| Summary: | 本篇論文主要研究漢語兒童的否定表達，與其性別對否定表達方式之影響。使用的語料來自四位平均年齡五歲一個月的兒童，在家中與母親的日常對話。參與研究的兒童共使用八種語用策略與其組合，來對他們的母親表達七種否定。分析語料後顯示，此年齡層的兒童表達方式與成人不同，他們偏好使用單一策略做否定。此外，有別於同儕互動中主要使用間接否定來維持友誼，兒童對母親表達否定時較為直接。而他們的間接否定策略，大多出現在可能危及聽者面子的拒絕（Rejection）與否認（Denial）這兩者，也較常出現在表達自己能力與知識上的不足時（Inability & Epistemic negation）。在性別對否定表達的影響方面，女生在否定時有注重關係的傾向（care orientation）。她們拒絕或否認她們母親的次數比男生少，表達拒絕或否認時，也比男生使用更多間接策略與提供較容易理解的原因。在其他的否定語意方面，女生比男生更常表達自己在能力或知識上的不足，此外也更常述說物品的不復存在（Nonexistence）。本研究提供了漢語兒童在否定表達上的結果，也為兒童性別對否定表達的影響提供說明與證據。 === The study investigates children’s expression of negation, and how each gender expresses it to their mother. We observed 4 Mandarin-speaking children of age 5 (mean age= 5; 1) when they were having natural conversation with their mother at home. We found that children used 8 pragmatic strategies (account, nonverbal, correction, temporizing, challenge, countering move, partial agreement, and appealing) to express 7 negation meanings (Nonexistence, Non-occurrence, prohibition, rejection, denial, inability, and epistemic negation). The results showed that children preferred to use single strategy to negate, unlike adults. In contrast with peer interaction in which children preferred to use indirect strategy to maintain their friendship, the amount of direct strategy and indirect strategy were quite even in our data. Their indirect strategies tended to appear in negation meanings that are potentially face-threatening (rejection and denial) or reveal their own insufficiency (inability and epistemic negation). They also inclined to use a combination of strategies to deliver rejection, denial, and prohibition. When we further examine negation in boys and girls, we observe ‘care orientation’ in girls’ negation. They denied and rejected their mother less than boys did, mainly using indirect negation or understandable accounts while boys did the opposite. As for other negation meanings, girls revealed one’s insufficiency (Inability and Epistemic negation) and reported nonexistence of entities (Nonexistence) more often than boys did. The findings provide Mandarin children’s results and evidence of the expression of negation in mother-child interaction, and suggest gender does affect how boys and girls deliver various negation meanings.
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