複數標記「們」在台灣華語中的新興用法

Abstract

本文探討複數標記「們」在台灣華語裡是否已經產生了新興的用法，主要以大學生社群的句法合法性實驗為依據，對「們」的語言變遷釐清了以下四項具體事實：（一）「N們」仍須為定指；（二）「Proper N們」僅表示多位與Proper N有某種同質性的人，沒有「Proper N他們」的解讀；（三）分類詞與「們」在「Num+CL+N們」中的共現為合法；（四）英語程度較低的大學生較偏向於判斷「Num+CL+N們」之用法合法，也較容易受英語句法結構[Num+N-s]的促發影響（priming effect）。本文因此認為台灣華語中「Num+CL+N們」的產生應該和英語的語言接觸有關。我們期待本文之研究結果能夠為關於「們」的各種競爭理論提供新的論證基礎。

This article investigates the innovative use of the plural marker -men in Taiwan Mandarin, based on the experimental data from grammaticality judgment tasks by university students. Specifically, this study establishes the following four facts in Taiwan Mandarin. (1) The reading of [N-men] refers to the definite. (2) [Proper N-men] denotes more than one Proper N with a shared feature, and does not have the reading of [Proper N tamen]. (3) The co-occurrence of a sortal classifier and N-men in [Num+CL+N-men] accords with grammatical use. (4) For those who have low proficiency in English, they tend to accept the grammatical use of [Num+CL+N-men] and priming effects of English [Num+N-s]. The research suggests that there is a close relationship between the grammaticality of [Num+CL+N-men] and the language contact with English. It is hoped that these findings can serve as empirical evidences for deliberating the competing theories regarding -men and related phenomena.