Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies
FADS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.137-143.
Print ISSN: 3107-1805; Online ISSN: 3107-1813
Journal homepage: https://www.fadsjournal.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/FADS.26.01.10satsr
李蓓蕾（Li Beilei），谭惠娟（Tan Huijuan）
摘要：“切分音”（syncopation）与“切分音式的节奏”（the syncopated rhythm）是非洲流散文学与文化研究中一对相伴相生的核心概念。两者共享同一个词源谱系，却在非裔流散文学的批评语境中衍生出各自的侧重点与哲学归属。在美国非裔文学史的早期阶段，它们最初以较为宽泛的概括性描述的面貌进入学术视野，此后逐渐沉淀为具有严格规定性的批评思想范畴，并随着作家与学者对其使用和阐释的不断深化，最终成为美国非裔文学与文化研究的关键词之一。切分音式的节奏根植于非洲音乐传统中的节奏实践，经由美国非裔音乐——爵士乐、布鲁斯、拉格泰姆、放克等形式——的发展与转化，逐步进入文学创作的语言空间与文学批评的话语体系，随后经由多位重要美国非裔作家和批评家的文本实践与批评建构，最终形成其概念内涵、艺术范式与话语网络。本文系统梳理并考察了这一关键词的学术定位、起源与定义、核心内涵与学术价值，深入分析了W. E. B.杜波依斯、詹姆斯·W·约翰逊、兰斯顿·休斯、拉尔夫·埃利森、瓦切尔·林赛、亨利·路易斯·盖茨、斯图尔特·哈比格、苏珊·豪等作家、批评家与理论家对这一概念的运用、阐释与再建构，并概括了其在当代学术研究中的延伸与发展。
关键词：切分音节奏；切分音；双重意识；音乐；重音；交错与并行
作者介绍：李蓓蕾，浙江师范大学副教授；美国康涅狄格大学人文科学学院客座研究员; 《非洲流散研究前沿》编委。研究方向：非洲及非洲流散文学、文化及思想理论研究，非洲区域国别学研究。电子邮箱：libeilei666@hotmail.com。谭惠娟（通讯作者），杭州电子科技大学特聘教授；中非语言文化比较研究专业委员会会长，《非洲流散研究前沿》主编。研究方向为美国非裔文学、非洲文学文化，电子邮箱：huijuantan03@163.com
Title: Syncopation and the Syncopated Rhythm
Abstract: “Syncopation” and “the Syncopated Rhythm” constitute a pair of intertwined core concepts in the study of African diasporic literature and culture. Though they share a common etymological lineage, the two terms have developed distinct emphases and philosophical orientations within the critical context of African diasporic literary studies. In the early phases of African American literary history, they first entered scholarly discourse as broad descriptive generalizations; over time, they have sedimented into rigorously defined categories of critical thought and, through sustained usage and elaboration by writers and scholars, have become established keywords in African American literary and cultural studies. Rooted in the rhythmic practices of African musical traditions and transformed through African American musical forms—jazz, blues, ragtime, funk, among others—the syncopated rhythm has progressively entered the linguistic space of literary creation and the discursive system of literary criticism. Its conceptual connotations, artistic paradigms, and discursive networks have subsequently been consolidated through the textual practices and critical constructions of a succession of major African American writers and critics. This article systematically examines the scholarly positioning, origins and definitions, core connotations, and academic significance of this keyword. It offers an in-depth analysis of the ways in which writers, critics, and theorists—including W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Vachel Lindsay, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Stewart Habig, and Susan Howe—have employed, interpreted, and rearticulated the concept, and outlines its extensions and contemporary developments in current scholarship.
Keywords: syncopation; the syncopated rhythm; double consciousness; music; accent; intersection and parallelism
Authors Biographies: Li Beilei, Associate Professor at Zhejiang Normal University; Visiting Research Fellow at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut; member of the editorial board of Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies. Research interests: African and African diasporic literature, culture, and theoretical studies; African regional and country studies. E-mail: libeilei666@hotmail.com. Tan Huijuan (corresponding author), Distinguished Professor at Hangzhou Dianzi University; Chair of the China-Africa Language and Culture Comparative Studies Committee; Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies. Her research focuses on African American literature, African literature, and cultural studies. E-mail: huijuantan03@163.com.
