Breath-Group Theory VS. Declination Theory: Evidence from Chinese Aphasics

由漢語失語症病人敘述句的語調表現看「呼吸群理論」及「傾斜理論」

本研究透過漢語失語症病人其簡單敘述句的語調基頻表現，來檢驗「呼吸群理論」及「傾斜理論」的描述適切性。本研究實驗組有八名失語症病人。根據波士頓失語診斷測驗，布氏病人共四位，維氏病人共四位。控制組為四位健康的正常人。實驗者設計了四組長度不同的句子；每組八句，每句之關鍵字為同一聲調，八句平均使用國語中四個聲調。受試者需將實驗者所呈現的的句子唸出，所有語料均錄音並進行聲學分析。最後，將分析結果加以統計考驗。實驗結果顯示，失語症病人的語調掌握能力受到損壞， 但這兩種理論均無法作為區分布氏及維氏症人的依據。兩者相較，「呼吸群理論」較能捕捉漢語失語症病人及正常人敘述句的語調特性， 而「傾斜論」的描述適切性也因此受到質疑。

This study explores in what way the breath-group theory and the declination theory manifest themselves in Chinese aphasic speech and detects the extent to which aphasics exert control over sentential F0 contours concerning different sentence lengths and tones. Four Broca’s aphasics, four Wernicke’s aphasics and four age-matched normal controls are tested. The results indicate that aphasic subjects have impairments in processing these sentential F0 patterns. Yet, neither the declination nor the breath-group pattern can serve as the criterion in differentiating these two aphasic populations. The breath-group pattern is the better option than the declination pattern in delineating sentential F0 contour in Mandarin Chinese speech, from which we note that the predictive power of the declination theory deserves reconsideration.