句末助詞「呢」的辨義音調：語境對話的朗讀測試

The Contrastive Pitch of Mandarin Final Particle Ne: A Survey of Reading Dialogues in Context

本研究旨在測試華語母語者與二語學習者是否都能在具有語境的對話中，以聲調高低適當區別句末助詞「呢」的不同用法，也試圖找出影響聲調區別句末「呢」的可能原因。利用紙本測驗引導母語組與非母語組受試者朗讀帶有句末助詞「呢」的對話，經錄音後分析其朗讀句子末尾「呢」的聲調高低，用統計方法計算兩組受試者的測試結果以得知其差異的顯著性。結果發現，母語組受試者都能正確地把非疑問句末的「呢」讀作低音，把疑問句末的「呢」讀作高音；而母語中缺乏句末助詞系統的受試者則有較多失誤。然而統計結果卻顯示非母語組的口說表達、認讀能力與華語學習時間等，均與能否正確區分句末「呢」的高低聲調無顯著相關性。另一方面，實驗結果顯示，非母語受試者明顯較難掌握特指問句、選擇問句或正反問句末「呢」的聲調，對刪節問句（或主位問句）末尾的「呢」則較少出現聲調錯誤。非母語組的測試結果與疑問句末「呢」是否必要顯著相關。非母語組朗讀非必要「呢」時聲調較易出錯，因為這類「呢」不妨礙疑問功能；朗讀必要「呢」時則聲調不易出錯，因為這類「呢」乘載疑問功能，是重要不可缺的成分。本研究推測，非母語組基於溝通策略，為不影響疑問功能，較注意以高音標記「呢」，因此聲調不易出錯。對於不影響溝通功能的非必要句末「呢」較易忽略，因而聲調易出錯。由研究可知，句末「呢」的二語教學應根據造成偏誤的原因，如聲調、句式、語境關聯或學習者的溝通策略等，針對錯誤率高的用法強化教學。唯有真正了解造成習得困難的原因，才能有效改進教學，提升學習成效。

This research tries to find out if second language learners of Chinese have the same patterns of contrastive pitch as those of the native speakers to properly distinguish the various usage of the sentence-final particle NE. An acoustic analysis is implemented with a written test to subjects of native and nonnative speakers of Chinese to read out short dialogues containing sentences ended with final particle NE to find out if they pronounce NE with a high tone at the end of an interrogative and a low tone, a non-interrogative. Results show that subjects whose native language does not have the final particle system do not score high as Chinese natives do. However, there is no correlation between nonnative speakers’ test scores and their Mandarin proficiency even they have achieved intermediate level of pronunciation accuracy, Chinese character recognition and pragmatic realization. It is found that whether final NEs are obligatory do significantly correlate with nonnative speaker’s pitch correctness. When attached to an abbreviated question, NE is obligatory, but when it follows a question word question, alternative question or A not A question, it is optional. It is learners’ communication strategy that influences nonnative speakers to overlook the optional NEs and pronounce its tone as a free variation. As for the obligatory NE, learners tend to pronounce it correctly with the high tone to make their communication successful. It is therefore suggested that the causes of second language learners’ errors need to be carefully investigated. By highlighting the contrastive tone and paying more attention to learners causes of secondtrategies, teaching and acquisition of the final particles NE can be reinforced.