現代漢語時間順序研究

Abstract

先行研究對於現代漢語母語人士的「時間」認知方式至今達不到共識。論者主要從「時間是空間」隱喻出發，有的認為「時間」在現代漢語是垂直的，而在英語當中是水平的，另外有的認為「時間」的認知方式跟語言沒有關係。本文認為得不到共識的主要原因有兩個：第一、「時間是空間」隱喻並不全然適用於現代漢語的「時間」認知方式，尤其是「前」、「後」。第二、不同語言有不同的認知方式來思考「時間」。首先在第二章中，筆者使用古漢語的語料指出：「後」的範疇應看作「結構重組」而不適合用「時間是空間」的隱喻來研究。接著，在第三章中，筆者嘗試論證「時序」才是現代漢語最主要的「時間」認知方式。而「時序」所指的正是Tai (1985) 所提出的兩個展現在「語序」上且與「時間」有關的語法原則：「時間順序原則」和「時間範圍原則」，而「時間是空間」的隱喻僅只符合了「時間範圍」一項而已，不如論者所設想的是認知「時間」的最高準則。最後，筆者於第四章中進行了兩個實驗來實測本文的論點是否為真。實驗一採取問卷的方法，證明了「時序」不僅是理論，而確實是實存的認知方式；而實驗二蒐集受試者的反應時間，證實了「時序」裏面的「時間順序」確實是獨立於「時間是空間」隱喻而存在的「時間」認知方式。統整兩個實驗的結果，足以支持本文的核心論述，亦即現代漢語說話者主要以「時序」來認知時間，論者所宣稱的現代漢語以「空間」來認知「時間」只說對了一半而已。

The ‘time as space’ metaphor proposed by Lakoff & Johnson (1980) has provided a great insight into the way people conceptualize the world and also has a profound impact on cognitive linguistics in academia. Based on the ‘time as space’ metaphor, researchers have long debated whether or not native Mandarin Chinese speakers conceptualize time as vertical, whilst native English speakers horizontal (Boroditsky, 2001; Chen, 2007; January & Kako, 2007; Fuhrman et al., 2011). This thesis, however, aims to identify another method of thinking about time employed by native Mandarin Chinese speakers. In chapter 2, data from ancient Chinese were collected to prove that hou 後 (“later” or “back”) was used to talk about time at first, and was then used to refer to space later. This suggests that hou 後 should be considered as ‘a product of restructuring’ rather than a ‘time as space’ metaphor. In chapter 3, by providing an overview of the three syntactic principles in Mandarin Chinese proposed by Tai (1985), it is indicated that the Principle of Temporal Sequence (PTS) and the Principle of Temporal Scope (PTSC) actually constitute the main method of thinking about time used by native Mandarin Chinese speakers, and the “time as space” metaphor is only applicable to PTSC. To prove this, two experiments were conducted in chapter 4. Experiment 1 examined the relationship between word order and the two temporal principles, through which a positive relation was identified. This suggests that PTS and PTSC are cognitive principles indeed existing in Mandarin Chinese. Experiment 2 was designed to test whether or not the PTS exists independently of the “time as space” metaphor. The results suggest that native Mandarin Chinese speakers refer to PTS to think of time, while English speakers space. Thus, this appears to demonstrate that native Mandarin Chinese speakers indeed conceptualize time in terms of the two temporal principles, whereas native English speakers space.