臺灣學生與馬來西亞僑生於請求與拒絕行為之道歉語分析

A Comparison of Apologetic Expressions in Requests and Refusals Between Taiwan Chinese and Malaysian Chinese

本研究比較在臺灣之馬來西亞華裔學生（簡稱馬籍僑生）和臺灣學生於請求和拒絕兩種非道歉行為之道歉語選擇，以及社會地位對兩組學生使用道歉語的影響。研究發現臺灣學生與馬籍僑生道歉語的使用，依不同言語行為及聽話者社會地位，具有共通性。首先以道歉語類型來看，兩組學生無論於請求或拒絕行為， 皆偏好「不好意思」，頻率皆最高。兩種言語行為相較，兩組學生於拒絕行為使用「不好意思」的頻率皆高於請求行為。此外， 隨著交際對象之社會地位越高，道歉語的使用越頻繁，其中仍以「不好意思」最為活躍。可見「不好意思」具普遍適用性，較「對不起」受歡迎。換言之，本研究發現兩組學生雖來自不同的華語社區，道歉語的選擇明顯相似，皆傾向使用「不好意思」。 最後，以道歉語總使用頻率來看，臺灣學生較馬籍僑生更容易使用道歉語，「不好意思」的使用也高於馬籍僑生。

This study investigated the selection of apologetic expressions between Taiwanese students and Malaysian Chinese students. An open-ended discourse completion test (DCT) was employed to collect both groups’ selection of apologetic expressions used in requests and refusals. The results showed that depending on the nature of speech acts and the listener’s social status, Taiwanese students and Malaysian Chinese students shared more similarities than differences in terms of the use of apology expressions. Of the four identified apologetic expressions, Bù hǎo yìsi (Excuse me) was the most used and followed by duì bù qǐ (I’m sorry) by both groups, indicating that Bù hǎo yìsi enjoyed more popularity than its counterpart duì bù qǐ did both in the speech act of the request and speech act of refusal. However, the uses of apologetic expression by both groups were more frequent in refusals than in requests. In addition, the higher the listener’s social status, the higher rate of occurrence of apologetic expressions. It was observed that both groups employed more apology expressions while in the situation of requesting or rejecting higher status, but not in the equal-status or lower-status situations. Finally, regarding the total number of occurrences, Taiwanese students employed more apologetic expressions than Malaysian Chinese students. Although both groups preferred Bù hǎo yìsi, it was observed that Taiwanese students selected more Bù hǎo yìsi than Malaysian Chinese students did.