Abstract: Based on the critical interpretation of oracle bone scripts and bronze inscriptions from the Zhou Dynasty, the paper attempts to delineate the rituals and chanting in the Shang and early Zhou Dynastes. The paper proposes that the original meaning of "word" (言 yan) in the oracle bone script was imaged from the buccal reed talk, and that the communicative function of the buccal reed was the basis for the derivation of the meaning "speech" (言语 yanyu) from the character "yan". The features of "conveying language in music" and "confirming music with language" in the buccal reed performance were the primary forms of "rhetoric in music" and "language into music" in the later tradition of "chanting as speech." The etymological paronyms of "word" (言 yan), tongue (舌 she), tell (告 gao), had already taken on different linguistic and cultural meanings in the oracle bone scripts. The paper concludes that the features in the buccal reed performance had influenced the ritual chanting in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and helped to promote the formation and construction of the "chanting as speech" tradition in Han Chinese culture.

Key words: speech (yan), buccal reed talk, rituals in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, chanting as speech, tradition of chanting