華語母語者對粵語聲調之範疇類比研究

Abstract

本研究針對華語母語者接觸非母語聲調的初期情形進行跨語言調查，招募來自中國大陸北方的普通話母語者與台灣的國語母語者，了解受試者對非母語之粵語聲調的感知與產出情形，並透過受試者對同一非母語聲調的不同範疇類比調查普通話與國語受試者的母語聲調範疇差異。本研究包含標記、辨認與發聲三項實驗；在標記實驗中，調查零起點華語母語者對粵語聲調的印象，了解受試者將粵語聲調類比至母語聲調的情形，之後透過辨認與發聲實驗，研究受試者區辨非母語聲調的難易程度和混淆情形，並於實驗結束後對受試者進行問卷調查，了解其語言背景與對實驗和粵語聲調的感想。除了報告華語母語者在學習粵語過程中可能出現的難點與混淆之外，本研究也試圖以 Best 的感知範疇模型來為結果提出解釋 （Perceptual Assimilation Model，PAM），顯示受試者語言變體與方言背景的差異可以對非母語聲調的感知與產出造成影響，應在進行相關研究時納入考量。The present study is a cross-language study on the non-native tonal experience of native speakers of Mandarin in the initial stage. The study takes possible dialectal influences into account and recruits speakers of two varieties of Mandarin, Putonghua and Taiwan Mandarin, to conduct a two-way investigation into how subjects of both groups perceive and produce the non-native Cantonese tones, and how they interpret their own native tone categories during the categorical assimilation of non-native tones. A series of three tasks, Labeling, Identification, and Vocalization, are conducted in the study: the Labeling task is an impressionistic investigation on naïve native speakers of Mandarin to see how they assimilate non-native Cantonese tones to native Mandarin ones. Subjects are then primed with a brief introduction to the Cantonese tonal system before performing Identification and Vocalization tasks, where they discern and vocalize the newly-learnt Cantonese tones. Stimuli of these tasks comprise sets of tonal minimal pairs that differ in vowels and syllable structures, and are embedded in a carrier sentence. Subjects fill out a questionnaire in the end with regard to their language backgrounds, impression of Cantonese tones, and self-estimation of their performance. Results of the study show that variance in subjects' varieties and dialectal backgrounds, even within the same language, may have its influence on the perception and production of non-native tones and should be taken into account when undergoing similar investigations. Apart from reporting possible difficulties and common confusions that native speakers of Mandarin may encounter when learning Cantonese tones, the study also attempts to account for the results on the basis of Best’s Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM).