本文對腔調作全面性之探討︰考釋腔調之基礎命義為「語言旋律」。前人對「腔調」的體會和認知的歷程是從自然語言旋律到人工語言旋律。對於作為有機體「腔調」本身的考察，從其內在構成要素、外在用以依存的載體、所以呈現的人為運轉三方面著手。得知字音要素、聲調組合、韻協布置、語言長度、音節形式、詞句結構、意象情趣感染力七方面為腔調內在構成要素，也是同時或隱或顯以影響腔調的關鍵。而其外在載體則取號子、山歌、小調、曲牌、套數討論，號子山歌小調大抵為自然語言旋律，而曲牌套數則講究人工語言旋律。越偏向人工，則對歌者制約越大；越偏向自然，則歌者可發揮的空間越多。而其呈現人為的運轉即是「唱腔」，主要藉前人理論說明其修為，而認為受到載體語言意象情趣的感染力影響最大。其次有關腔調變化和流播也是極重要的問題，乃以一章五節八點論「促使腔調變化的緣故」，以一章九節舉例說明「腔調流播所產生的現象」。凡此多為一己所見，希望藉此引發學者的共鳴和討論。

This paper explores comprehensively the ch'iang-tiao (tune pattern) of Chinese drama, to explicate the fundamental meaning of ch'iang-tiao as ""linguistic tune.'' Ch'iang-tiao was understood through the transformational process from natural linguistic tunes to artificial ones. Taking ch'iang-tiao as an organic body, any meaningful study must start from its internal constitutive elements, and then extend to its external vehicles and artificial employment for artistic presentation. Based on this understanding, I propose the tonal features, tonal combination, rhythmic arrangement, linguistic length, syllabic form, sentence structure and imagistic affective power to be the internal constitutive and nuclear elements which more or less shape the tune patterns of Chinese drama. The external vehicles are the hao-tzu, shan-ko, hsiao-tiao, chu-p'ai and t'ao-shu. While hao-tzu, shan-ko and hsiao-tiao are primarily natural linguistic tunes, the chu-p'ai and t'ao-shu are understandably artificial linguistic tunes. The more artificial the tunes are, the more restraints the singers have to accommodate; the more natural the tunes appear, the more freedom the singers would enjoy. The term ""artificial employment'' refers to the actual singing of the artist, for the understanding of which we are greatly indebted to earlier critics; it is about the affective powers of the performance of the artist. In addition, concerning the transformation and circulation of the tune patterns, I explore the factors which impel the transformation of tune patterns of Chinese drama, and explicate the phenomena resulting from the circulation of the tune patterns.