跨文化與外語語用學:以拒絕語為例

How to Say “No”: Cross-cultural and Interlanguage Perceptual Variations in the Refusal Behavior

翁宗翰(Tsung-han Weng)

指導教授 ： 余明忠

淡江大學/外國語文學院/英文學系碩士班/碩士(2012年)

https://doi.org/10.6846/TKU.2012.01236

摘要

本研究主在從跨文化與外語語用學的觀點來探討「拒絕語」言語行為。藉由比較台灣英語學習者與英語及中文為母語者之拒絕感知行為，本研究之目的為三。一為從跨文化的角度來看，以中文為母語者其拒絕語之感知行為是否與英文為母語者有所相同或差異。二為社會文化因素，即社會低位高低與熟悉程度，是否影響三組語言使用者在拒絕策略用語的選擇。三為從外語語用學的角度來說，台灣英語學習者之語用轉移現象是否存在於感知層面呢?
「接受度判斷問卷」為本研究主要工具，藉此探索不同語言使用者對拒絕語感知之差異。藉由現存文獻所提供之「言談完成任務」資料，本研究提供參與者在十六個情境下，評估四種拒絕策略用語之禮貌程度。在資料收集完之後，研究者使用重複測量變異數分析法來分析三組語言使用者之拒絕感知情形。
研究結果顯示，以英語為母語之使用者其拒絕語之感知差異與中文為母語者有顯著之差異。更精確地來說，拒絕策略在中英文化間存在著感知之差異。再者，社會文化因素，即社會低位高低與熟悉程度，的確影響語言使用者在選擇適當的拒絕策略。最後，台灣英語學習者的語用行為在感知層面上，反映出了對母語及對目標語轉移的現象。本研究成果，希望能使語用研究者對拒絕言語行為能有更進一步的了解。再者，對語言教師與學習者而言，此研究希望能對語用教學與語言習得能有些許貢獻。

關鍵字

跨文化語用學 ； 外語語用學 ； 拒絕語 ； 感知

並列摘要

This study investigated the speech act of refusals from the perspectives of cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics. By comparing Taiwanese EFL learners’ refusal perception with that of both native Chinese and English speakers, this study aimed to find 1) whether there were similarities and differences in their refusal perception between native speakers of Chinese and English, 2) whether the two social variables (i.e. status and distance) may influence the speakers’ refusal perception, and 3) if learners’ pragmatic transfer existed in perceptual level.
An acceptability judgment questionnaire was used to probe participants’ perception towards the refusal speech act behavior. With the production materials generated by the discourse completion task (DCT), the current study elicited participants to evaluate four refusal strategies on a five-point politeness Likert scale in sixteen situations. The repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to detach the pragmatic perception among the speakers of English, Chinese, and Taiwanese EFL learners.
The results showed that there were significant differences in the perception of refusal strategies between native speakers of Chinese and English. These findings therefore corroborate that cross-cultural differences in the refusal behavior exist in the perceptual level. Furthermore, the social factors (i.e. social status and distance) did have an influence on speakers’ selection of the appropriate strategies. Finally, Taiwanese EFL learners’ pragmatic perception reflected both their native and target socio-cultural norms. It is hoped this study can make some contributions to the understanding of the refusal speech act; and more importantly, these findings have practical implications for L2 teaching and learning.

並列關鍵字

cross-cultural pragmatics ； interlanguage pragmatics ； refusals ； perception

參考文獻

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Allami, H., & Naeimi, A. (2011). A cross-linguistic study of refusals: An analysis of pragmatic competence development in Iranian EFL learners. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 385-406.

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