英文和中文作者的權威性：主語和情態詞在學術論文中使用情形之比較

A Comparative Study of Authority in English and Chinese Writing: Analyzing Grammatical Subjects and Modal Verbs in Academic Discourse

陳立茵(Li-Yin Chen)

指導教授 ： 郭賽華

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2007年)

摘要

在學術界，論文發表為研究人員展現研究成果的一種重要方式。而近年來，世界頂級的期刊大多是以英語為溝通工具，對以英語為第二語言的人來說，英語學術寫作並非一件容易的事 (Flowerdew, 1999, 2000, 2001; Martinez, 2005; Sionis, 1995)。過去的研究顯示對以中文為母語的人而言，如何正確地表達作者的權威是一件困難的事。但是大多數相關的研究都以初學學術寫作的大學生為研究對象，因此，在這類的研究中可能出現一個潛在問題，那就是這些研究結果極有可能會因學生的英語程度不好而掩蓋了其他影響寫作的因素，例如文化的差異。
為解決上述所呈現之問題，本研究針對我國的學者進行研究，進而探討英語程度高的學者們是否會有相同的寫作困難。本研究的語料選定為應用語言學中的期刊論文並分為三類語料：一、以中文為母語的中文寫作，二、以英文為母語的英文寫作，三、以英語為第二語言的寫作，進而探討這三種寫作的作者在權威性上展現程度和方式的相異處。本研究旨在分析句子中的主語和情態詞來檢視語言和文化在第二語言使用之影響。
研究結果顯示使用母語的作者具有較高的權威性，而使用第二語言的作者則較少展現他們的權威性。此外，以中文為母語的作者比英文為母語的作者更有權威性。這些結果顯示中國人的寫作並不盡然是以謙虛的方式來表達，而使用第二語言寫作的中國人較不受中國社會文化的影響，這種現象可能是一種在學術界中的次文化表現。

關鍵字

學術論文 ； 文化 ； 語言 ； 情態詞 ； 主詞

並列摘要

Journal publication is one of the productive vehicles through which one’s contribution to the research community is expressed. However, it has been found to be a particularly challenging task for scholars who are not English native speakers (e.g. Flowerdew, 1999, 2000, 2001; Martinez, 2005; Sionis, 1995). Previous research has indicated that Chinese non-native writers of English may have difficulty in expressing an appropriate level of authority. However, these studies usually centered on novice academic writers whose performance is likely to be overshadowed by the possibility that they had not yet mastered the academic language in the discipline. This study reports on the way in which varying degrees of authority, encoded in grammatical subjects and modal verbs, are used in the conclusion and implication sections of empirical journal articles in applied linguistics. The purpose of the study is to compare the strategic choices made by Chinese non-native writers of English to exercise their authority with that of English and Chinese natives and identify any traces of first language linguistic and cultural influences on English second language (L2) writing in order to shed light on academic writing pedagogy for non-native speakers. A detailed analysis of the texts revealed that the L2 writers differ from the two native groups by limiting most of their choices to impersonal subjects and possibility modals to imply neutrality in their display of research contributions. The Chinese native writers “outperform” the English native group by exhibiting an even higher level of authority through the prevalent use of personal subjects in conjunction with necessity modals. The results indicate that authority, rather than self-effacement, may be used by Chinese writers to demonstrate group solidarity. Also, the non-native scholars’ lack of authorial presence suggests that a sub-culture in the academic community may have been formed.

並列關鍵字

academic writing ； cross-culture ； cross-linguistic ； modal verbs ； grammatical subjects

參考文獻

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