of oneself, like a fish returning to water. For readers, there is nothing happier than hearing and reading literary and artistic works written about one's life in the language and writing of one's own people. Writing in one's mother tongue is also a full expression of respect for readers who are of one's own people. Mother tongue works often become familiar and enter the hearts of readers.
Y Phuong is also deeply aware that works written in ethnic minority languages have an irreplaceable position. They reach readers in their own way, full of persuasion, especially for ethnic minority readers. Because, when writing in their mother tongue, it also means that the artist thinks with the thinking of his own ethnic group, expressing the way of thinking, feeling, nuances, tone, and artistic images that bear the identity of his own ethnic group.
Y Phuong is always proud of being a son of the Tay ethnic group. The Tay language is not only his own desire and happiness but also that of many Tay people. But as society develops, the Tay language tends to become more and more "Kinh-ized", which makes Y Phuong feel sad. In the essay "The syringe spreads white corn fields", he wrote: "I don't understand why, but the children in the Tay village do not bother to speak Tay. They are taught Kinh by their parents since they can only speak. Say hello to "bo"! Eat "com cho", "Pho drink narcotic". They speak Kinh, it sounds distorted and wrong. That thing is not ours, it lies around like a rotten fish. I am sad. A cold wind blows across my skin". Y Phuong feels sad because he loves, respects and wants to preserve the language of his people. He believes : "People must love their mother tongue first. Only when they love with all their heart can they have poetry. Love from the heart inside your bones and flesh. When the heart is not beating, the hands are not sad, how can you hold a pen? If you cannot hold a pen, where will the poetry come from? [42, 14].
Pride in his nation's language gave him the passion to write bilingual poetry collections. The first collection was That tang lom (Against the wind) , published in
Maybe you are interested!
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Bilingual Poetry Y Phuong - 1 -
Tran Than Tu's School of Poetry, According to Phuong Dinh's Rhyme, Part 1 (Tran Than Tu's School of Poetry, According to Phuong Dinh's Rhyme, Part 1) -
Inspiration and religious material in the poetry of Han Mac Tu and Huy Can - 1 -
Che Lan Vien's political poetry from the perspective of artistic thinking - 1 -
Inspiration of worldly and personal life in Vietnamese poetry 1975-2000 - 13
2006, including 44 poems, published by the National Culture Publishing House. The second collection is Tung Tay (Tay Dance), including 108 love poems, published in 2015, published by Thai Nguyen University Publishing House.
The viewpoint on bilingual poetry composition was discovered, directly in a poem - as a definition of the Tay language, as respect, love, and affection for one's mother tongue in poetry composition:
"Tay language is bright when spoken. Tay language is bright when spoken.
Say it is warm Tay language
Straight as a line Tay language
Honest like sister, passionate like mother Tay language
In us every second".
Only a person who loves his people, cares for his people, understands the roots of his people, and respects his people's language can write such verses.
Y Phuong once expressed his anxiety when leaving the Tay village for the city, the urban life gradually eroded the “Tay soul” in him. However, it was his love for his homeland and his awareness, responsibility, and desire to preserve his ethnic language and cultural identity that made the “Tay quality” in him not disappear, but rather grow even more. Y Phuong clearly expressed this point of view through the poem Khom (Chiet): Ra/Tho pon near Tay/ Ca nay dang sli du hang cai/ Van van pien khong Tay lai noi/ To mi pay khua mi pay hay/ Ra khom dang khau
naoong/Tu nay/An thinh Tay tem vun (I/A Tay man/Now living in this city/Every day I lose a little bit of my Tay essence/But every time I laugh or cry//I pour myself into you/Suddenly I feel/My Tay essence filling up).
Summary: Through the above thoughts and statements of Y Phuong, we can clearly see the poet's thoughts, feelings and responsibilities towards preserving and promoting the beauty of national cultural identity in the process of writing poetry in general, and writing bilingual poetry in particular. These are the thoughts, concerns and deep awareness of the responsibility of writers (ethnic minorities) towards the need to appreciate, be proud of, and know how to preserve and promote... the beauty of their own ethnic cultural identity. This is also clearly shown in the works of ethnic minority poets and writers in the modern and integrated period today.
Putting Y Phuong in the general creative environment of ethnic minority literature, it can be seen that many people are also concerned and thinking about bilingual writing. However, the bilingual writing of other ethnic minority authors "blossomed" in the 70s, 80s, and 90s of the 20th century and has somewhat quieted down in recent years, while Y Phuong is the opposite, he is one of the few ethnic minority authors who wrote many bilingual poems in the early 21st century. Therefore, it can be affirmed that Y Phuong is one of the few authors who wrote typical and excellent bilingual poems in the early 21st century. His bilingual poetry is imbued with the Tay cultural identity but has its own novelty and appeal because of its special flavor.
In his bilingual poetry works, he always shows observations and contemplations of life from many different sides and dimensions with a humane and proud view of people, of the original culture and the aspirations to reach high and far of intellectuals and writers of ethnic minorities in the modern and integrated period. The success of Y Phuong's poetry and literature in general, and bilingual poetry in particular, as well as what has created the appeal and novelty that
The most familiar and close thing in each of his works for readers is the rich tradition and the modernity, the novelty in both artistic thinking and in the way of expression. With the success of Y Phuong, once again we need to affirm one thing: He has contributed to guiding the current ethnic minority writers and poets to have a correct direction in literary creation in the modern period (including the bilingual writing area). That is the path that always aims for innovation, towards creativity in works but does not stray away from, cut off from cultural traditions, does not forget the origin of one's nation.
Chapter 2
TAY IDENTITY IN Y PHUONG'S BILINGUAL POETRY
Along with the strong development of cultural life and literature in the modern trend, the traditional cultural identity of the nation (including ethnic minorities in the highlands) is gradually fading away. Typical ethnic minority writers such as Nong Quoc Chan, Vuong Trung, Vuong Anh, Be Thanh Long, Cao Duy Son, Inrasara... are always highly aware of preserving cultural identity in their works. Writer Nong Quoc Chan in the essay "Contribute to the blue sky" " advised a lot about humanity, about national pride, about language and writing, about the culture of the Tay - Nung people... ". That advice seemed to fan the flame of national love for Y Phuong.
Poet Y Phuong is also one of those who have many concerns and thoughts about the issue of preserving and conserving ethnic cultural identity in the cultural life and literature of ethnic minorities in the modern period. In his works (including poetry and prose), he always clearly shows: pride, respect and passion for preserving the beauty of Tay culture, traditional literature and Tay language. He is always worried and tormented about: how to keep the Tay language from disappearing? How to keep the Tay language alive in the literary life and in the daily life of the Tay community? Perhaps, it is from these thoughts, concerns and worries that he advocated and actively composed poetry in his mother tongue (then translated into Vietnamese) in a new literary period - the early 21st century. This shows that he wrote bilingual poetry not out of improvisation, not because he was more fluent in his mother tongue than Vietnamese, but because he was conscious of preserving the language, writing and cultural identity of his people in a new phase of the country - a phase of international integration at a fast and strong pace. Therefore, studying Y Phuong's bilingual poetry will reveal a beautiful, ethnic and modern Tay poetic voice.
2.1. Tay identity in poetic language
- Tay language - a language that is quite rich in vocabulary, semantics and imagery. That has made the speech of the Tay people rich, flexible and sophisticated. With a fairly rich number of phonetic units
- The Tay language has the ability to express all aspects of material and spiritual life in addition to the vocabulary borrowed from Chinese and Vietnamese. In particular, the Tay language has the ability to express human thoughts, emotions, and feelings with all its richness and complexity. Therefore, the Tay language has become a means of preserving and transmitting a rich treasure of folk literature including myths, fairy tales, and legends; along with a rich repertoire of folk poetry including: epics (Kham Hai epic) and lyrical folk songs, wedding poems, lullabies, and worship texts... that have been composed since ancient times. The main content of these ancient stories and poems is to explain the universe, the origin of mankind, the origin of ethnic groups, promote justice, hate evil, and express the spirit of heroic struggle to explain supernatural phenomena, fight against foreign invaders, and fight against tyrannical tyranny; fight against bad customs, praise faithful love, love between couples, family and friends...
For example, when talking about the feelings between people, the Tay people have a saying: Lac may tan, lac gan ri (The roots of trees are short, the roots of people are long). Or praising the value of people (more precious than the value of money) that has been summarized by generations of ancestors: Ngan chen tang tom nha/Tha na tay xe kim (Money is like grass/Honor is like a thousand gold)...; or when talking about the love of parents for their children, the Tay people have a saying: Ún bau qua phay/Day bau qua po, me (Nothing is warmer than a fire/Nothing is more loving than parents) ; when talking about the merits of parents, the Tay people emphasize: Khuy ma khun keng/Chang chac cong leng po mo (Riding a horse up a pass/Only then do you know the merits of parents). Or when reflecting on the relationship between husband and wife and the way of behaving in the family, the Tay people say: Phua mea
Diep Can/ Mi Chin Puo Toi (Husband and wife are in harmony/ Warmth and contentment forever) ; Mia Da Phua Bau Dang Doc Y/ Phua Da Mia Dac Di Het Chin (Wife scolds husband, husband doesn't say a word/ Husband scolds wife, keeps quiet to do business)...
Those concise, philosophical and meaningful poems and sentences were initially passed down from person to person orally, and were later recorded in Nom Tay and Tay scripts (according to Latin transcription).
During the feudal period, Nom Tay script appeared and was used to compose and record administrative documents, literary works, and prayers of shamans and Tao shamans. In particular, Nom Tay script was used most in the prayer books of Tao shamans, and was also used to record Tay people's poems... Tay Nom poetry is quite rich: in addition to the ancient works (which are no longer preserved today), there are also works (which may be translated from Nom poetry of Kinh people) such as: Thach Sanh's poems, Tong Tran Cuc Hoa, Pham Tai Ngoc Hoa ... In daily life, the original Tay language holds the position of a popular means of communication in the Tay community. It is the language in family, community and social life - the language used in cultural activities, folk and ethnic arts (Sli songs, lullabies, lullabies, village quan hat (wedding songs)... These are Sli songs, lullabies... with very beautiful, soaring, delicate words... expressing the inner world with complex human emotions... For example, the song Sli is used in love songs, expressing private, deep feelings, the desire to be together as a couple of young men and women as follows: Van deo mai nghia toi lau/Fạ da tap hau bau pen doi/Dom sle slin slay hau day no/Dom cam day maac mai quay ly/Bang pu pai slung cai bang fa dam/Dá bang pheo luay qua na pay ... ( One day forever the meaning of our couple/Heaven has arranged our fate, no need to call far/ Save the bamboo and apricot carefully/
Keep your golden words, why are you like a towering mountain, how can you be so steady? Don't be like a duckweed drifting by...
Or in the following song:
The thirsty are the ones who are thirsty. The thirsty are the ones who are thirsty. The thirsty are the ones who are thirsty.
The sea is always full of waves.
The meaning of the word "vuong" is similar to the meaning of "vuong"...
(The zither is sad, the zither has a broken string. The bee is sad, the flower blooms, the bee flies away but doesn't play. The chicken is sad, lazy, digging for worms to eat.
The sad child sees the mother hesitant to say yes. The sad person sees the indifferent person.
Why hesitate to say it, why wait?
Or the lyrics often sung by the Tay people on festival days when they say goodbye to each other or at the market: Thai le thai, sla bau ta/Kha le kha, sla bau ly/Ket can pen phua mi, noong oi! (If we die, we will not abandon/ If we kill, we will not leave/ If we tie, we will become husband and wife, my dear!)…
Besides the sli, luon, then singing melodies, phong slu is a poetic singing genre that the Tay people really like and often use in their emotional life. These are "love letters" sung to send the love of Tay boys and girls (believed to have been born with Nom - Tay script). Phong slu (poetry - singing letters) is often written in 7-word form, sometimes written in 4-line stanzas. Phong slu often has lyrical content, polished words, as a way to express the soul and feelings of the writer as well as the singer. For example: Fa xuan dac di bua lai/Cham bup chep slong bai phac naong/Van xuan dac di non chuong bjooc … ( Spring is deserted and sad/ Holding a pen to write a couple of poems to send to a friend/Spring is deserted and sitting on a flower bed…).
Along with phong slu , the Tay people also have a form of communication that initially has aesthetic nuances, phuoi pac (also called phuoi roi ), a rhyming way of speaking in daily male-female communication, or in festival activities.