華語話題句的習得研究：對比英、日語為母語的學習者

Chinese Topic Sentences: A Comparison between English-speaking and Japanese-speaking Second Language Learners

本文觀察華語二語學習者中介語中的話題句並探究學習者母語類型（主語優先語言/話題優先語言）對話題句習得的影響。研究分兩部份：一部份為質性研究，觀察兩位高級程度華語二語學習者的自發性口語語料，分析其話題句的種類、使用比例與偏誤。另一部份則以話題句判斷問卷，測試華語二語學習者對話題句的接受程度，根據量化數據瞭解其對話題句的理解情形。以此兩部分分析結果探究學習者母語類型與華語話題句習得的關聯。自發性話題句口語語料的個案研究顯示，兩位不同母語類型的高級程度華語學習者在論元共指話題句與時地語域、背景語域話題句的分布上差別有限，但在工具格論元共指式話題句與不同論元話題鏈這兩類話題句則有較大差異。另一方面，判斷問卷的數據結果則顯示，中高級二語學習者對各類話題句的總接受程度仍低於華語母語者（比率約為77.06比89.83）。比較不同母語類型的二語學習者的話題句判斷問卷測試結果，兩組的總接受程度差異雖然不大（英語為母語者與日語為母語者的比率約為77.44：76.67），但是兩組二語學習者不接受的話題句類型仍有相異處。相同處是他們都較難接受某個背景語域式話題句「那場火幸虧消防隊來的快」以及語義句法複雜度較高的話題句。相異處則是日語為母語的學習者較能接受各類型的話題句，而英語為母語的學習者則對某些話題句類型的接受程度相對受限。問卷測試結果顯示，除了日語為母語的學習者對各類型話題句普遍接受程度較高以外，語義、句法複雜度與語境明確度也影響中高級二語學習者對話題句的判斷。因此，母語類型的影響對於中高級二語學習者並不顯著。母語為話題優先語言的學習者只在特定幾個類型的話題句佔有優勢。此結果符合曹秀玲等（2006）的研究結論，即母語為主語優先語言者的負遷移現象較可能出現於初級學習者，而母語為話題優先語言者的正遷移現象則較可能出現於中高級學習者。

Some linguists (Li & Thompson 1976) differentiate languages between subject-prominent, such as English, and topic-prominent, such as Chinese, while Japanese is considered both subject-prominent and topic-prominent. This paper aims to investigate the differences, if any, in acquiring Chinese topic sentences between second language learners whose native languages belong to these two types. To make a qualitative study on the usage of Chinese topic sentences, analyses and comparison are made on the oral production of interlanguages between an English-speaking and a Japanese-speaking learner of Chinese. Quantitative study is also made by giving a written survey followed by a comparative investigation on the recognition of different kinds of Chinese topic sentences among three groups of subjects, namely native Chinese, English-speaking and Japanese-speaking learners of Chinese. It is found that the oral production of interlanguages does not show much difference in certain types of Chinese topic sentences between English-speaking and Japanese-speaking learners. They both use topic sentences correctly especially when the topic co-refers an NP in the comment representing the thematic role of agent, patient, time, location or range. However, the Japanese-speaking learner does exceed the English-speaker when using topic sentences in which the topic co-refer an NP with the thematic role of instrument (Xu & Liu 2007). The comparison between their interlanguages also shows that the Japanese-speaking learner made more correct topic chains (Tsao 1979，Shi 1992，Wang 2006) than the English-speaking learner. On the other hand, the results of the survey on correct recognition of Chinese topic sentences show that there is a difference between second language learners and native Chinese. However, the difference is not very significant among the non-natives. Both English and Japanese speaking learners of Chinese had difficulties recognizing topic sentences which are more syntactically and semantically complicated. However, the Japanese-speaking learners can recognize more different types of Chinese topic sentences than those whose native language is English. The results of the above studies seem to indicate that English-speaking and Japanese-speaking learners may not have much difference in learning Chinese topic sentences, especially when they are at the intermediate or higher level of learning stages in spite of their native language difference.