透過口語的言談情境填充問卷(Discourse Completion Task),我們蒐集台灣地區四縣客家人的抱怨語料共一千零八十筆,探討客家話中的強勢語及其使用的時機。依據過往文獻及現有的口語語料,我們將強勢語分成增強詞、侵略性疑問詞和詞彙增強詞三大類。結果顯示增強詞和侵略性疑問詞使用的頻率最高,且相較於女性及年長者,男性與年輕族群傾向使用較多的強勢語以增強抱怨的強度;此外,不同類型的強勢語也經常合併使用,以加強語氣的強度。若結合抱怨策略來看,我們發現強勢語不一定只出現在直接或嚴厲的抱怨策略裡,有時也與間接或緩和的策略連用。另外,不同於抱怨策略或緩解語的選用,客家人在使用強勢語時較不受被抱怨者的社會地位、相對親疏度或性別的影響而產生較大的改變或增減其頻率。
This study analyzes the use of upgraders in the speech act of complaint in Hakka. Sixty Sixian(四縣)Hakka speakers were recruited to give responses to 18 complaint-provoking scenarios. We divide Hakka upgraders into three main categories, namely, intensifiers, aggressive interrogatives, and lexical intensifiers. Results suggest that Hakka speakers use more intensifiers and aggressive interrogatives than lexical intensifiers. Moreover, compare to female and senior speakers, male and junior speakers tend to use more upgraders to aggravate or strengthen a complaint by increasing its impact on the accused. Besides, Hakka speakers usually combine upgraders from different categories to further intensify the force of a complaint. According to our observation, though upgraders usually appear in direct or severe complaint strategies, they are sometimes considered minimizers and show up in indirect or gentle strategies. Lastly, unlike the speakers' choices of complaint strategies or downgraders which are greatly affected by complainees' social status and social distance, respectively, the selection of upgraders seem not to be influenced by those socio-pragmatic factors.