中英文雙語人士對於母語及目標語道歉回應策略之比較研究

Abstract

本研究旨在探討中英雙語者對於道歉回應策略的使用情況，探究其母語及 目標語的跨語言表現，並檢視兩大影響變因(社會權力高低、冒犯嚴重程度)對道歉回應表現之影響。共有十八位以英語為外語的臺灣大學生和十八位以華語為第二語言的在臺外國人參與本研究的中英版口語言談情境完成任務(Oral Discourse Completion Task)。研究發現如下:一、兩組在道歉回應策略選擇上並無顯著差異:他們皆傾向使用「直接接受道歉」和「將冒犯最小化」兩種正向回應策略以展現禮貌。但質化分析顯示中文和英文在特定道歉回應策略的語言表現上仍有些微差異存在。二、受跨語言影響，受試者的道歉回應表現呈現正影響(positive influence)和負影響之現象(negative influence)。偏誤分析結果顯示，二語學習者的偏誤大多源自於語言差異和其母語轉移。三、受試者的道歉回應行為受到道歉者的社會權力高低影響，但該效果只在二語的使用情況下達到顯著，表示二語學習者在目標語的使用可能更為保守且更重視禮貌。四、冒犯嚴重程度確實為影響道歉回應表現的決定性因素之一。五、在合併策略的使用上，兩組皆傾向將「直接接受道歉」與其他策略合併，以維護社會關係。根據上述結果，中英文的道歉回應表現同時展現了語言普遍性和獨特性兩種特徵。此外，正向策略的廣泛使用(「直接接受道歉」和「將冒犯最小化」)也證實禮貌原則對於道歉回應具重要影響。The present study investigated the use of apology response (AR) strategies by Chinese-English bilinguals from a crosslinguistic perspective. The effects of two potential factors, namely social power and severity of offense, on the apology responses were examined. A total of 18 Taiwanese college students who learned English as a foreign language and 18 foreigners in Taiwan who learned Chinese as a second language were recruited to complete two versions of an oral discourse completion task: a Chinese version and an English version. The major findings are summarized as follows:1. The two groups showed no significant difference regarding their choice of AR strategies: They both favored Acceptance and Minimization, two face-preserving types, to show politeness. Nevertheless, subtle differences regarding the linguistic performances of certain strategy types in the two languages were found.2. Cross-linguistic influence was found to affect our participants' AR performances, in which both positive and negative influence occurred. Error analysis revealed that our L2 learners' errors often resulted from the differences between two languages (i.e., Chinese & English) and the interferences from the first language. 3. Social power was found to be a factor influencing the choice of AR strategies, but such effect was shown to be significant only in the L2 setting, indicating that the L2 learners were more conservative and more polite in the target language. 4. Severity of offense was shown to be a crucial factor affecting the AR realizations across languages and cultures. 5. Regarding the use of combined strategies, both groups of the participants tended to combine Acceptance with other strategies so as to maintain social relationships.

The above results showed both language universal and language-specific features in the AR realizations in Chinese and English. The dominant use of positive response strategies, namely Acceptance and Minimization, also highlights the profound influence of politeness principles.