Abstract
Current research on Tibetan poetry, music, and orality (including virtually everything in between) seems to evade the realm of Tibetophone rap produced by the younger generation both in and out of China. The scarce mentions about this phenomenon started to appear in academic literature only after 2004, 2006, respectively, but were mostly concerned with the hip-hop culture in general. To this day, this corpus remains an unexplored source of versified texts best falling under the general designation of oral poetry.
This paper will examine the technical similarities between the rap lyrics and other versified material produced in Tibet on the basis of oral-formulaic theory (pioneered by A. Meillet in 1923, followed by her students M. Parry in the 1930s and A. Lord in 1960, and then being further developed by J.M. Foley since 1974). First, the semantic vectors of various phrases (idioms, collocations, tropes, or figures of speech) sampled from the lyrics will be traced to their original sources. Similarly, verbal imagery hidden beyond particular phrases will be revealed. All in order to identify the trajectories of continuity manifested as the "store of formulas," which was orally transmitted, penetrated the vernacular, and thus became available to the rappers. Finally, drawing on available research on the linguistic features of Tibetan verse, folk and pop songs, Gesar epic, and modern poetry, this paper will conclude with contextualizing the rap lyrics relative to the remaining Tibetophone literary production.