Đọc kinh (Vietnamese:[ʔɗawk͡p̚˧˨ʔkïŋ˧˧]) is theVietnamese Catholic term for reciting a prayer or sacred text. In communal worship settings,đọc kinh is characterized bycantillation, or the ritual chanting of prayers and responses.[1][2]
Within the worldwideRoman Catholic Church, Vietnamese liturgical practice is distinct in its extensive use of cantillation: all prayers and responses during theMass are either sung or chanted, but never spoken.[2] Thus, theLord's Prayer is recited differently during the Mass than in a private setting.[3]
It is suspected that cantillation inLao andHmong Catholic liturgies is due to Vietnamese influence. Cantillation is far from universal among tonal languages, butFuzhou Catholics inFujian have a similar practice.[3]
Vietnamese cantillation is neither composed nor improvised; it follows a formula in which each of theVietnamese language's sixtones corresponds to a specific note or sequence.[4] Depending on the diocese, tones are organized along a scale of two or three notes (dấu trụ).[5] The note forsắc is at least as high as the note forngang, which in turn is higher than the note forhuyền andnặng. Thehỏi andngã tones are vocalized as amelisma from a lower note to a higher note. For example:[6]
| Tone | Note(s) |
|---|---|
| ngang | mi (E) |
| sắc | mi (E) |
| huyền | si (B) |
| nặng | re (D) |
| hỏi | re–mi (D–E) |
| ngã | re–mi (D–E) |
Parishes in the formerWest Tonkin diocese use the three-note scale offa-sol-la, so theincipit of theHail Mary is rendered:[7]
![{ \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
\relative g' { \autoBeamOff a8 f8 g8 g8 g8 f8 g8 a8 a8 a8 f8 f16[ g16] f8 f8 }
\addlyrics {
Kính mừng Ma -- ri -- a đầy ơn phúc, Đức Chúa Trời ở __ cùng Bà
}
}](/image.pl?url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fscore%2fr%2fw%2frweshrst7k87n6a4i8ywry18aq3moos%2frweshrst.png&f=jpg&w=240)
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