中文兒童對代名詞指涉的理解與運用

Abstract

本研究探究代名詞理解與使用之間的關連性。 在此研究中四歲與六歲之幼兒參與一項裏解測驗與一項產出測驗。 理解測驗檢視幼兒面對兩個可能先行詞時對代名詞指涉的理解。 根據理解測驗內容相同的故事而取得的記敘文則用來評估代名詞的產出與理解之間是否有相關聯。 根據理解測驗的表現共歸納出四種理解策略: (1) 以主詞為根據 (2) 以特定角色為根據 (3) 以語意關係為根據 (4) 綜合型策酪。 分析發現四歲組與六歲組在理解策略的偏好上有所不同。 六歲組比四歲組有較多的受試者使用以語意為根據及綜合型的理解策略。 對照產出的表現發現使用不同理解策略的受試者在維持指涉對象時所用的指涉詞也不同。 對六歲組而言,使用以主詞為根據,以語意關係為根據以及綜合型理解策略的受試者比使用以特定角色為根據之理解測驗的受試者使用更多明確的指涉詞. 統計分析也指出對六歲組的受試者而言,理解策略和明確指涉詞的使用有相關性。 然而四歲組則沒有發現理解測驗和代名詞使用的相關性。 根據Clark (2003)的理論,當兒童成長時會根據外在的語言輸入而改進自己的理解策略。 而改良的理解能力也可以進一步指引語言的產出. 資料顯示四歲組缺乏代名詞理解與使用的相關性可以歸因於接收外界語料的不足或基本認知能力發展不夠成熟。 六歲組資料所顯示出理解與使用的相關性則指出當兒童成長時他們對代名詞指涉理解的進步也會帶動他們更注意代名詞指涉功能的使用。

The present study explores the connection between pronoun comprehension and production. A comprehension task and a production task were conducted to test children of ages 4 and 6. The comprehension task examined children’s comprehension strategies for pronoun references in stories in which there are two competing animate referents. Narratives based on the comprehension stories were assessed in the production task to see if there is consistency between comprehension and production. Four comprehension strategies were identified based on the result of the comprehension task: (1) subject-based strategy, (2) character-based strategy, (3) semantics-based strategy and (4) mixed strategy. It was also observed that character-based comprehension strategy would lead to false comprehension in the present setting because the study involved two animate characters. A shift of comprehension was observed between age 4 and age 6. More children of age 6 adopted semantics-based and mixed comprehension strategy while fewer adopted character-based comprehension strategy. Further examination of narrative produced by children of different comprehension strategies was carried out by analyzing the types of referential expressions used under different contexts (reference introduction, reference maintenance, and reference switching). It was observed that while the use of referential expressions in contexts of reference introduction and reference switching are similar within both age groups, difference of patterns was observed under the context of reference maintenance. Although the rate of using explicit expressions was similar among comprehension strategies at age 4, difference was observed among different strategies for age 6. Six-year-olds with subject, semantic, and mixed strategy use more explicit expressions and combination of explicit expressions than 6-year-olds with character-based comprehension strategies. Subsequent statistical analysis showed that there was a correlation between comprehension strategies and use of explicit referential expressions for children of age 6. On the other hand, no correlation between comprehension strategies and the use of explicit referential expressions was found among children of age 4. The data indicated that as children get older they are more sensitive to the proper discourse cues that would lead to appropriate comprehension of referential relations. As they are more sensitive to these referential relations they pay more attention to the referential expressions used in their narratives and use more explicit expressions to avoid ambiguity in production. The lack of correlation between comprehension strategies and referential use for group of age 4 can be attributed to the lack of language input to shape their language comprehension and production. This finding can be viewed as in line with Clark’s (2003) relationship between C(comprehension) – representation and P(production) – representation. When children grow older, they receive more language input to moderate their comprehension and can further use the way they comprehend referential expressions to monitor their production of referential expressions.