以中文為母語的兒童習得漢語結果複合動詞之實證研究

Mandarin Children's Acquisition of Resultative Verb Compounds (RVCs)

董于嘉(Yu-Chia Tung)

指導教授 ： 陳純音

國立臺灣師範大學/文學院/英語學系/碩士(2011年)

摘要

本研究旨在探討以中文為母語之兒童對於中文複合式動詞 (RVCs)之習得。本研究依中文複合式動詞組成成分的語意為依據，將之分為三類，分別是：狀態–結果 State-Result (StaR) RVC；活動–結果 Activity-Result (ActR) RVC；瞬間動作–結果 Semelfactive-Result (SemR) RVC。研究議題包括隱喻效應、詞類效應、完結性結構、與實驗效應。本研究採用兩種實驗題型：看圖聽故事回答與看圖片選擇題測驗。研究對象包含實驗組的一百位兒童，依平均年齡四至八歲分成五組，每組二十人，以及對照組的二十位成人。
研究結果顯示，非隱喻性用法比隱喻性用法容易習得，受試者大約在六歲左右即可將兩者區分。整體而言，受試者在圖片選擇題測驗的表現比看圖聽故事回答的表現還好。此外，對母語為中文的小孩子們而言，中文複合式動詞的習得順序大致上ActR > SemR > StaR的傾向。ActR 為最先習得的類別，SemR容易習得，但是不易了解此動詞的核心意義，而StaR在年幼時較難習得，但是一旦在八歲時習得後，極容易達到成人的程度。此研究也顯示，語意特徵 [- Static] and [+ Durative] 大約在小孩子五歲時習得，而 [+ Static] 則大約在八歲時習得。

關鍵字

母語習得 ； 中文結果複合動詞 ； 類別效應 ； 題型效應

並列摘要

The present study aims to probe into the first language acquisition of Mandarin RVCs. The issues addressed in the present study included the acquisition of metaphorical effects, categorical effects, telicity effect, and task effects. The present study adopted a production task (i.e., a picture-cued task) and a comprehension task (i.e., a multiple-choice task). The subjects of this study consisted of 100 Chinese-speaking children and a control group of 20 adults. The children were further divided into five experimental groups according to their age.
The overall results indicated that the children learned literal RVCs earlier than metaphorical RVCs, and the critical age was probably at the age of six. With respect to task effects, the subjects consistently performed better on the comprehension task than on the production task. A general tendency of acquisition of the three types of verbs was found: ActR > SemR > StaR. It is demonstrated that ActR was acquired the earliest and comparatively the easiest of all. SemR was found relatively easier to produce, but more difficult to comprehend. StaR was the most difficult to acquire at a fairly young age, but once it was acquired, at the age of eight, it became easy for the children to obtain an adult-like competence. The result also showed that the semantic features [- Static] and [+ Durative] were acquired relatively early, probably at around the age of five (Group 2), while [+ Static] was acquired relatively late, probably at around the age of eight (Group 5).

並列關鍵字

first language acquisition ； Mandarin resultative verb compounds ； categorical effect ； task effect

參考文獻

I. References in English

Behrend, Douglas, A. 1990. The development of verb concepts: Children’s Use of Verbs to Label Familiar and Novel Events. Child Development 61(3), 681-696.

Billow, R. M. 1981. Observing spontaneous metaphor in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 31, 430–445.

Bird, H., Franklin, S. & Howard, D. 2001. Age of acquisition and imageability ratings for a large set of words, including verbs and function words. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers 33, 73–79.

Bloom, L., Lifter, K., & Hafitz, J. 1980. Semantics of verbs and the development of verb inflection in child language. Language 56, 386–412.