國語的回應標記：從網路即時通對話探討

Abstract

中文摘要 本研究旨在探討回應記號(response token)，包含「是喔」、「喔」、「真的喔」和「真的嗎」在中文即時通(Instant Messenger)的言談功能 ，利用長達126,462詞綴的語料庫來討論回應標記的異同。整體而言，去除在句首的回應標記「喔」(Initial response token)，其餘的回應標記總是在聽話者接收到出乎意外的訊息之後所出現的回應。同時和回應標記一起出現的詞語可以更進一步證實我們的論點。例如，所有的回應標記都可以和一短詞(statement)一起出現，但是「喔」和短詞一起出現的組合和其他回應標記很不一樣，因為在「喔」後面的短詞只會描述說話者的現在已接收到完整訊息的心理狀態，並且「喔」本身沒有顯示說話者對於正進行的話題有太多興趣。出現在「是喔」後面的短詞常會說話者負面情緒有相關連，但出現在「真的喔」和「真的嗎」後面的短詞卻不會有負面語意的關連性。這也是為何「喔」和「是喔」常可以用來中斷正在進行的話題，而轉移到另一個說話者比較有興趣的話題。另一個常常和回應標記一起出現的就是問句(question)，因為問句可以讓正在討論的話題繼續發展下去。但是問句比較少在「喔」後面出現，畢竟出現在「喔」前面的訊息通常不會讓聽者感到驚奇，相同的話題因此比較少繼續發展下去。另一方面，問句較易出現在「是喔」、「真的喔」、「真的嗎」之後，因為前面的訊息往往是令聽者感到驚奇而想讓前一說話者更進一步敘述正在討論的話題。 本研究亦探討社會因素如性別和年齡以及回應標記的關連性。統計資料顯示社會因素大多和回應標記出現的頻率沒有太大關係，除了三個例外。第一，大學年齡的女性喜歡常用出現在句首的「喔」，雖然常常表示說話者的冷漠的句首「喔」比較可能是男性說話的特色，但可能因為在大學年齡的女性受試者都是關係親近的同儕，會比較傾向使用多一點男性用語，來增進彼此的關係。第二，本研究亦顯示整體女性比整體男性使用較多的「是喔」，這可能是因為「是喔」可以用來表示說話者的禮貌。在表示說話者對目前的話題沒興趣，或者是要表示反對意見，或者要轉移目前話題，說話者可以先用「是喔」預告接著的訊息。第三，統計資料顯示「是喔」和問句同時出現的頻率在三十一到三十九的年齡層特別容易出現，比起年輕人使用「是喔」預告相反意見時。這可能是因為年紀大一點的女性比起年輕的女性，傾向使用比較有禮貌的語言。ABSTRACT

The present study aims to investigate the discourse functions of response tokens (RTs), shi-o, o, zhende o, and zhende ma in Mandarin Chinese in MSN talk. We draw on a databank consisting of 126,462 morphemes to explore the differences and similarities among the four tokens. Generally speaking, except for initial RT o, the other response tokens always occur after new and unexpected informing. However, their differences rely on the different degrees of surprise of the previous informing, with zhende ma ranking highest in its surprise tone, zhende o next, followed by shi-o and o last. This can be further supported by the following components after these response tokens. For instance, all RTs can be followed by a statement, but distinctive from the features of the other RTs, the statement after IRT o often displays the chatter’s informed state and o does not express much interest of the current speaker. Besides, the brief talk after o and shi-o are often related to negative feelings while the one after zhende o and zhende ma are not. Hence, o and shi-o may prevent the topic from advancing and initiate a new topic which attracts the speaker. Questions are another turn components that often follow RTs and they are used to maintain the continuation of the talk. Questions occur less after IRT o since the informing prior IRT o is usually not surprising. Questions emerge after shi-o, zhende o, and zhende ma more easily since their prior informing is usually new and unexpected and prompts the current speaker to pursue the topic. With respect to the relationship between social factors (gender and age) and these RTs, overall, most of the statistical results show that social factors do not correlate a lot to the frequency or the functional differences of these RTs, with only a few exceptions. First, females in college-age group use more IRT os than men do, although IRT o seems to be a less feminine expression since it signals the chatter’s indifference, often found in men’s talk. This may be accounted for by the fact that among close peers at this age, females use more masculine forms to establish solidarity. Second, significant relationship is found between chatters of different genders and the frequency of shi-o. That is, females use shi-o than men do. Such a result can be explained by the fact that shi-o is a device showing the chatter’s politeness to decrease the face-threatening behavior in offending the other interlocutor, such as showing disinterest to continue the topic, or prefiguring the coming of disagreement and another new topic. Third, there is significant relationship between age and different functions of shi-o. Further investigation shows that shi-o-plus-Q in 31-39 years-olds is used more than shi-o occurring before dispreferred responses in younger group, for older women who use more feminine show more politeness than younger women do.