| Abstract: | 語言學家及言談分析學者長期以來便致力於對語言言談結構的研究，同時對增進語言連貫性及意義的要素極感興趣。近年來引起許多研究學者注意的焦點之一即為言談標記詞。言談標記詞吸引了許多學者注意的原因在於這些詞語本身通常極為簡潔，但卻因話題連貫及語意效果而蘊涵多層意義。為增進對語言使用及動機的了解，本計劃即以此為主題來探討言談標記詞如何在不同的語境中表達豐富的意義層次，達成和諧的語言連貫特質。本計劃主旨即為從認知、語言、語用、及互動的觀點來探索國語自然談話中所產生的兩項言談標記詞-“然後”及“就是”的意義及功能。研究計劃的語料將取材於多組真實自然談話，就其中言談標記詞出現的位置及前後談話反應進行推衍分析。我們先前的研究結果顯示“然後”在談話中的主要功能在於連結延續,包括串連思緒、語句、話題及事件。除此之外，“然後”的使用方式更顯示出談話者本人對敘述方向的預估與判斷。因此，在談話中“然後”的使用掌握了談論話題的方向與發展，並達成談話者與聽者共識的和諧層次。“就是”雖然亦具有連貫承接功能，但它所傳遞的訊息意義卻與“然後”不同，主要在於闡述或確認,因此“就是”的使用間接顯示談話者的認知狀態。在談話中“然後”與“就是”的共同出現即清楚的反映出此兩種言談標記詞認知確定性的互補功能由於言談標記詞的主要功能是連貫承接，它在言談訊息交換模式中所承擔的任務極為重要。本計劃即以此為研究主題，以自然談話為材料，來探討認知結構、情態意識、與語言的關係。由於認知，心理，及互動構成極其複雜的關係，計劃將提出一個能夠解釋相關變數影響的模式及理論架構，以增進各界對人類語言意義及語言連貫性的基本了解。本計劃主要目標包含﹕（1）收集材料：採集收錄多種自然談話錄音資料，包括在各種不同情境中與不同對象的談話。（2）發展標記系統及標記語言資料：便利資料檢索、擷取、及統計分析。標記內容包括漢字、拼音、聲調、語調片語（3）系統性的進行語言分析：自採集資料中分析檢視各代表性的言談標記詞及意義。（4）提出衍釋模式及理論架構增進對語言意義及語言連貫性的了解
Linguists and language researchers have devoted significant attention to the study of discourse structure, and have been very interested in the elements that contribute to coherence and meaning in discourse. One category of linguistic elements that have key significance and which have attracted a substantial amount of research interest in recent years are discourse markers (Schiffrin, 1987). Discourse markers are especially fascinating because their often minimal lexical content is accompanied with multiple levels of meaning that point to relationships of topic and pragmatic effect. In light of the critical importance of discourse markers to understanding language motivation and use, the goal of the current project is to investigate and delineate how discourse markers act to unify disparate textual, contextual, and pragmatic elements and bring coherence to discourse. The project adopts a unique multi-tiered approach to the investigation of discourse markers in Mandarin conversational speech, emphasizing both their linguistic and pragmatic function as interactive signals, as well as the cognitive and expressive force which underlies their immediacy in language. The fundamental principle that guides the current project is that the multi-dimensional functionality of discourse markers arises from underlying cognitive states and the expressiveness of discourse markers in communicating those states. Two discourse markers have special significance in exemplifying how discourse markers mirror the interactions among cognition, expressiveness, and pragmatic interactions that are at work in discourse: ranhou and jiushi. The discourse marker ranhou ‘then’ functions as an indicator to link events, phrases, and topics in a coherent sequential relationship, thus acting as a critical interactive signal in the communication of cognitive progression of participant states. While the marker jiushi ‘just is’ also functions to link phrases and succeeding ideas together, jiushi acts to point to a restatement or further elaboration to present a more complete account, thus providing the complementary function to ranhou with respect to participant presumed knowledge status in discourse. A specific goal of the current project is to determine how the specific incidence, distribution, and contextualized form of the markers ranhou and jiushi work to provide mutual synchronization of participant cognitive and emotional states in their roles as key guideposts under the uncertain conditions of ever-changing topics and discourse goals. Because of their primary function as connectives, discourse markers are crucial factors in providing a coherent framework for information exchange in discourse. Discourse markers are well-suited to represent very finely distinguished relationships among topic ideas and between participant knowledge and emotion states, and ranhou and jiushi exemplify many of the critical relationships that exist between the functional and cognitive elements of language, and their correlated expressive forms. Thus, our expectation is that the current project will illuminate and illustrate generalized principles of language production that extend beyond the immediate focus on these markers. A model linking the syntactic, semantic, and expressive factors comprising the contextual environment for discourse markers to the specific expressive shape and discourse function thus will also provide a framework for a greater understanding of the nature of discourse coherence and contextual meaning in language. |
