閩語流利度對台灣華閩雙語者聲調與焦點呈現之影響

Abstract

本研究探討閩語流利度對台灣華閩同步習得雙語者聲調與焦點呈現之影響。研究的華閩聲調包含了高平調、中抑揚調、低音域調(包含:低抑揚調與低降調)以及高降調。實驗共四十位男女受試者參加。依據閩語之流利程度，將受試者分為兩組︰閩語流利組與閩語不流利組。於本實驗中。前者視為單語組，後者則為雙語組。受試者須唸出單獨出現的音節以及置於句首、句中或句尾的音節。置於句子裡的音節須與句子一倂唸出。結果顯示，單語組華語聲調和焦點的基頻高於雙語組。雖然雙語組受到閩語的影響使其華語基頻低於單語組，閩語流利度的影響在雙語組的男性和女性受試者上的呈現略有不同。不同的點在於男性受試者受到閩語流利度的影響深於女性受試者。此外，比較雙語組的華語和閩語的聲調和焦點發現︰男性受試者的閩語基頻比華語的高，而女性受試者則是華語的基頻比閩語的高。雙語組男女受試者所呈現的不同趨勢，可以從雙語者對華閩語之語言偏好的不同解釋。更精確的說，雙語者會在自己較偏好的語言上，使用較高的基頻。語言的偏好決定了雙語者兩語言間，基頻的相對關係，而語言流利度和社會對不同性別的期待，則對雙語者語言偏好的選擇有決定性的影響。以閩語流利度而言，閩語越流利的雙語者，越會有偏好閩語使用的現象。而從社會對不同性別的期待而言，社會期待造就了女性使用華語的偏好與男性使用較多閩語的現象。

This study investigated how Min proficiency influenced the realization of tones and foci in Taiwan Mandarin-Min simultaneous bilinguals. The tones encompassed included the high-level tone, the mid-dipping tone, the low tone, and the high-falling tone. Forty native Mandarin-Min simultaneous bilinguals, differing in levels of Min proficiency and balanced in gender, were recruited to read target syllables in isolation or embedded in carrier sentences at the sentence-initial, -medial, and -final positions. Comparisons of the Mandarin tones and foci produced by the subject groups differing in levels of Min proficiency showed that those less proficient in Min, referred to as the monolinguals in the present study, produced higher F0 values for their Mandarin tones and foci compared with those more proficient, referred to as the bilinguals in the present study. Yet, the effect of Min proficiency on the production of Mandarin tones by the bilinguals was not homogenous across genders. In particular, the males were more influenced by Min in their production of Mandarin tones compared with the females. Comparisons of the Mandarin and Min tones and foci produced by the proficient Min bilinguals showed that males produced higher Min compared with Mandarin, while females showed an opposite tendency. The diverse tendencies observed between the male and female bilinguals were explainable by the bilinguals’ language preference. Specifically, the more preferred language was given unique status by the allocation of higher F0 values to it. While language preference determined the relative F0 heights used for Mandarin and Min, Min proficiency and social expectations on genders’ behaviors gave clues to one’s language preferences. In terms of Min proficiency, the more proficient bilinguals were in Min, the more likely they would prefer the use of Min. In terms of social expectations on genders’ behaviors, females were expected to prefer the use of Mandarin whereas males were expected prefer the use Min.