日常會話結束策略之中英對比研究

The Pre-Closing Strategies of Everyday Conversation: Comparsion of Chinese and English

劉素帉

指導教授 ： 謝佳玲

國立臺灣師範大學/國際與僑教學院/華語文教學研究所/碩士(2012年)

摘要

會話結束是受到高度規約的言語行為，若處理失當即產生冒犯性，導致面子威脅，反之恰當的結束鋪排有助強化人際關係。即便其交際功能獲學界認同，但由於會話結束與最後話題的界限模糊，又可由於許多因素被打斷，造成執行上的困難，迄今相關研究仍是匱乏。現存研究又偏重電話會話，導致當面結談未有完整的上層分類與跨語言對比。有鑑於此，本文針對會話結束策略的選用、順序與語境因素加以探討，再進行漢英溝通文化的對比分析。
本文以語篇補全測試作為研究方法，調查來自台灣的漢語母語者與西方國家的英母語者共兩百五十名受試對象，在不同社會權勢、社會距離及情境下結談行為的異同。
研究結果顯示，就整體趨勢而言，漢語母語者消極認為結談必然構成冒犯行為，因此傾向選用「消極策略」預防聽者產生負面情緒，以避免雙方發生衝突。英語母語者則較積極看待會話結束，偏向透過「積極策略」給予聽者肯定，並藉此正面情緒鞏固雙方在分離期間的關係。具體來說，兩組受試者面對關係親近的平位者時出現雷同的策略偏好，上述的漢英差異主要反映在關係親近與關係疏遠的上位者語境中。兩組受試者對親密平輩同樣使用直接明確，以自我為中心的結談策略之現象，反映西方個體主義（Individualism）的文化表徵，可見漢語結談行為出現向英語溝通文化靠攏的趨勢。另外，漢語母語者面對上位者時仍保留體現貶己尊人、以和為貴的集體主義理念（Collectivism）。但其中使用率最高的「合理解釋」雖為「消極策略」，卻亦具有直接表明結談意圖的特點，由此可推斷人青年世代的禮貌文化也重視個體的自我表達。
本文最後結合研究得出的會話結束公式與常見句式設計語用教學教案，以期漢語學習者能靈活運用結談策略，進而提升漢語的交際能力。

關鍵字

會話結束 ； 中英對比 ； 跨文化溝通 ； 華語教學

並列摘要

Conversation closing is a highly normative speech act. Improper endings are considered offensive and face-threatening, whereas appropriate closings strengthen relationships. The social function of pre-closings is widely recognized by linguists; however, because they are often hard to distinguish from the last topic and can be interrupted in various ways, there has been relatively fewer studies done on them compared to conversation openings. Therefore, this study investigates the strategy types, sequence order and contextual factors of pre-closings, and uses its findings to compare pre-closings in Chinese and English.
A discourse completion test was used to elicit data from 200 Taiwanese speakers of Chinese and 50 western English native speakers. The results suggest that Chinese native speakers tend to use negative strategies to prevent negative emotions in the listener, whereas English native speakers prefer to use positive strategies to maintain a positive mood throughout the closing. More specifically, both groups use the same direct and self-oriented strategies when terminating conversations with familiar peers, which suggests that both cultures have individualistic tendencies. This similarity suggests that Chinese society has gradually adopted an English communication style in the context of equal status and close relations. On the other hand, Chinese native speakers use a humble tone and emphasize maintaining harmony when facing an interlocutor with a higher status, regardless of whether the relationship is close or distant. This indicates that Chinese society retains characteristics of collectivism whenever hierarchy is a concern. Nevertheless, legitimization is the strategy most frequently used strategy by Chinese speakers, which, despite being a negative strategy, directly reveals the speaker's intentions. From this we can infer that the younger generation of Chinese value the right of self-expression, while at the same time maintaining a polite tone.
In the conclusion, the conventional strategies and sentence patterns used to close conversations are integrated into a classroom lesson plan, in hope of enhancing students' communication competence and facilitating their ability to converse as authentically as native speakers of Chinese.

並列關鍵字

Pre-closings ； Chinese and English comparison ； intercultural ； Chinese teaching

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