華語幼兒音節縮減研究

Abstract

本篇論文是針對以台灣華語為母語之幼兒，採長期觀察與收錄自發性語料之方式，研究台灣華語幼兒音節習得與音節縮減(syllable deletion)，並詳加描述單音節、雙音節和多音節之中音節類型出現的頻率、音節縮減模式，以及幼兒與母親的音節比較。本研究同時以Jakobson (1968)的音節標記理論與頻率使用理論來檢驗幼兒的音節表現。\n本研究觀察四位年齡在十個月至兩歲六個月的幼兒，以及四位幼兒的照顧者(母親)的語料。以兩個星期一次的頻率收集幼兒和母親之間的自然對話，並利用錄製回來的影音檔做譯寫分析。\n研究結果顯示幼兒的音節習得的表現是有規則可循的，在所有音節產出以及音節縮減的模式中，無標記音節類型CV的頻率最高；在幼兒初階的語言產製中，越是無標記的音節類型，發生頻率則會越高。另一方面，幼兒在早期的音節表現中容易產生音節縮減的模式，常使用韻尾省略(coda-dropping)的方式產出詞彙，以省略韻尾介音[w]和韻尾鼻音為主。此外，為了檢驗每一幼兒與其照顧者的音節類型之間有無影響，透過統計分析，研究結果顯示幼兒與母親的音節類型比較呈現正相關，亦即幼兒的音韻產出或許會受到音韻環境的影響，進而產生與語言環境(母親語言)相似的音節類型與模式。

The aim of this study is to discuss the issue concerning syllable deletion of the young children acquiring Taiwan Mandarin. The two main aspects are including in the following: syllable acquisition and syllable deletion pattern. The frequency of overall syllable types, the patterns of syllable deletion, and the syllable relationship between children and caretakers were examined. The findings can be explained by markedness theory proposed by Jakobson (1968) and frequency effects.\nThe four children, aged between 0;10 to 2;6, and the four caretakers are investigated in this study. The spontaneous speech between the child and the mother every other week was recorded and analyzed. A longitudinal observation study is conducted by the researcher and the research team.\nBased on the analyses, the young children show a general syllable tendency; that is, the unmarked syllable type, CV, has the highest frequency in the analyses of overall syllable types and syllable deletion types respectively. The more unmarked syllable types occur more frequently in the children’s early production. Since the young children’s phonological systems are unstable and immature, they tend to produce the reduced syllable forms, especially the deletion of the postnuclear glide [w] and the deletion of the final nasal. The possible reason may due to the fact that the children use coda-dropping as a simplification strategy in their production. Furthermore, according to statistical findings, the syllable types of the four child-caretaker pairs are positively correlated. Young children’s phonological productions may be influenced by the overall productivity and the phonetic content of the ambient language.