• 沒有找到結果。

漢語兒童情態動詞「會」的使用 - 政大學術集成

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "漢語兒童情態動詞「會」的使用 - 政大學術集成"

Copied!
85
0
0

加載中.... (立即查看全文)

全文

(1)國立政治大學語言學研究所碩士論文 National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of Linguistics Master Thesis. 指導教授: 黃瓊之博士 Advisor: Dr. Chiung-chih Huang. 學 漢語兒童情態動詞「會」的使用. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 政 治 大. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. The Use of the Modal Verb Hui in Mandarin Child Language. Ch. engchi. i n U. 研究生:王薏淩 撰 Student: Yi-ling Wang. 中華民國 103 年 7 月 July, 2014. v.

(2) The Use of the Modal Verb Hui in Mandarin Child Language. By Yi-ling Wang. 學 A Thesis Submitted to. y. sit. io. n. al. er. Nat. the Graduate Institute of Linguistics in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 政 治 大. Ch. engchi. July 2014. i n U. v.

(3) 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. Copyright © 2014 Yi-ling Wang All Rights Reserved iii. i n U. v.

(4) Acknowledgements. 終於畢業了!能走到這裡,要感謝很多的人。首先,要感謝黃瓊之老師的指 導與鼓勵,指引我方向,協助我修改論文。在老師的語言習得專題課堂上,及語 言習得工作室中,我產生了對小孩語言習得的興趣。語言習得研究方法課堂上, 討論文獻、定方向和題目、蒐集語料等,及論文修改的過程,每次都讓我有所收 穫。也感謝兩位口試委員,詹惠珍老師、張鑑如老師,給予我許多寶貴的意見與 建議,讓我的論文更加完整。. 政 治 大 也謝謝賴春燕老師、黃麗蓉老師的教導,開啟我對語言學的興趣。謝謝語言所的 立 在語言學的領域中,謝謝大學時李靜桂老師的語意和語用學,給我的啟蒙。. 師長,給我豐富的語言學知識,謝謝蕭宇超老師、何萬順老師、徐嘉慧老師、尤. ‧ 國. 學. 雪瑛老師、莫建清老師、張郇慧老師、萬依萍老師。另外,還要謝謝所上惠鈴助. ‧. 教行政上的協助。. y. Nat. 也謝謝建銘一路陪伴,對我的照顧,在論文上更幫了我很大的忙。總是在我. er. io. sit. 遇到問題時,協助我並給我許多安慰與鼓勵,謝謝建銘的付出。還要謝謝語言習 得工作室的建銘和亭伊,一起幫忙蒐集語料。也謝謝研究所的同學們,認識你們,. al. n. v i n 讓我的研究所生活更加豐富。另外,還要謝謝我的室友們,謝謝葛琳、王然、茱 Ch engchi U. 莉、思宜,總是我聊天的好對象,可以在宿舍與你們分享許多事。. 特別感謝爸媽給我無條件的支持,還有對我的關心,讓我可以好好唸書。謝 謝姊姊總能帶給我正向的影響,也謝謝哥哥給予我的祝福,家人總能給我內心最 大的力量。 謝謝這一路上幫助過我的人,讓我的論文能順利完成。這些磨練,讓我成長。. iv.

(5) Table of Contents. Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………..v List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………vi List of Figures.……..………………………………………...……………………...vii Chinese Abstract……………………………...……………………………………viii English Abstract……………………………...……………………………………...ix Chapter 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………...1 1.1 Motivation and purpose……………………………........................................1 1.2 Research questions…………………………………………………………...3 1.3 Organization of the thesis………………………………………………….…3. 政 治 大. Chapter 2. Literature Review………………………………………………………..5 2.1 Modality…………………………..…………..……………………………...5 2.2 The acquisition of modality……………….………………………………….6 2.3 Research on the modal hui……………………...………………..…………11 2.4 The acquisition of the modal hui……………………………………………12. 立. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Chapter 3. Methodology……………………………………………………………15 3.1 Participants and data…………………….…………………………………..15 3.2 Data analysis……..…………………………………………………………17. y. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. Chapter 4. Results………………..…..…………………………………………..…22 4.1 The distribution of the different types of the modal hui………...………......22 4.2 The distribution of the person subjects in the three types of the modal hui...24 4.2.1 First person subjects in the three types of the modal hui…………....26 4.2.2 Second person subjects in the three types of the modal hui…….…...30 4.2.3 Third person subjects in the three types of the modal hui……..….....33. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4.3 The pragmatic functions of the three types of the modal hui utterances……37 4.3.1 Dynamic hui utterances………………...………………………..…..37 4.3.2 Deontic hui utterances………………...…………………………..…49 4.3.3 Epistemic hui utterances……………………...…………………..….52 Chapter 5. Discussion and Conclusion…………………………………………….63 5.1 Three types of the modal hui……………………………………………......63 5.2 Person subjects of the modal hui………...…………….……………….…...65 5.3 The pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances.……………………...67 5.4 Limitation and suggestions………………………………………………….70 Appendix. Transcription Conventions and Gloss Abbreviations………………..71 References…………………………………………………………………………...72 v.

(6) List of Tables. Table 1. Subject Information in the Two Age Groups………….…………………………….16 Table 2. Frequencies of Total Utterances and Utterances With hui………….…….………....23 Table 3. Frequencies of the Three Types of the Modal hui………………….………………..23 Table 4. Distribution of the Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui…………..25 Table 5. Distribution of the First Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui……..27 Table 6. Distribution of the Second Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui….31 Table 7. Distribution of the Third Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui....…34 Table 8. Third Person Animate and Inanimate Subjects in the Dynamic hui…………….…..35 Table 9. Pragmatic Functions of the Dynamic hui Utterances…...…………...............…..….47 Table 10. Pragmatic Function of the Deontic hui Utterances……..………………….……....51. 政 治 大. Table 11. Pragmatic Functions of the Epistemic hui Utterances…..………………….…..….59. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vi. i n U. v.

(7) List of Figures. Figure1. Pragmatic Functions of the Three Types of the Modal hui Utterances…..…61. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vii. i n U. v.

(8) 國 立 政 治 大 學 研 究 所 碩 士 論 文 提 要. 研究所別:語言學研究所 論文名稱:漢語兒童情態動詞「會」的使用 指導教授:黃瓊之 博士 研究生:王薏淩 論文提要內容:. 立. 政 治 大. 本研究探討漢語母子對話中,兒童使用情態動詞(modal verb)「會」的類別、. ‧ 國. 學. 人稱主詞及語用功能。受試者分成第一組(平均兩歲十一個月)與第二組(平均四歲. ‧. 十個月)。研究結果發現認知(epistemic)情態動詞的「會」比動力(dynamic)情態動. Nat. io. sit. y. 詞的「會」晚習得,而義務(deontic)情態動詞的「會」則很少出現。其指出不同. er. 的習得順序與認知發展有關,即認知上易理解的概念比認知上較不易理解的早習. al. n. v i n Ch 得。在情態動詞「會」的人稱主詞上,兒童在動力和義務情態動詞「會」主要是 engchi U 使用第一人稱當主詞,然而兒童傾向使用第三人稱當認知情態動詞「會」的主詞。 而兒童很少使用第二人稱當情態動詞「會」的主詞。情態動詞「會」語句的語用 功能方面,動力情態動詞「會」語句包含請求、拒絕、描述、誇耀;義務情態動 詞「會」語句只發現承諾的功能;而認知情態動詞「會」語句有爭辯、疑惑、推 論的功能。研究結果顯示兒童能掌握情態動詞「會」語句不同的語用功能。. viii.

(9) Abstract. This study examined Mandarin-speaking children’s different types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances in mother-child conversations. Children were divided into Group I (mean age= 2;11) and Group II (mean age= 4;10). The results showed that the epistemic modal hui was acquired. 政 治 大. relatively late, compared with the dynamic modal hui. The deontic modal hui was a. 立. It suggests that the different acquisition order seems to involve. 學. ‧ 國. marginal use.. cognitive development, which means that the cognitively accessible concept may be. ‧. acquired earlier than the less cognitively accessible one. As for the person subjects of. Nat. io. sit. y. the modal hui, children mainly used the dynamic and deontic modal hui with the first. er. person subject; however, they tended to use the epistemic modal hui with the third. al. n. v i n person subject. Children rarelyC used hui with the second person subject. h ethenmodal gchi U With regard to the pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances, it was found that the functions of the dynamic hui utterances included request, refusal, reporting, and. boasting. In the deontic hui utterances, only the function of promise was found. The epistemic hui utterances served the functions of argument, puzzlement, and reasoning. The results suggest that children are sensitive to the pragmatic functional aspects of the modal hui utterances. ix.

(10)    . Chapter 1 Introduction. 1.1 Motivation and purpose Many studies have been conducted on the acquisition of modality. Modality is a particularly interesting area in child language because the investigation of the. 政 治 大. acquisition of modality enables us to gain important information about children’s. 立. semantic development and cognitive knowledge (Choi, 2006). It is suggested that. ‧ 國. 學. children may acquire modality from concrete meanings (i.e. those that are cognitively. ‧. accessible) to abstract ones. Therefore, cognitive development is necessary for. Nat. io. sit. y. acquiring modality.. er. It has been recognized that the notion of modality can be realized through various. al. n. v i n different C languages. example, there h e n gFor chi U. linguistic devices in. are three linguistic. strategies to express modality in English: using an adjective or adverb, using a verb, or using a modal verb. In Mandarin Chinese, Tang and Tang (1997) pointed out three categories that denote modality in Chinese: modal particles (e.g. de, ne, a), modal adverbs (e.g. yiding “must”, huoxu “perhaps”, dagai “possible”), and modal verbs or adjectives (e.g. keneng “may”, hui “can”). The present study focuses on modal verbs in Mandarin Chinese because modal 1.

(11)    . verbs play special roles in the study of the connection between grammar and social interaction. Modal verbs are one of the most important formal devices found in languages for expressing modality in early child language (Stephany, 1986). Besides, modal verbs are one of the most commonly used grammatical forms for interpersonal negotiations; for example, in requests (Ervin-Tripp, 1976) or indirect speech acts (Searle, 1975). In Mandarin, the modal hui is used frequently in comparison with. 政 治 大. other modal forms, and the semantic range of hui incorporates many more senses. 立. (Sander, 1992). Different meanings of the modal hui would indicate different. ‧ 國. 學. acquisition order. The acquisition order of modal meanings is closely related to. ‧. children’s metacognitive abilities (Papafragou, 1998). Therefore, children’s use of the. Nat. sit er. io. development.. y. modal hui enables us to understand their semantic, pragmatic, and cognitive. al. n. v i n However, few studies haveCbeen the acquisition of the modal hui in h edone n g on chi U. Taiwan. In the study of the acquisition of the modal hui in Mandarin, Guo (1995) investigated the development and use of the modal hui in Beijing Mandarin-speaking children. The research of the modal hui in Taiwan Mandarin-speaking children has not been conducted. Moreover, Guo (1995) examined the use of the modal hui in peer conversation. The use of the modal hui in mother-child conversation could be further explored. Since children’s semantic and cognitive development can be seen from the 2.

(12)    . use of modality (Choi, 2006), their use of modal verbs needs further investigation.. 1.2 Research questions The study aims to investigate different types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui in Mandarin-speaking children in mother-child conversations. The children were divided into two age groups: a younger group (mean. 政 治 大. age = 2;11) and an older group (mean age = 4;10). Three research questions were. 立. examined in the study.. ‧ 國. 學. (1). What is the distribution of different types of the modal hui in the two age. ‧. groups?. Nat. io. sit. y. What is the distribution of the person subjects of different types of the modal hui in the two age groups?. n. al. (3). What are the. er. (2). i n C pragmatic U h efunctions n g c ofh idifferent. v. types of the modal hui. utterances in the two age groups?. 1.3 Organization of the thesis The organization of this study is as follows. Chapter two reviews previous studies on the modality, the acquisition of modality, the modal hui, and the acquisition of the modal hui. Chapter three describes the method used in this study. The results of 3.

(13)    . the distribution of the different types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui utterances are presented in chapter four. Chapter five provides discussion and conclusion.. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 4. i n U. v.

(14)    . Chapter 2 Literature Review. This study proposes to investigate the use of the modal verb hui in Mandarin-speaking children. This chapter first reviews the notion of modality, which is presented in Section 2.1. Then Section 2.2 presents the acquisition of modality.. 政 治 大. The studies on the modal hui and the acquisition of the modal hui are discussed in. 立. Section 2.3 and Section 2.4, respectively.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 2.1 Modality. Nat. io. sit. y. Several semantic criteria have been proposed for the definition of modality.. n. al. er. Fleischman (1982, p. 13) referred to modality as something “to do with the speaker’s. Ch. engchi. attitude toward the propositional content of his. iv n utterance.” U. Palmer (1986, p. 16). defined modality as “the grammaticalization of speakers’ (subjective) attitudes and opinions.” The criterion widely accepted was given by Lyons (1977, p. 452), who regarded modality as “the speaker’s opinion or attitude towards the proposition that the sentence expresses or the situation that the proposition describes.” In sum, modality allows speakers to express various attitudes toward a proposition. In the study of modality, modals are classified into three semantic categories 5.

(15)    . (Palmer, 1990; Perkins, 1983): dynamic, deontic, and epistemic. Dynamic modality is concerned with the ability, volition, and willingness of the subject (Palmer, 1990). Deontic modality has to do with the necessity of “acts performed by morally responsible agents” (Lyons, 1977, p. 823), which is involved with social functions of obligation and permission. Dynamic and deontic modals are classified as agent-oriented modalities which refer to “all modal meanings that predicate. 政 治 大. conditions on the agent with regard to the completion of an action referred to by the. 立. main predicate” (Bybee & Fleishman, 1995, p. 6). When dynamic and deontic. ‧ 國. 學. modalities lose the speaker’s agency or control, they become epistemic modality and. ‧. begin to get involved with the speaker’s beliefs (Gerhardt, 1991). Epistemic modality. Nat. io. sit. y. expresses the speaker’s degree of certainty about the truth of a proposition, and is thus. n. al. er. associated with the speaker’s knowledge and beliefs (Lyon, 1977), which is speaker-oriented.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.2 The acquisition of modality A number of studies have examined the acquisition of modality. Studies on the acquisition of modalities have indicated a tendency that agent-oriented modality is acquired before epistemic modality (e.g. Guo, 1995; Papafragou, 1998; Shatz & Wilcox, 1991; Stephany, 1986; Wells, 1985). Stephany (1993) pointed out that 6.

(16)    . children start out predominantly with non-epistemic acts (i.e. requestive or imperative acts) in social interaction and then begin epistemic acts (i.e. declarative acts). A number of studies have examined the development of modality in English. Shatz and Wilcox (1991) found that English modal verbs begin with agent-oriented expressions, such as expressions of ability and volition. Wells’ studies (1979, 1985) agreed with this general development pattern, that is, children begin expressing agent-oriented. 政 治 大. modality before epistemic modality. He found that children used the expression of. 立. ability/ inability (using can/can’t) at around the age of two, and then children started. ‧ 國. 學. to slowly produce may and might to express possibility at around the age of three. He. ‧. reported that inferential uses of modals (e.g. will) appeared even later in development.. Nat. io. sit. y. However, O’Neill and Atance (2000) argued that children began to use epistemic. er. modals earlier than what previous studies had claimed. They found that children used. al. n. v i n C h to express uncertainty epistemic modal terms productively e n g c h i U from around two years of age. Guo (1995) argued that the semantic development of modal verbs started from the three year olds’ physical abilitative meaning, continued through to the five year olds’ deontic meaning, then to the seven year olds’ epistemic-like meaning. Besides, some studies have shown that the frequency data in the use of modalities is consistent among children (Bassano, 1996; Torr, 1998; Wells, 1979). They all drew a conclusion that the expressions of agent-oriented modality are consistently more frequent than 7.

(17)    . epistemic modality in the child’s speech. There seems to be a specific relationship between specific type of modality and subjecthood. Studies have found that children have the tendency to produce agent-oriented modal verbs with the first person subject. For instance, Pea and Mawby (1981) found that children used agent-oriented modals with the first person to express volition. In the early period of development, O’Neill and Atance (2000). 政 治 大. reported that children used the first person subject to express future intention. In. 立. contrast, children use epistemic terms (e.g. might) mainly with the third person. ‧ 國. 學. subject to express events and states of third-party entities (Bassano, 1996; O’Neill &. ‧. Atance, 2000).. Nat. io. sit. y. There also seems to be a relation between specific type of modality and sentence. er. types. Pea and Mawby (1981) found that most of the modals were used in the. al. n. v i n C hmodals were usedUonly to express constraints on affirmative (e.g. gonna). Negative engchi action or an unwillingness to act (e.g. can’t, won’t) at the speech time. It has been noted that modal terms in grammatically appropriate utterances appear during the period from when a child is two to three years old (Bliss, 1988). Children tend to be conservative in the use of modals in syntactic structures compared with semantic development of modalities. Shatz and Wilcox (1991, p. 331) pointed out that “while modal vocabulary growth proceeds fairly rapidly during this early period (e.g. 8.

(18)    . can/can’t, wanna, won’t), the range of syntactic constructions in which the modals appear changes somewhat more slowly.” For instance, early modals (e.g. can, will) are all produced in limited syntactic environments (i.e. mainly in simple declaratives) (Shatz & Wilcox, 1991). O’Neill and Atance (2000) reported that the productive construction type with modal forms started at around 3;6 and children’s syntax became more complex (e.g. modals with complement clauses) at this age.. 政 治 大. In the studies on the development of modality in Mandarin-speaking children, Hsu. 立. (2011) investigated the functions, grammatical patterns, and input of yao. The data. ‧ 國. 學. were spontaneous speech of three children aged from 1;5 to 3;5. The result showed. ‧. that the emerging order of the three functions of yao was: dynamic > deontic >. Nat. io. sit. y. epistemic. It was found that children first acquired the function of expressing request. er. or volition, the function of denoting obligation or necessity was the second acquired. al. n. v i n C h of an event wasUthe third. As for grammatical and the function of making inference engchi patterns used in expressing different functions of yao, the function of expressing. request or volition was expressed with various types of grammatical patterns, whereas the other two functions were expressed in a limited range of grammatical patterns. Children went through an “old form and new function mapping” process in expanding the use of yao from one function to another. In addition, the use of yao in the input provided scaffolding for children. 9.

(19)    . Guo (1994) claimed that the meanings of modals are rooted in the social, interactional functions of language. The use of modal expressions is part of acquiring competency in discourse interaction. He examined the sentence forms, semantic meanings, and discourse functions of Mandarin Chinese modal auxiliaries among children aged 3, 5, and 7. He investigated the different uses of six modal auxiliaries: yao “want”, xiang “desire”, yong “need”, neng “can”, hui “know-how-to”, and dei. 政 治 大. “hafta”. Forty specific discourse functions were analyzed and categorized into two. 立. major categories: interpersonal-oriented functions and informational-oriented. ‧ 國. 學. functions. For example, the study of the modal neng showed the acquisition order of. ‧. the different meanings from physical ability to permission to epistemic uses. All three. Nat. io. sit. y. meanings serve a common interpersonal function in discourse: a challenge to the. er. addressee. The change in the meaning of neng is primarily motivated by this. n. al. i n C interpersonal function of challengeh (Guo, 1995, p. 207). engchi U. v. He used the term “interpersonal-oriented function” in the sense of interpersonal function, as proposed by Lyons (1977), namely, how the speaker intends to influence the mental state or behavior of the addressee. The utterance is mainly used to modify or regulate the actional behavior of the participants of the interaction, either the addressee, the speaker, or the other parties present. This can be the initiation or prevention of others’ action (e.g. request and prohibition), keeping oneself from being 10.

(20)    . affected by others (e.g. refusal), provision for others (e.g. offer) or justification of or comment on one’s own action (e.g. self action). At the “informational-oriented function” level, the main purpose of making the utterance is to impart information rather than modifying behavior, such as reporting. Guo (1994) proposed that interpersonal-oriented functions were developed earlier than informational-oriented functions, which was related to the cognitive development of children.. 立. 政 治 大. 2.3 Research on the modal hui. ‧ 國. 學. Tang and Tang (1997, p. 177) pointed out three forms of Chinese modality: modal. ‧. particles, modal adverbs, and modal verbs or adjectives. Basically, modal verbs. Nat. io. sit. y. possess three features of verbs (Huang, 1999; Li & Thompson, 1981): modals can. er. stand alone as a short answer, be negated, and form an A-not-A question. However,. al. n. v i n C h which differ fromU verbs: Modals must co-occur there are some properties of modals engchi with a verb (or, at least, one must be understood from the context), modals do not take aspect markers, modals cannot be nominalized, modals cannot appear before the subject, and modals cannot have objects. Thus, the modal hui conforms to the. syntactic characteristics listed above and is classified as a modal verb by the study of Tang and Tang (1997). Following Palmer’s (1990) frame in addressing English model verbs, Tiee (1985) 11.

(21)    . classified Chinese modality into three kinds: dynamic, deontic, and epistemic modalities. First, the dynamic modal hui refers to the physical or mental ability of the subject. This physical or mental ability is innate to or acquired by animate creatures (Chang, 2001; Huang, 1999). Second, the deontic modal hui can denote a commissive, in which the speaker is committing him/herself to ensuring that an event will take place (Searle, 1983). The modal hui in its deontic sense denotes two uses: promise. 政 治 大. and threat (Hsieh, 2005, 2006; Huang, 1999). When what the speaker undertakes to. 立. do is welcome to the addressee, it is viewed as a promise. When it is not welcome to. ‧ 國. 學. the addressee, it is viewed as a threat. Third, the epistemic modal hui shows the. ‧. speaker’s judgment of possibility or probability of the propositional content. Thus, the. Nat. io. sit. y. modal sense of epistemic hui is judgmental, in which the speaker has either a stronger. n. al. er. or weaker degree of certainty to the proposition (Chang, 2001).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.4 The acquisition of the modal hui After a brief introduction of the modal hui, the following section presents studies on the acquisition of the modal hui. In terms of the acquisition of the modal hui, few studies (e.g. Guo, 1994) have been investigated. Guo (1994) examined Mandarin-speaking children’s use of the modal hui during peer plays at the age of three, five, and seven in Beijing. As mentioned in Section 2.2, he suggested that the 12.

(22)    . semantic development of the modal verb started from the three year olds’ abilitative meaning, continued through to the five year olds’ deontic meaning, then to the seven year olds’ epistemic meaning. His analysis showed that the modal hui was primarily a dynamic modal; that is, the basic meaning of the modal hui expressed the notion of ability. It was found that children used the dynamic modal hui utterances for an interpersonal function. For example, the children used the modal hui utterances when. 政 治 大. they tried to show off their abilities to their peers. He suggested children are sensitive. 立. to the discourse functional aspects of modals.. ‧ 國. 學. In Guo’s (1994) study, he proposed the functions of the three types of the modal. ‧. hui utterances. First, the functions of the dynamic modal hui utterances included:. Nat. io. sit. y. requesting goods and services, complaint, refusal of request, rejection of prohibition,. er. reporting events or actions, and value judgment. The most frequent function was. al. n. v i n Ctohaffect the hearers’Ubeliefs and attitudes. In Guo’s value judgment, which was used engchi data, as for the functions of the deontic modal hui utterances, request and complaint were found. Only a small amount of the deontic modal hui was used in Mandarin, thus there were too few tokens for even tentative conclusions. Finally, the functions of the epistemic modal hui utterances included: argument, puzzlement, speculation, conclusion, and complaint. Guo’s classification of some functions of the epistemic modal hui utterances involved only few examples. For instance, there was only one 13.

(23)    . utterance with the modal hui for speculation, conclusion, and complaint. It was found that the epistemic modal hui utterance was highly correlated with argumentative or disputative contexts. Guo also proposed that the order of acquisition of the modal hui was similar to other Chinese modals, which seems to match the cognitive development of children; that. is,. interpersonal-oriented. functions. were. acquired. earlier. than. 政 治 大. informational-oriented functions. He pointed out that children used the modal hui first. 立. for interpersonal-oriented functions. If the developmental sequence indicated the. ‧ 國. 學. relative difficulty involved in learning modals, then it showed that the use of the. Nat. informational-oriented. functions. for. functions children.. may. be. easier. than. in. Because. modals. used. in. y. interpersonal-oriented. io. sit. in. ‧. modals. er. informational-oriented functions were more opaque and less natural, they presented a. al. n. v i n greater cognitive task. However,Cmodals in interpersonal-oriented functions were h e nused gchi U. more straightforward and natural; therefore, they presented less of a cognitive challenge. Hence, the results suggested that children acquired interpersonal-oriented functions earlier than informational-oriented functions as demonstrated by their use of the modal hui utterances.. 14.

(24)    . Chapter 3 Methodology. 3.1 Participants and data The data examined in this study were adopted from the database of the Language Acquisition Lab1 at National Chengchi University. The participants in this study were. 政 治 大. 8 Mandarin-speaking children (5 boys and 3 girls) and their mothers, who all lived in. 立. Taipei. The data of natural mother-child conversation were video-recorded at the. ‧ 國. 學. child’s home. The total length of recordings was sixteen hours, with two hours of data. ‧. with each child. According to previous literature, modal expressions appear in. Nat. io. sit. y. children’s conversation as early as 2;6 (Kuczaj, 1977; Kuczaj & Maratsos, 1975).. al. er. Thus, children aged from 2;7 to 5;4 years old were chosen. It was further divided into. n. v i n C h of four children Uranging in age from 2;7 to 3;2 two age groups. Group I consisted engchi (mean age = 2;11; two boys and two girls) as a younger group. Group II had four children from 4;0 to 5;4 (mean age = 4;10; three boys and one girl) as an older group. Table 1 presents the subject information in the two age groups..                                                         1. The lab is directed by Professor Chiung-chih Huang. I am deeply grateful to Professor Huang for her generosity in sharing the data. 15.

(25)    . Table 1 Subject Information in the Two Age Groups. Subjects (age). Group I. Group II. SEN (2;7) TIN (2;10) YIN (3;1) BUO (3;2). XUN (4:0) QIN (4;11) LEE (5;2) YOU (5;4). 2;11. 4;10. Mean. The eight children’s data included various activities, such as toy play, book. 政 治 大. reading, role play, drawing, etc. The recordings were transcribed in CHAT format. 立. using the CLAN program (MacWhinney, 2000). Utterances with the modal hui not for. ‧ 國. 學. investigation were listed below: repetition 2 (19 tokens), imitation (4 tokens),. ‧. ungrammatical (2 tokens), and unintelligible (22 tokens) utterances. After excluding. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. these utterances (47 tokens), a total number of 311 modal hui were observed in the. v. n. two age groups. There were 129 modal hui in Group I (younger) and 182 modal hui in Group II (older), respectively.. Ch. engchi. i n U.                                                         2. Repetition with the modal hui which occurs within an utterance was counted once. For example, in the following, the modal hui was only counted once because ta hui “it can” was repeated in the utterance. *BUO: <它 會> [/] 它 會 # 飛 起來 [% shooting the toy plane to the sofa]! < ta hui > [/] ta hui # fei qilai [% shooting the toy plane to the sofa]! it can it can fly up “It can fly.” 16.

(26)    . 3.2 Data analysis The data were analyzed to investigate the types, person subjects, and pragmatic functions of the modal hui in the children’s speech.3 The modal hui can be divided into three types of meaning: dynamic, deontic, and epistemic (Hsieh, 2005, 2006; Wu, 2009). The dynamic modal hui is concerned with the ability of the subject (Chang, 2001;. 政 治 大. Hsieh, 2005, 2006; Huang, 1999; Wu, 2009). For instance, the modal hui in Example. 立. 1 was identified as the dynamic use. SEN and his mother were playing baby yoga. ‧ 國. 學. cards. SEN tried to do the yoga action shown on the card, and he successfully turned a. ‧. somersault. Then, his mother praised SEN for his extraordinary ability. SEN was. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. proud of being able to turn a somersault and used hui utterance to show his ability.. Example 1 (SEN, 2;7) %act: *MOT:. *SEN:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. SEN is turning a somersault 厲害! /hong -: honghonghonghong/ 對 -: 好 /hong -: honghonghonghong/ dui -: hao lihai! wow yes very good “Wow, (you are) very good.” 我 剛剛 會 # 翻筋斗 [=! laughing]!  wo ganggang hui # fanjindou [=! laughing]! I just now can turn a somersault “I could turn a somersault just now.”.                                                         3. In some cases, the token of the modal hui may seem to carry more than one type. However, in the study, only the primary type was coded. Thus, each token was coded as only one type. So is the case in the coding of pragmatic functions. 17.

(27)    . *MOT:. 嗯 -: [=! laughing]. en -: [=! laughing]. hm “Yeah.”. According to Searle’s (1983) classification of speech acts, a commissive demonstrates that the speaker is committing him/herself to ensuring that an event will take place. As mentioned earlier, when what the speaker undertakes to do is welcome. 政 治 大. to the addressee, it is viewed as a promise (Hsieh, 2006; Huang, 1999). In Example 2,. 立. the deontic modal hui expresses commissive. XUN and his mother were playing with. ‧ 國. 學. toy cars and XUN promised that he would definitely save his toy cars while they. ‧. dropped into the river.. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat Example 2 (XUN, 4;0). Ch. *MOT:. ni bu jiu tamen you NEG save them “If you didn’t save them,” 你 的 車車 是不是. *MOT:. ni de cheche shi-bu-shi yao shuo. you GEN car COP-NEG-COP be going to say “was your car going to say:” /hon -: / 你 都 不 救 我 你 都 不 救 我!. *XUN:. /hon -: / ni dou bu jiu wo ni dou bu jiu wo! oh you always NEG save me you always NEG save me “You didn’t save me. You didn’t save me.” 我 一定 會 <救 它> [>]!  yiding. 救. 它們. hui. 的話.. v. 你. wo. 不. i n U. *MOT:. e n g cdehua. hi. <jiu. if 要. ta> [>]! 18. 說..

(28)    . *MOT:. I definitely will save it “I will definitely save it.” <那 你 不 是> [<] 好 主人. <na ni bu shi> [<] DM you NEG COP “You are not a good owner.”. hao zhuren. good owner. The epistemic modal hui shows the speaker’s judgment of the possibility of the propositional content (Chang, 2001; Hsieh, 2005, 2006; Wu, 2009), as illustrated in. 政 治 大. Example 3. XUN was putting a remote control into the drawer. He replied to his. 立. mother that it was possible that his younger brother would play with the remote. ‧ 國. 學. control in secret.. ‧. Nat. 要. al. 跟. bu yao NEG should 在 這裡. n. a ni ah you 遙控器. 不. Ch. 弟弟. sit. 你. er. 啊. io. *MOT:. y. Example 3 (XUN, 4;0). gen didi to younger brother 喔.. engchi U. v ni. 講說. jiangshuo say. *MOT:. yaokongqi zai zheli o. remote control at here PRT “Ah, you shouldn’t tell your younger brother the remote control is here.” 知道 嗎?. *XUN:. zhidao ma? understand Q “(Do you) understand?” 知道.. *MOT:. zhidao. understand “Yes.” 為什麼? 19.

(29)    . *XUN:. weishenme? why “Why?” 因為 他. 會. 偷. 玩. 遙控器.. . yinwei ta hui tou wan yaokongqi. because he will stealthily play remote control “Because he will play with the remote control in secret.”. To ensure the reliability for the coding of the types of the modal hui, one fourth of the data were randomly selected and were coded by another coder. Cohen’s Kappa. 治 政 was used to determine the inter-rater reliability, and the大 reliability for categorizing the 立 ‧ 國. 學. types of the modal hui was 0.93.. In addition, analyses were conducted to examine the distribution of person. ‧. subjects with the dynamic, deontic, and epistemic modal hui in the children’s speech.. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. According to previous studies, there is a specific relationship between specific type of. i n U. v. modality and its subjecthood (Bassano, 1996; O’Neill & Atance, 2000; Pea & Mawby,. Ch. engchi. 1981). Thus, the utterances with the modal hui were coded for the first, second, and third person subjects. An independent coder coded one fourth of the data which were randomly selected in order to determine the reliability for the coding of the person subjects with the modal hui. Cohen’s Kappa was used to determine the inter-rater reliability, and the reliability was high (k= 1). Finally, the pragmatic functions of the different types of the modal hui utterances in the children’s speech were provided through data-driven analysis. The children’s 20.

(30)    . uses of the three types of the modal hui were examined within the contexts. In order to understand the function of the modal hui utterances, it is necessary to investigate the modal hui through the context or discourse where it appears. In addition, the frequencies of occurrences for the different functions of the modal hui utterances by the two age groups were also examined.. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 21. i n U. v.

(31)    . Chapter 4 Results. This chapter presents results of the three analyses. The first one was conducted to examine the different types of the modal hui. The second one investigated the person subjects of the different types of the modal hui. The third one examined how the. 政 治 大. utterances of the three types of the modal hui express their functions.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 4.1 The distribution of the different types of the modal hui. ‧. Table 2 shows the frequency of total utterances and the frequency of the modal. Nat. io. sit. y. hui utterances in the children’s speech. As shown in Table 2, there were 4869. er. utterances in the younger group (Group I) and 5105 utterances in the older group. al. n. v i n C h with the modal (Group II), respectively. The utterances e n g c h i U hui in Group I and Group II were 129 and 182, respectively. The frequency of the modal hui utterances per minute and the proportions of the modal hui utterances in Group I was 1.08 and 2.65%, and 1.52 and 3.57% in Group II. It appears that the use of the modal hui increased in frequency with age.. 22.

(32)    . Table 2 Frequencies of Total Utterances and Utterances With hui. Total utterances Utterances with hui Utterances with hui per minute % of utterances with hui. Group I. Group II. 4869 129 1.08 2.65. 5105 182 1.52 3.57. Further analysis was conducted to examine the different meanings of the modal. 政 治 大 (Chang, 2001; Hsieh, 2005, 2006; Huang, 1999; Wu, 2009), the different meanings of 立. hui in the children’s speech. Since the modal hui is used with more than one meaning. ‧ 國. 學. the modal hui exhibit the different degree of challenge for the children. Children may. ‧. acquire meanings of the modal hui from the concrete one to the abstract one. Table 3. sit. n. al. er. io. children’s speech.. y. Nat. shows the frequencies and proportions of the three types of the modal hui in the. Table 3. Ch. engchi. Frequencies of the Three Types of the Modal hui Modal. Group I. Group II. N. %. N. %. DYN DEO EPI. 77 4 48. 59.69 3.10 37.21. 55 11 116. 30.22 6.04 63.74. Total. 129. 100. 182. 100. Note. DYN- dynamic; DEO- deontic; EPI- epistemic. 23. i n U. v.

(33)    . As seen in Table 3, only 15 tokens (4 tokens in Group I; 11 tokens in Group II ) of the deontic modal hui were found. There were few tokens in the deontic modal hui in this study. The finding is consistent with previous studies, which indicated the deontic use of the modal hui is an extremely marginal use in Mandarin (Guo, 1994; Wu, 2009). As for the dynamic modal hui, it decreased with age (from 59.69% in Group I to 30.22% in Group II), while the epistemic modal hui increased with age. 政 治 大. (from 37.21% in Group I to 63.74% in Group II). The younger age group children. 立. used the dynamic modal more because this concept reflects nonepistemic meaning.. ‧ 國. 學. The epistemic meaning of possibility which related to the abstract concept was more. ‧. frequently used by the older age group children. It indicated that the younger age. Nat. io. sit. y. group children relatively rarely used the epistemic modal; that is, they used. er. nonepistemic more. The findings may support previous studies which suggested that. al. n. v i n C h relatively late U the epistemic meanings are developed e n g c h i due to the cognitive complexity (e.g. Fletcher, 1975; Guo, 1995; Shatz & Wilcox, 1991; Stephany, 1986; Wells, 1979, 1985).. 4.2 The distribution of the person subjects in the three types of the modal hui The distribution of the person subjects in the different types of the modal hui was also analyzed. Several studies have found that there is a relation between specific type 24.

(34)    . of modality and subjecthood (O’Neill & Atance, 2000; Pea & Mawby, 1981). It is assumed that children may acquire certain types of modal with specific person pronoun subjects. Table 4 shows the frequencies and proportions of the different person subjects of the dynamic, deontic, and epistemic modal hui by the two age groups.. Table 4. 政 治 大. Distribution of the Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui. 立. Person. Group I %. EPI. DYN. N. %. N. %. N. %. DEO %. N. %. 100. 21. 18.10. 0. 6. 5.17. 0. 89. 76.72. 4. 100. 13. 27.08. 47. 85.45. 11. 2nd. 2. 2.60. 0. 0. 4. 8.33. 1. 1.82. 0. 3rd. 21 27.27. 0. 0. 31. 64.58. 7. 12.73. 0. Total. 77. 4. 100. 48. 100. 55. 100. y. 54 70.13. io. sit. 11 100. 116 100. er. Nat. 1st. 100. EPI. N. ‧. ‧ 國. N. DEO. 學. DYN. Group II. al. n. v i n C h tended to use the As shown in Table 4, the children dynamic (70.13% in Group I; engchi U 85.45% in Group II) and the deontic modal hui (100% in both groups) with the first person subject. However, the subject of the epistemic modal hui was usually with the third person (64.58% in Group I; 76.72% in Group II). This finding is consistent with Pea and Mawby’s (1981) study that children produce agent-oriented modal verbs with the first person subject. In contrast, children use epistemic terms mainly with the third person subject to express events and states of third-party entities (Bassano, 1996;. 25.

(35)    . O’Neill & Atance, 2000). In the following section, the children’s use of the different person subjects in the different types of the modal hui were further examined. Section 4.2.1 presents the analysis of the first person subjects in the three types of the modal hui. And the analysis of the second person subjects in the three types of the modal hui is presented in Section 4.2.2. In Section 4.2.3, the analysis of the third person subjects in the three. 政 治 大. types of the modal hui is presented.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 4.2.1 First person subjects in the three types of the modal hui. ‧. The following table, excerpted from Table 4 to clearly present and further. Nat. io. sit. y. explain the data, shows the frequencies and proportions of the first person subjects in. er. the three types of the modal hui. As seen in Table 5, the subject of the dynamic modal. al. n. v i n C htwo groups (70.13% hui was usually first person in the e n g c h i U in Group I; 85.45% in Group II).. 26.

(36)    . Table 5 (Excerpt from Table 4) Distribution of the First Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui Modal. N. %. DYN DEO EPI. 54 4 13. 70.13 100 27.08. Group II DYN DEO EPI. 47 11 21. 85.45 100 18.10. Group I. 政 治 大 in Example 4. TIN and her mother were putting together jigsaw puzzles, and TIN said 立. The dynamic modal hui with the first person pronoun subject wo “I” is presented. ‧ 國. 學. she did not know how to place jigsaw puzzles. The use of the first person subject. ‧. indicates that the children are most interested in their own abilities when using the. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. dynamic modal hui.. Example 4 (TIN, 2;11) *TIN:. 我 -: 不 -:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 會 -: [% stamping her feet and looking at her mother]! . wo -: bu -: hui -: [% stamping her feet and looking at her mother]! I NEG can “I can’t.” 我 找 # 我 找! *MOT: 好 hao wo zhao # wo zhao! ok I look for I look for “Okay, I will look for (it).” 這 個 咧 [% taking a piece of puzzle for TIN]? *MOT: 用 yong zhe ge lie [% taking a piece of puzzle for TIN]? use this CL Q “How about using this one?” 27.

(37)    . Children also tended to use the deontic modal hui with the first person pronoun wo “I”. As seen in Example 5, YOU was going to give his father a call, and he promised his mother that he would not give a wrong call by using the first person subject to give his mother his promise.. Example 5 (YOU, 5;4) 知道 要 按 *YOU: 我 wo zhidao yao an I know should press “I know which one to press.” *MOT: 喔.. 一 個.. 學. n. Ch. 按!. e nluan g c han!i. /hang/ wo bu hui /hang/ I NEG will “I won’t press (it) at will.” 有 試 過. *YOU: 我 wo you shi guo. I have try EXP “I have tried (it) before.”. wild. y. o. PRT. sit. io. al. 喔.. er. Nat. o. hm “Hm.” 不 要 亂 按 *MOT: 你 ni bu yao luan an you NEG should wild press “You shouldn’t press (it) at will.” 不 會 亂 *YOU: /hang/ 我. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 哪. 政 治na 大yi ge. which one CL. i n U . v. press. However, there were low percentages of the epistemic modal hui with the first person subjects (27.08% in Group I; 18.1% in Group II). First person subjects were 28.

(38)    . expected to be animate beings. However, most of the subjects of the epistemic hui utterances were inanimate entities, such as an object that does not have any expected animate functions, an abstract concept, or a place (Guo, 1994). Thus, it would probably result in low percentages of the epistemic modal hui with the first person subjects. Nevertheless, there were still some examples of the epistemic modal hui utterances with the first person subjects. As seen in Example 6, LEE and her mother. 政 治 大. were playing cards. LEE’s mother asked her why they had to play again, and LEE. 立. replied that “I have many good cards, so I will win.” The person subject of this. ‧ 國. 學. utterance of the epistemic modal hui was the first person wo “I” to express LEE’s. ‧. judgment of the possibility of the propositional content.. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat Example 6 (LEE, 5;1). 又. Ch. *MOT:. 然後. *LEE:. ranhou you zai bi o? then again again compete Q “And then (are we going to) play again?” 對 啊.. *LEE:. dui a. yes PRT “Yeah.” 又 再. *MOT:. you zai bi again again compete “(We) play again.” 為什麼 要? weishenme. 再. 比. 喔?. engchi. 比. i n U. 一. 次. 啊.. yi one. ci CL. a. PRT. yao? 29. v.

(39)    . *LEE:. why “Why?” 有 很. need. *LEE:. you hen duo o [% looking at the cards she is holding]! have very many PRT “(I) have many (good cards).” 我 會 贏 的 喔! . 多. wo hui ying I will win “I will win.”. 喔 [% looking at the cards she is holding]!. de NOM. o! PRT. 政 治 大. 4.2.2 Second person subjects in the three types of the modal hui. 立. The usage of the second person subjects in the three types of the modal hui is. ‧ 國. 學. presented in Table 6, excerpted from Table 4 to clearly present and further explain the. ‧. data. As shown in the table, there were only a few tokens in the dynamic modal hui. Nat. io. sit. y. (2.6% in Group I; 1.82% in Group II). The reason there were so few tokens of the. er. dynamic modal hui with the second person subjects may be that children are most. al. n. v i n interested in their own abilities C (Pea h&eMawby, h i Uthat is, they usually refer to n g c 1981); themselves, using first person subjects. Thus, children seldom use the dynamic modal hui with the second person subjects.. 30.

(40)    . Table 6 (Excerpt from Table 4) Distribution of the Second Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui Modal. N. %. DYN DEO EPI. 2 0 4. 2.6 0 8.33. Group II DYN DEO EPI. 1 0 6. 1.82 0 5.17. Group I. 政 治 大 SEN and his mother were playing baby yoga cards. The mother wanted to do some 立. However, some tokens were still found, as seen in Example 7. In Example 7,. ‧ 國. 學. yoga action shown on the card, but SEN refused to do it by saying that he could not.. ‧. Then the mother said he could do it with her help. However, SEN still thought his. y. sit. n. al. er. io. buhui “You can’t”.. Nat. mother was unable to do it. The mother asked SEN the reasons, and SEN answered, ni. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Example 7 (SEN, 2;7) *MOT:. 我們. *MOT:. women zuo zhe yi ge la [% pointing at the baby yoga card]. we do this one CL PRT “We do this one.” 抱抱 啦. sleeping. *SEN:. baobao sleeping la. hold in the arms sleeping PRT “(When I) hold (you) in the arms, (you do the action of) sleeping.” 可是 <我> [/] 我 不 會 啊. keshi but. 做. <wo> I. 這. 一 個. [/] wo I. 啦 [% pointing at the baby yoga card].. bu NEG 31. hui can. a. PRT.

(41)    . *MOT:. “But I can’t.” 可以 啊.. *MOT:. keyi a. can PRT “(You) can.” 我 抱抱. 你. *SEN:. sleeping 啊! wo baobao ni sleeping a! I hold in the arms you sleeping PRT “(When) I hold you in the arms, (you do the action of) sleeping.” 不 -: 行 -: .. *MOT:. bu -: xing -: . NEG can “No way.” 為什麼?. *SEN:. weishenme? why “Why?” 你 不. 政 治 大 . 會!. ‧. hui! can. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. ni bu you NEG “You can’t.”. 學. ‧ 國. 立. i n U. v. There were also few tokens of the second person subjects in the epistemic modal. Ch. engchi. hui (8.33% in Group I; 5.17% in Group II). According to Guo (1994), the subject of the epistemic modal hui utterances may be inanimate entities rather than animate beings. However, the second person subject is expected to be animate. As a result, the number of the epistemic modal hui with the second person subjects was small. Although few tokens were found, there were still some epistemic modal hui utterances with the second person subject, as shown in Example 8. In this example, BUO and his mother were playing with toy fruits, and he told his mother that she 32.

(42)    . should not put too many toy fruits in the plate, or she would be too full. BUO’s epistemic modal hui with the second person subject expresses his judgment of the possibility of the propositional content.. Example 8 (BUO, 3;2) 要. 放. 不. %act: *BUO:. bu yao fang hao duo dongxi. NEG should put very many thing “Don’t put too many things.” BUO pushed away all the fruits in his mother’s plate 這 樣子 你 會 吃 不 下!. *MOT:. zhe yangzi ni hui chi this way you will eat “In this way you will be too full.” 喔 -: [=! nodded].. 多. 東西.. 政 治 大. bu NEG. . xia! down. ‧. Nat. y. sit. n. er. io. o -: [=! nodded]. hm “Hm.”. al. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 好.  . *BUO:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4.2.3 Third person subjects in the three types of the modal hui Table 7, excerpted from Table 4 to clearly present and further explain the data, shows the distribution of the third person subjects in the three types of the modal hui. In the epistemic modal hui, the subject of the epistemic hui utterances was usually the third person (64.58% in Group I; 76.72% in Group II).. 33.

(43)    . Table 7 (Excerpt from Table 4) Distribution of the Third Person Subjects in the Three Types of the Modal hui Modal. N. %. DYN DEO EPI. 21 0 31. 27.27 0 64.58. Group II DYN DEO EPI. 7 0 89. 12.73 0 76.72. Group I. 政 治 大 impossible that the blocks he made would explode because they were made of solid 立 In Example 9, XUN and his mother were playing with blocks. XUN said it was. ‧ 國. 學. blocks. The person subject of the epistemic modal hui was the third person inanimate. ‧. ta “it”.. sit. y. Nat. a相信 l C xiangxin h. n. 不. er. io. Example 9 (XUN, 4;0) *XUN:. 我. 它 [= block]. *MOT: *XUN:. wo bu ta I NEG believe it “I don’t believe it will explode.” 0 [=! laughing]. 才 不 相信 咧!. *XUN:. cai bu xiangxin lie! just NEG believe PRT “(I) just don’t believe (it).” 它 做 實心 的.. engchi. ta zuo shixin de. it make solid NOM “It was made of solid blocks.”. 34. i n Uhui 會. will. v. 爆炸! baozha! explode. .

(44)    . In the dynamic modal hui, children usually used the third person inanimate subjects, as shown in Table 8. However, as a matter of fact, most of third person inanimate subjects were animate ones. They referred to the dolls the child was playing with, which were the symbol of animate beings. Thus, the results confirmed that the dynamic modal hui has semantic association with abilities which are intrinsically connected to animate beings (Chang, 2001; Guo, 1995; Huang, 1999).. 立. Table 8. 政 治 大 Group II  %. 3A 3I. 2 19. 9.52% 90.48%. 1 6. 14.29% 85.71%. Total. 21. 7. 100.00%. 100.00%. y. N. ‧. %. Nat. N. sit. Group I. 學. Dynamic. ‧ 國. Third Person Animate and Inanimate Subjects in the Dynamic hui. n. al. er. io. Note. 3A- third person animate; 3I- third person inanimate. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. For instance, the dynamic modal hui with the third person inanimate subject ta “it” is presented in Example 10. YIN and her mother were playing with some toys. YIN told her mother that the toy monkey she was holding could climb up the tree to get bananas. Here the toy monkey was a symbolic animate being.. 35.

(45)    . Example 10 (YIN, 3;1) *YIN:. 妳. 看.. *YIN:. ni kan. you look “Look.” 它 [= toy monkey] 會. *MOT:. ta [= toy monkey] hui pa shu shangqu [% holding the toy monkey]. it can climb tree up “It can climb up the tree.” 爬 樹 上去 喔.. %act: *YIN:. pa shu shangqu o. climb tree up PRT “Climbing up the tree.” YIN holds the toy monkey and pretends that it climbs up the tree 摘 到 了 [% holding the toy monkey and jumping]. /ei/. *MOT:. /ei/ zhai dao le [% holding the toy monkey and jumping]. hey pick to CRS “Hey, (it) picked (something).” 摘 到 什麼 <小 猴子> [>]?. *YIN:. zhai dao shenme <xiao pick To what little “What did the little monkey pick?” <香蕉> [<].. 立. 爬. 樹. 上去 [% holding the toy monkey].. . 政 治 大. n. Ch. engchi. sit. er. io. <xiangjiao> [<]. Banana “Bananas.”. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. al. houzi> [>]? monkey. i n U. v. To sum up, the person subject of the three types of the modal hui in Group I was similar to Group II. Thus, it seems that children from the early years on are sensitive to the person subject of specific type of the modal hui. The dynamic and deontic modal hui were usually the first person subjects, while the epistemic modal hui were usually the third person subjects. As for the second person subjects, there were 36.

(46)    . relatively few tokens in the three types of the modal hui. It was also noteworthy that the subject of the epistemic modal hui utterances may be inanimate entities rather than an animate being, whereas the dynamic modal hui mostly appeared with animate subjects or symbolic animate beings.. 4.3 The pragmatic functions of the three types of the modal hui utterances. 政 治 大. This section provides the pragmatic functions of the different types of the modal. 立. hui utterances in the children’s speech. The functions of the modal hui are. ‧ 國. 學. investigated within the contexts. Furthermore, the numbers and proportions for the. ‧. different functions of the modal hui utterances by the two age groups are also. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. discussed.. 4.3.1 Dynamic hui utterances. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The dynamic modal hui is related to the ability of the subject. The analysis showed that the major functions of the dynamic modal hui utterances included (1) request, (2) refusal, (3) reporting, and (4) boasting.. (1) Request In requesting adult help, the children simply stated to the adult that they did not 37.

(47)    . know how to do certain things so that the adult should help them. Example 11 illustrates this function of the dynamic modal hui utterance.. Example 11 (LEE, 5;1) *LEE:. 媽咪. 這. 種. 的 [= dress]. 我. 不. 會. 摺.. . mami zhe zhong de [= dress] wo bu hui zhe. mommy this kind NOM I NEG can fold “Mommy, I can’t fold this kind of clothes.” 是 說 這 個 難 不 倒 你 [=! laughing]. *MOT: 啊 你 不 a ni bu shi shuo zhe ge nan bu dao ni [=! laughing]. well you NEG COP say this CL hard NEG beat you “Didn’t you say that you could handle it?” *LEE: 0 [=! laughing]. %act: LEE’s mother took the dress away and showed her how to fold it 樣子 啊! *MOT: 這. 立. 政 治 大. n. Ch. y. sit. 一起.. er. io. al. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. zhe yangzi a! this way PRT “Like this way.” 它 肩膀 對 在 *MOT: 把 ba ta jianbang dui zai BA it shoulder align at “Align the shoulder part of the dress.” *LEE: 喔 -: .. yiqi. together. engchi. i n U. v. o -: . oh “Ok.”. In Example 11, LEE and her mother were folding clothes. LEE stated to her mother that she did not know how to fold the dress, implying that the mother should help her. Then, LEE’s mother showed her how to fold it. 38.

(48)    . Besides, instead of asking the adult to perform an action, children sometimes requested the adults’ permission for them to do what they wanted by saying they could do it. All utterances in this category were addressed to the adult by using positive assertions with the first person subjects, as illustrated in Example 12. TIN and her mother were putting together jigsaw puzzles. TIN requested her mother’s permission to give her the jigsaw puzzle by saying she had the ability to put the. 政 治 大. jigsaw puzzle together, and took away the piece of jigsaw puzzle that her mother held. 立. in her hand.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Example 12 (TIN, 2;11). 啦 [% taking away the piece of the jigsaw puzzle that her. y. 會. Nat. *TIN: 我. . sit. n. al. er. io. mother held in her hand ]! wo hui la [% taking away the piece of the jigsaw puzzle that her mother held in her hand ]! I can PRT “I can.” 個 [% putting together the piece of the jigsaw puzzle]. *TIN: 這 zhe ge [% putting together the piece of the jigsaw puzzle]. this CL “This one.”. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. It is interesting to note that the ability or inability as expressed by the modal hui utterances were associated with the children themselves by using the first person subject. Children seldom asked about the mother’s abilities as a way of getting the 39.

(49)    . mother to do certain things. In addition, in request, the presence or absence of the children’s abilities, especially the absence of their abilities, was used as the reason for the mother to act. Thus, negative sentence forms expressing lack of abilities were mostly associated with hui utterances for request.. (2) Refusal. 政 治 大. In addition to requesting adult help, the children’s use of the dynamic modal hui. 立. utterances can also function as a refusal. In Example 13, BUO and his mother were. ‧ 國. 學. drawing a crab. BUO refused to comply with his mother’s request by using his. ‧. inability to perform the action as the justification. BUO said that he did not know how. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io Example 13 (BUO, 3;2) 要. y. to draw the mouth of a crab and thus refused to do it.. Ch. 畫. engchi. *BUO:. 我. 嘴巴.. *MOT:. wo yao hua zuiba. I want draw mouth “I want to draw a mouth.” 那 你 畫. hua. draw. *MOT:. na ni DM you “So draw (it).” <你 幫. 牠 [= crab]. 畫> [>].. <ni bang you help “Draw it.”. ta [= crab] it. hua> [>]. draw. 40. i n U. v.

(50)    . 不. 會. *BUO:. <我. *MOT:. <wo bu hui I NEG can “I can’t draw (it).” 你 試試看.. 畫> [<].. . hua> [<]. draw. ni shishikan. you try ‘Give (it) a try.’. Besides, children sometimes refused the adult’s offer by saying they could do it. 政 治 大. and did not need others’ help as a reason to refuse adult help. As shown in Example. 立. 14, TIN and her mother were putting together jigsaw puzzles. TIN refused her. ‧ 國. 學. mother’s offer by saying she could do it by herself and pushed her mother’s hand. ‧. aside.. er. io. sit. y. Nat Example 14 (TIN, 2;11). n. al. 不. C h這 怎麼 e chi zhidao zhen gzenme. 知道. v i n 拼 -: ! U. *TIN:. 我. *MOT:. wo bu pin -: ! I NEG know this how place “I don’t know how to place this.” 那 把 它 放 進來 啊 [% helping TIN put the jigsaw puzzles together]. na ba ta fang jinlai a [% helping TIN put the jigsaw puzzles together]. DM BA it put into PRT “Just put it in.” 會. 啦 [% pushing MOT’s hand aside]! . *TIN:. 我. %act:. wo hui la [% pushing MOT’s hand aside]! I can PRT “I can (do it).” TIN continued putting the jigsaw puzzles together 41.

(51)    . It was found that the majority of the utterances in this category were inabilities rather than abilities. Thus, 77.78% of the utterances in Group I and 80% of those in Group II were negative assertions, while only 22.22% in Group I and 20% in Group II were positive assertions.. (3) Reporting. 政 治 大. In reporting, the dynamic modal hui utterance was used to give descriptions of an. 立. event without personal effect, as shown in Example 15. YIN was playing with the toy. ‧ 國. 學. monkey, and she told her mother that the toy monkey she was playing with could sit. ‧. down. Then her mother just repeated YIN’s utterance. Here the reporting hui utterance. Nat. io. sit. y. did not index the speaker’s stance. The child merely provided a description for the. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. object which had less interpersonal involvement.. i n U. v. Example 15 (YIN, 3;1) *YIN:. 媽咪. *YIN:. mami mami. mommy mommy “Mommy, mommy.” 小 猴子 會. *MOT:. xiao houzi hui zuozuo little monkey can sit “The little monkey can sit down.” 它 會 坐坐 喔. ta. 媽咪.. hui. 坐坐. zuozuo. o. 42. 喔. o. PRT. .

(52)    . it can “It can sit down.”. sit. PRT. (4) Boasting The dynamic modal hui utterance in this function was used to brag about the speakers’ own abilities. Example 16 is a boasting use. In Example 16, QIN pushed a toy case into the living room and prepared to use the blocks to make a house for a frog. 政 治 大. doll and a squirrel doll. QIN tried to show off his abilities to make a house for his. 立. dolls by using the modal hui with intensifier hen “very”.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Example 16 (QIN, 4;11) 要. io. suoyi ni xianzai so you now 姊姊 [= squirrel] 的. n. al. 做. 哥哥 [= frog]. y. 現在. yao zuo gege [= frog] be going to make older brother 家 是 嗎?. sit. 你. er. 所以. Nat. *MOT:. Ch. i n U. v. *QIN:. jiejie [= squirrel] de jia shi ma? older sister GEN house right Q “So now you’re going to make the house for the brother and sister, right?” 是 [% taking out the blocks from a toy case].. *QIN:. shi [% taking out the blocks from a toy case]. Yes “Yes.” 我 很 會 做 喔.  wo hen hui I very can “I can really do (it).”. engchi. zuo do. o. PRT. Some modal hui utterances for boasting were used to show that the speaker was 43.

(53)    . not less capable than others. These utterances typically had the adverb ye “also”, as shown in Example 17. QIN and his mother were reading a magazine. QIN asked his mother why the man jumped into the water, and the mother replied that he was practicing diving. Then QIN boasted that he could dive too. But the mother seemed to doubt whether QIN could dive or not.. Example 17 (QIN, 4;11). 立. 喔. 怎麼. *MOT:. o ta zenme tiao xiaqu la [% pointing at the magazine]? oh he why jump down Q “Oh, why did he jump into (the water)?” 他 在 練習 跳水 啊.. *QIN:. ta zai lianxi tiaoshui a. he DUR practice dive PRT “He was practicing diving.” 喔 我 也 會 啊! . *MOT:. o wo ye oh I too “Oh, I can dive, too.” 你 也 會?. *MOT:. ni ye hui? you too can “Can you dive, too?” 喔 -: .. 學. *QIN:. ‧. ‧ 國. 他. 政 治 大 跳 下去 啦 [% pointing at the magazine]?. n. Ch. a! PRT. engchi. sit er. io. hui can. y. Nat. al. i n U. v. o -: . hm “Okay.”. Moreover, the focus of the utterances for boasting was on the speakers 44.

(54)    . themselves, so most of the utterances had the first person subjects. But it was found sometimes the children showed off their toys by using the third person subject. In Example 18, QIN was holding a squirrel doll named Hua-li and going to put away the CD. QIN said only Hua-li could open the CD wallet and put away the CD. Thus, the person subject of this dynamic modal hui utterance was the third person. It indicates that children’s focus could shift from the self to others.. Example 18 (QIN, 4;11). 立. 政 治 大. *QIN:. dakai. open “Open (it).” 就 #只有 Hua-li [= doll] 才 會 使用. *MOT:. jiu # zhiyou hua-li [= doll] cai hui shiyong zhe ge [% open the CD wallet]! just only (name) only can use this CL “Only Hua-li can use this one.” 只有 會 使用? Hua-li. *QIN:. zhiyou hua-li hui shiyong? only (name) can use “Only Hua-li can use (it)?” 對!. *QIN:. dui! yes “Yes.” 放回去 [% putting away the CD]!. ‧. n. al. er. io. sit. Nat. 這 個 [% open the CD wallet]! . y. ‧ 國. 打開.. 學. *QIN:. Ch. engchi. fanghuiqu [% putting away the CD]! put away “Put (it) away.”. 45. i n U. v.

(55)    . Besides, it was found that sometimes the children used repetition to express the function of boasting in order to emphasize their abilities, as shown in Example 19. QIN and his mother were playing with blocks. The mother suggested that QIN make a house for their dolls by using big blocks to make a big pen. QIN said wo hui “I can” by repeating twice for the purpose of boasting. Then he pushed out a huge toy case and began to prepare to do it to show off his ability.. Example 19 (QIN, 4;11). 幫. yao want 一. bang help 個. Ku-ka [= doll] ku-ka [= doll] (name) 家 嗎?. 跟. gen xiao and little. Hua-li [= doll] hua-li [= doll] (name). zuo yi ge jia ma? make a CL house Q “(Do you) want to make a house for Ku-ka and little Hua-li?” 他們 <的 家 # 可能 # > [>] 要 用 很 大 的 #. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. v de i tamen <de jia # keneng # > [>] yao yong hen da n Ch they GEN house likely e n g need c husei Uvery big NOM n. *MOT:. 小. ‧. na DM 做. 要. ‧ 國. 那. 學. *MOT:. 立. 政 治 大. 做. 很. 大. 的. 柵欄. 才 放. 得. 進去. #. 積木 jimu block. 對不對?. *QIN:. zuo hen da de zhalan cai fang de jinqu dui-bu-dui? make very big NOM pen just put CSC into right-NEG-right “(You) may need to use very big blocks to make a very big pen so that their houses can fit in, right?” <我 會 啊 # 我 會> [<] ! . *QIN:. <wo hui a# I can PRT “I can. I can.” 對 啊. dui yes. wo I. hui> [<]! can. a. PRT 46.

(56)    . *QIN:. “Yeah.” 這 個. 啊 [% pushing out a huge toy case].. zhe ge a [% pushing out a huge toy case]. this CL PRT “This one.”. From the above examples, it is clear that the children felt quite proud of the abilities they had and used the modal hui utterances to brag about them. In boasting, children take pride in being able to perform an act.. 治 政 Table 9 presents the frequencies and proportions 大 of the different functions of the 立 ‧ 國. 學. dynamic hui utterances by the two age groups. It shows that the dynamic modal hui utterances served four major functions.. ‧. al. n. Function. Group I. Ch. N. %. Request Refusal Reporting Boasting. 16 18 31 12. 20.78 23.38 40.26 15.58. Total. 77. 100. Group II. eNn g c h%i 7 5 21 22. 12.73 9.09 38.18 40. 55. 100. er. io. Pragmatic Functions of the Dynamic hui Utterances. sit. y. Nat. Table 9. i n U. v. As seen in Table 9, both groups used the dynamic modal hui utterances most frequently as reporting (40.26% in Group I; 38.18% in Group II). The dynamic modal hui utterances for request (20.78% in Group I; 12.73% in Group II) and refusal 47.

參考文獻

相關文件

In accordance with the analysis of relevant experimental results carried in this research, it proves that the writing mechanism and its functions may improve the learning

This study focuses on modal characteristics of single stage planetary gear systems and their dynamic characteristics under variant wind types of extreme fluctuation excitations..

This study discussed the pipelines of different materials, such as PVC pipes and steel pipes, with different water contents in different depths of standard sand (Ottawa sand), and

The impact of promotion activity, consuming experience and impulsive purchasing is examined among different personality consumer groups.. This research used the female

Results of a survey of 446 students showed that (a) 70.6 percent of students used Facebook, (b) girls often used the functions of social type, and boys often used the

Leung, Shuk-Kwan S.; Chou, Hui-Chi(2012).A Survey Study on Parental Involvement in Mathematics Learning for Elementary School Children. Proceedings of the 36th Conference of

Leung, Shuk-Kwan S.; Chou, Hui-Chi(2012).A Survey Study on Parental Involvement in Mathematics Learning for Elementary School Children.. Proceedings of the 36th Conference of

Hoping that the results of this study can provide suggestions for educational authorities and supplement schools to elevate the quality of elementary supplement schools.. The