拒絕與道歉對象之親疏關係、社會地位和禮貌表達的語用發展研究

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERLOCUTOR SENSITIVITY IN THE REALIZATION OF SPEECH ACTS OF APOLOGY AND REFUSAL

許多研究結果已顯示一般成年人執行拒絕或道歉等言談行為時，多會考量談話對象的社會地位以及與自己關係親疏等因素，再選擇適切的策略來拒絕或道歉。但學界目前對於此部分語用能力在成長過程中的發展歷程所知仍極為有限。本研究檢視不同年齡的參與者在執行拒絕語和道歉語此兩個言談行為時，對於需「考量談話對象身分」及「考量關係親疏」的感知是否有差異性。另外，亦查驗比較不同年齡的參與者依對象而所變化所選擇的拒絕、道歉策略的能力是否有差異。本研究參與者包含以下四組不同年齡層：國小一年級、四年級、國中二年級及大學一年級學生。分別以感知問卷，收集參與者對於「考量談話對象身分」及「考量關係親疏」的感知資料；及以情境問卷收集參與者拒絕語及道歉語的表達資料，檢視其發展情形。研究結果顯示參與者依對象而變化道歉策略之能力的發展較早於依對象而變化拒絕策略之能力的發展。

The ability to adjust one's language according to differences in status of an interlocutor and in the degree of familiarity between interlocutors plays an important role in successful communication. Most research that explores the effect of the social status and social distance of listeners on the realization of the speech act has examined western children's speech act behavior; relatively little attention has been paid to non-western children's development in this area. The present study attempts to shed light on the development of interlocutor sensitivity in the realization of speech acts of apology and refusal. This study examined the pragmatic development of Mandarin-speaking children, a relatively underresearched speaker group. A total of 400 students participated in this study, including 1st, 4th, 8th graders and college students. A discourse completion task was used to collect production data. It was found that participants of different ages differ in their ability to reveal interlocutor sensitivity.