法語語調對華語聲調習得的影響

Abstract

華語聲調偏誤的國別化研究，近年已取得不少進展，但以法語母語者為研究對象的相關研究，仍占總體少數。法語無聲調，語言中不存在能夠影響詞彙意義的音高變化，音高的強弱起伏體現於不具辨義功能的重音及語調。本研究欲探知，造成法語母語者聲調偏誤的原因，是否受母語韻律模式的影響，以了解法語語調在華語聲調習得中所扮演的角色。 爬梳先行研究可以得知，兩語言在詞彙韻律及後詞彙韻律，有相同及相異之處，文中除了釐清華語聲調的起源、定義及特徵，亦分析比較兩語言的重音及語調結構，最後確立從法語具有語調標記的最小韻律成分──重音短語（Accentual Phrase）切入，作為本研究主要分析觀察的韻律單位。本文並分別從量化及質性觀點，將華語語句切分成能與法語AP結構相對應之短語單位，進一步針對句首AP及句末AP的首字及末字，檢視15名法語母語人士在句子朗讀及觀點陳述的聲調表現，與法語AP結構特徵的關聯性。 偏誤分析結果顯示，綜合兩類語料，學習者偏誤率最高的聲調中，無論位於句首AP或句末AP，皆出現與相對應位置的法語語調不一致的情形，顯示出母語為法語的學習者，其華語聲調偏誤受法語語調影響的可能性大。另一方面，也能從質性分析的音高曲線圖中進一步佐證量化研究之發現。因此綜觀而論，擺脫法語語調對華語聲調習得所造成的影響，對於學習華語的法語母語者而言，是掌握好華語聲調不可輕忽的因素。最後於文末提出後續研究及教學建議，提供未來研究者及華語教師教學參考。

Rapid progress has been made on research within Mandarin tonal errors in the past decade, and country-specific factors are commonly included, whereas only few studies focus on French speakers so far. Since French is a non-tone language, the change of pitch is not associated with the change of lexical meaning but functions at sentence and discourse levels. This paper aims to demonstrate how prosodic structure in French may cause Mandarin tonal errors, so as to figure out the role of French intonation in Mandarin tone acquisition. Previous research concerning prosodic hierarchy has indicated that both similarities and differences exist between Mandarin and French. To facilitate structural comparison, the present research applied the minimum prosodic unit in French prosodic structure--Accentual Phrase (AP), to be the primary unit to investigate subjects’ pronunciation. This study combined quantitative and qualitative approaches, in order to undergo further investigation, thus separating Mandarin sentences into smaller units equivalent to French AP structure, especially focus on the first and the last syllables in both initial APs and final APs. Totally, 15 subjects were involved in this analysis, all of whom were native French speakers. As for the speaking materials, including sentences reading and viewpoint declaration, being analyzed to detect the relationship between tonal performance and the traits of French AP structure. The analysis revealed that Mandarin tone with the highest error rate opposed to the corresponding pitch in French intonation. The discrepancy between Mandarin tone and the characteristics of French intonation indicated Mandarin tonal errors were therefore possibly influenced by intonation of learners’ first language. Through qualitative phonetic analysis, tonal pitch variation further supported the finding. To break away from negative transfer caused by French intonation is salient for French native speakers. Based on the result of the present study, we suggested directions for further research, and provided advice to teachers at the end of the thesis.