兒童指涉溝通：認知可及性與觀點取替(2/2)

Abstract

指涉周遭世界的存在物是人類溝通中的重要部分。本為期兩年的研究計畫將探討漢 語兒童指涉溝通的發展，重點在探討成功的指涉溝通所需要的兩項主要能力：兒童對指 涉物可及性(referent accessibility)的敏感度，以及兒童的觀點取替(perspective-taking)能 力。 過去的研究(包括本人之前的研究)已發現習得不同語言的幼童在自發性互動中使 用指涉詞時，能對指涉物的各種可及性因素有敏感度（如指涉物是否已於言談中被提及） (如Allen, 2000; Clancy, 1993; Guerriero, et al, 2006; Huang 2011) 。然而這些研究有其侷 限性。第一，多數研究只探討這些可及性因素的個別效果，並沒有考慮這些因素可能的 交互效果，以及兒童對此交互效果的敏感度。第二，過去研究通常假定這些因素對指涉 詞選擇的影響力是相同的。然而比較可能的情形是這些因素對兒童指涉詞的決定性有不 同比重的影響力。第三，過去的研究主要是分析成人與兒童的互動，而兒童在同儕互動 中的指涉溝通則甚少探討。一般普遍認為兒童與同儕互動時以及與成人互動時，語言使 用的形式及功能明顯不同。由於同儕互動沒有成人的鷹架支持(scaffolding)，此種互動更 能真實測試幼童仍在發展中的溝通能力(Blum-Kulka & Snow, 2004; Nicolopoulou, 2002)。針對以上所述，本計畫第一年的研究重點在探討漢語為母語的兒童（三歲到六 歲）在同儕互動中的指涉溝通，分析各種可及性因素的交互效果，以及這些因素對指涉 詞選擇的不同影響力。 自發性語料研究能就自然而互動性的語料分析兒童的指涉模式，而實驗研究則能透 過實驗設計使兒童說出特定的指涉方式。這兩種研究方法能夠相互並行及互補。指涉溝 通派典(Referential communication paradigm)為研究兒童指涉能力及觀點取替能力時十分 有用的研究方法(e.g., Bahtiyar & Küntay, 2009; Nadig & Sedivy, 2002)。同時，透過指涉 溝通作業能引發兒童說出較複雜的名詞片語，測試其較進階的指涉能力。由於指涉詞選 擇與觀點取替能力之間的關係在自發性語料研究中僅能間接推論，為了得到更清楚的結 果，就需要實驗研究來驗證。因此本計畫第二年的研究重點在以指涉溝通派典來測試及 探討漢語為母語的兒童（三歲到六歲）其觀點取替能力與指涉溝通能力之間的關聯。特 別著重在指涉溝通時兩個層面的觀點調適：第一層面的為當說話者與聽話者有共同的觀 點視野時，兒童是否能使用避免歧義的指涉詞來區別指涉物。第二層面的觀點適應則指 當說話者與聽話者的觀點視野相異時，兒童的指涉溝通是否能就此相異性作對應的調整。

Referring to entities in the world around us is an important part of human communication. This two-year project attempts to explore the development of Mandarin-speaking children’s referential communication, focusing on two essential abilities related to successful referencing: children’s sensitivity to referent accessibility and their ability of perspective-taking. Previous studies, including my earlier works, have shown that young children acquiring different languages are sensitive to certain accessibility features of referents (e.g., whether the referent being mentioned in prior discourse) when using referential expressions in spontaneous interaction (e.g., Allen, 2000; Clancy, 1993; Guerriero, et al, 2006; Huang 2011). Several limitations of these studies, however, were observed. First, most of these studies focused on the effect of these features in isolation, without taking into account the circumstances that these features may interact with each other and that children may attend to the effect of this interaction. Second, it was often assumed in previous studies that the various accessibility features have equal weight in determining referential forms. However, it is more likely the case that each feature does not contribute equally in determining children’s referential choice. Third, previous studies focused mainly on adult-child interaction; children’s referential communication in peer interaction is relatively unexplored. It has been widely acknowledged that children’s interaction with peers is distinct from that with adults in forms and functions. Without adult scaffolding, peer interaction represents true testing grounds for young children’s evolving communicative competence (Blum-Kulka & Snow, 2004; Nicolopoulou, 2002). Thus the aim of the first year’s work of the project is to address the issues mentioned above, investigating the interactions and contributions of various accessibility features in Mandarin-speaking 3- to 6-year-olds’ referential choices in peer interaction. While spontaneous speech studies have the advantage of using naturalistic and interactional data for analyzing children’s referential patterns, experimental studies have the advantage of having children produce specific referential data through experimental designs. These two types of studies can be parallel and complementary. The referential communication paradigm is a useful research paradigm for investigating children’s referential ability and their perspective-taking ability (e.g., Bahtiyar & Küntay, 2009; Nadig & Sedivy, 2002). In addition, the tasks used can elicit children’s production of complex noun phrases, a referential skill relatively more advanced than those investigated in other types of studies. Since the relationship between children’s perspective-taking ability and referential choice can only be indirectly inferred from spontaneous speech data, experimental studies are needed in order to obtain a clearer picture. Therefore, the aim of the second year’s work of the project is to investigate the relationship between Mandarin-speaking 3- to 6-year-olds’ perspective-taking ability and their referential ability by using the referential communication paradigm. In particular, this investigation will test children’s perspective-taking ability in referential communication at two levels of adaptations: (a) Level 1 adaptation: The investigation of Level 1 adaptation examines whether children provide disambiguating referential expressions when required by a visual context shared by both speaker and addressee. (b) Level 2 adaptation: The investigation of Level 2 adaptation examines whether children coordinate two disparate visual perspectives when referencing.