This paper is a case study of Hnewo tepyy, the oral epic of the Yi living in southwest China. Using the Oral Poetry Theory, an important methodology in the 20th century western epic and folklore studies, the paper thoroughly analyzes the Yi epic traditions in terms of oral formula, diction and narrative theory. The paper proposes that ethnic minority oral epic studies should focus on the ethnic minority language, thus giving new lights on ethnic minority epic studies in theory and methodology.The paper systematically introduces the Oral Poetry Theory represented by Parry, Lord and Foley, asserting that such theory can be used while studying the Chinese ethnic epics. It establishes theoretical relations between the Yi traditional literature and the western the Oral Poetry. Following this agenda, the paper thoroughly explores the orality, textuality and intertextuality of the Yi epic traditions. Meanwhile, it analyses the rhythm, meter, diction, formula, epithet, theme and narrative patterns in Hnewo tepyy.The paper has seven chapters. At the beginning, the author introspects to the methods and theory on the ethnic literatures in China. It explicates the necessity of using the Oral Formulaic Theory for Chinese scholars. It points out that the aesthetic nature of the ethnic language has long been overlooked in traditional studies of Chinese ethnic minority literature, thus Parry-Lord Theory can be borrowed for Chinese epic study.Chapter One introduces the evolution of oral poetry theory, and the formula in traditional Yi's poetics and literature. Firstly, the dissertation looks back on the history of Oral Poetry from Milman Parry, Albert Bates Lord to John Miles Foley. The theory has established scientific theory system which can be positive and practical since the beginning of the 20th century. The paper emphasizes that the Oral Poetry Theory derived from the Classic Linguistics in German, and that there are similar methods between it and Russian Formalism, because they are related to the Linguistic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure. Parry thought that "formula" is the most important concept in Oral Poetry, which can be defined as an expression regularly used under the same metrical conditions to express an essential idea in Homeric epic. For the most part, the term was used to relate the hero tale of ethnic rather than to facilitate expression in tradition songs. It's the same with Yi's tradition poetics, which stresses the important roles of rhyme and sound in their composition. On the basis of Yi's linguistics, the paper analyzes the style in Yi's writings and oral verse. In Yi's tradition verse, there is the tendency that acoustical pattern is highlighted, which is embodied through rhyme, couplet, refrain. Moreover, the paper generalizes the poetry narrative pattern of Yi, whose content involves words(rhyme), lines(diction), paragraph(rhetoric), chapter (theme).Chapter Two, focusing on orality and textuality, illustrates the Yi folklore background and its restrains on epic. Epic Hnewotepyy is transmited through religious and worldly channels in Liangshan region. The former is reflected as religious classic for sending ancestral soul off, wedding, and funeral. The latter is discussed as folk literture and encyclopedia of Yi culture. The intertextuality of Hnewotepyy could be divided into three sections in view of various objects: Male Hnewotepyy, Female Hnewotepyy (rites); Black Hnewotepyy, White Hnewotepyy (performance); Hnewotepyy, Gguho, Vonre, Gguhonyuofu{content).In chapter three, comparing with Chinese traditional verse, the paper demonstrates the formulaic features of rhyme and meter in Hnewotepyy, including dimeter, trimeter, anaphora, epiphora, internal rhymes, etc.The fourth chapter analyzes Hnewo tepyy's words and lines in terms of diction formula. The section describes various formulaic expressions including names of man and objects, man's appearance and character, direction, number, regilious content, appliances, architect, animals, etc.Chapter Five addresses the theme and narrative structure of the ep
