從感知分類到語音習得：挪威學習者漢語噝音之 跨語言影響研究

Abstract

漢語三組噝音向來是學習者學習難點之一，其中又以捲舌音，及送氣、不送氣塞擦音之間的對立最為困難。過去研究多聚焦在捲舌音，且研究對象多為英語、日語等母語語音系統中無捲舌音的學習者。因此本研究以挪威籍學習者為研究對象，探討其感知及產出能力，藉此檢測母語系統對於漢語習得之影響。 本研究先透過聽辨測驗蒐集學習者感知能力表現，再請受試者朗讀單字及雙字詞以採集聲學數值，包括頻譜重心（M1）以及發音時長。結果顯示學習者在產出及感知能力兩方面，隨著程度提高，偏誤率顯著下降。其中偏誤率最高的兩類型分別為送氣/不送氣之間的混淆，以齒間音/ts/和/tsh/難度最高，及擦音與塞擦音發音方式的混淆。本研究推測偏誤主要受到母語語音系統影響，包括將母語中非獨立音位的/tʂh/聽變成/ʂ/。從聲學數值來看，產出偏誤的原因在於M1數值高於或者低於正確語音之範圍，另外在塞擦音的部分，也因絕對及相對時長控制不當，例如不送氣音/ts/和/tʂ/比例過長，導致母語審聽者將其判為有誤。 將量化結果與學習者自評語音難度做對比發現，兩者難度排名大致相同，學習者普遍認為送氣塞擦音難度高，另從發音部位來看，齒間音的塞擦音難度遠高於另外兩部位。相較來看，擦音普遍難度均低於塞擦音。本研究最後根據研究結果提出教學啟示，以供未來華語教師及研究人員參考。

The three Mandarin sibilant contrasts are among the most difficult phonological categories for L2 learners, particularly the retroflex and the aspiration contrast in affricates. Previous studies have primarily focused on retroflex sounds and have mainly investigated learners whose native languages, such as English and Japanese, lack retroflex phonemes. In contrast, little attention has been paid to learners whose native language contains retroflex sounds but lacks a phonemic aspiration contrast. Therefore, this study investigates the perception and production of Mandarin sibilants by Norwegian learners to examine how the native phonological system influences the acquisition of Mandarin. The study consisted of two stages. First, an identification task was conducted to assess the learners' perceptual ability. Second, the participants read monosyllabic and disyllabic lexical items, from which acoustic measurements were obtained, including the first spectral moment (M1) and duration. The results showed that error rates in both perception and production decreased significantly as learners' Chinese proficiency increased. The two most frequent error types were confusion between aspirated and unaspirated affricates and confusion between fricatives and affricates. Among these, the alveolar affricates /ts/ and /tsh/ were the most difficult. The findings suggest that these errors were primarily influenced by the learners' native phonological system. For example, learners tended to perceive /tʂh/, which is not an independent phoneme in Norwegian, as /ʂ/. Acoustic analyses further revealed that production errors were mainly associated with M1 values falling outside the target range. In addition, inaccurate control of both absolute and relative segment duration contributed to errors in affricate production. For instance, an excessively long frication proportion in the unaspirated affricates /ts/ and /tʂ/ often led native Mandarin listeners to judge the productions as incorrect. A comparison between the quantitative results and the learners' self-rated pronunciation difficulty showed a highly consistent pattern. Learners generally considered aspirated affricates to be the most difficult sounds. With respect to place of articulation, alveolar affricates were perceived as substantially more difficult than the other two places of articulation. In contrast, fricatives were consistently rated as less difficult than affricates across all three places of articulation. Based on these findings, this study concludes by proposing pedagogical implications for Mandarin pronunciation teaching and future research.