越南學習者華語塞擦音習得研究

The Acquisition of Chinese Affricates by Vietnamese Learners of Chinese

文獻顯示華語塞擦音是越南學習者習得難點之一，但是著重在越南學習者塞擦音習得之文獻卻相對較少。華語的六個無聲塞擦音分別為：齒齦不送氣塞擦音 z (/ts/)、齒齦送氣塞擦音 c (/ts h /)、捲舌不送氣塞擦音 zh (/tʂ/)、捲舌送氣塞擦音 ch (/tʂ h /)，硬顎前不送氣塞擦音 j (/tɕ/) 與硬顎前送氣塞擦音 q (/tɕ h /)。相較於華語複雜的塞擦音系統，越南語並沒有塞擦音。因此，本文從語料計音與聲學分析兩方面研究越南學習者華語塞擦音習得。研究者邀請華語母語者與越南學習者各 15 位參與詞表念讀任務，研究結果顯示，語料計音中正確率最高的是硬顎前不送氣塞擦音，正確率最低的是捲舌送氣塞擦音。聲學分析顯示越南學習者不送氣與送氣塞擦音的擦音時長雖有統計上的顯著性，但是兩者之間的差距不僅較華語母語者小，而且越南學習者送氣與不送氣音的分界線也較不明顯。根據頻譜重心的高低，越南學習者發音部位由前到後為齒齦塞擦音、硬顎前塞擦音與捲舌塞擦音，雖然越南學習者發音部位之安排與華語母語者相同，但是塞擦音間的頻譜重心差距也較母語者小。最後，越南學習者硬顎前塞擦音的第二共振峰值最高，這表示越南學習者跟華語母語者一樣以舌位高低區分硬顎前塞擦音與另外兩組塞擦音。本文之結果將有助於了解第二語言習得過程。

Literature has shown that Chinese affricates are difficult for Vietnamese learners. However, only a handful of studies were conducted to investigate Vietnamese learners’ acquisition of Chinese affricates. Chinese has six affricates that contrast in aspiration in three different places of articulation. The six affricates are: alveolar unaspirated /ts/, alveolar aspirated /ts h /, alveolo-palatal unaspirated /tɕ/, alveolo-palatal aspirated /tɕ h /, retroflex unaspirated /tʂ/ and retroflex aspirated /tʂ h /. On the other hand, Vietnamese has no affricates. This study incorporates phonemic transcription and acoustic analyses to investigate Vietnamese learners’ acquisition of Chinese affricates. 15 Chinese native speakers and 15 Vietnamese learners of Chinese participated in a word-reading task. The results show that the alveolo-palatal unaspirated affricate has the highest correct rate. The retroflex aspirated affricate has the lowest correct rate. The Vietnamese learners’ fricative duration of the affricates is statistically significant between the aspirated and unaspirated affricates but the differences between unaspirated and aspirated affricates are smaller than that of Chinese native speaker. In addition, the boundary between unaspirated and aspirated affricates is not as clear as that of Chinese native speakers. Center of gravity of affricates shows that Vietnamese learner produced alveolar affricates with the most anterior place of articulation followed by alveolo-palatal and then retroflex affricates. The Vietnamese learners’ onset of second formant right after the affricates indicates that alveolo-palatal affricates have the highest second formant frequencies due to the tongue posture. The two acoustic cues of the Vietnamese learners are very similar to that of native speakers of Chinese. The findings of this study would advance our understanding of Vietnamese learners’ acquisition of Chinese affricates.