The use of situation-bound utterances in Chinese foreign language textbooks

Chinese as a Second Language Research Pub Date : 2016-10-01 DOI:10.1515/caslar-2016-0008

Shu-Han Yeh

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the use of situation-bound utterances (qíngjìng zhuānyòngyǔ 情境专用语) in five mainstream Chinese foreign language textbooks in order to survey, categorize, and discuss their use therein. Kecskes (2000a. A cognitive-pragmatic approach to situation-bound utterances. Journal of Pragmatics 32(5). 605–625) defined Situation-bound utterances (hereafter SBUs) as “highly conventionalized, prefabricated pragmatic units whose occurrences are tied to standardized communicative situations” (2000a: 606). SBUs are prevalent in Modern Chinese and in several ways represent Chinese culture. Many Chinese foreign language textbooks, however, underestimate the importance of SBUs. Based on information culled from five textbooks (Integrated Chinese 中文听说读写, First Step 中文起步, Basic Spoken Chinese 基础中文：听与说, Practical Audio-Visual Chinese 实用视听华语, and New Practical Chinese Reader 新实用汉语) a Chinese SBUs database has been generated. One hundred seventy-eight Chinese SBUs are identified, and they are categorized into ten speech act categories. Among these, the three most common speech acts are: (1) greetings/daily conversation, (2) polite request, and (3) inquiry. These speech acts represent and reflect the concept and practice of politeness in Chinese culture. Basic Spoken Chinese provides the most detailed and clearest explanations of SBUs, and explains the most appropriate contexts for use of SBUs. As for repeated use of SBUs, both Basic Spoken Chinese and Integrated Chinese outperformed the other textbooks. None of the textbooks examined, however, adequately explain the use and importance of SBUs in Modern Chinese. The purpose of this study is to fill this lacuna.

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汉语外文教材中情境约束话语的使用

摘要本文考察了五种主流汉语外文教材中情景限定语(qíngjìng zhuānyòngyǔ)的使用情况，并对其进行了调查、分类和讨论。Kecskes (2000 a。情境约束话语的认知语用研究。语用学杂志32(5)。605-625)将情境约束话语(以下简称SBUs)定义为“高度约定俗成的预制语用单位，其出现与标准化的交际情境相关联”(2000a: 606)。SBUs在现代汉语中很普遍，在许多方面代表了中国文化。然而，许多中国外语教科书低估了SBUs的重要性。基于5本教材(《综合汉语》、《第一步汉语》、《基础汉语口语》、《实用视听汉语》和《新实用汉语读者》)的信息，生成了中文SBUs数据库。共识别出178种汉语言语行为，并将其划分为10类言语行为。其中，三种最常见的言语行为是:(1)问候/日常对话，(2)礼貌请求，(3)询问。这些言语行为代表和反映了中国文化中礼貌的观念和实践。《基础汉语口语》提供了最详细、最清晰的SBUs解释，并说明了SBUs使用的最合适语境。在重复使用方面，《基础汉语口语》和《综合汉语》均优于其他教材。然而，这些教科书都没有充分解释SBUs在现代汉语中的使用和重要性。本研究的目的就是为了填补这一空白。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Chinese as a Second Language Research Arts and Humanities-Language and Linguistics

CiteScore

0.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Chinese as a Second Language Research (CASLAR) focuses on research on the acquisition, development, and use of Chinese as a Second Language. It supports scholars and researchers from different linguistic fields, and serves as a forum to discuss, investigate, and better understand Chinese as a Second Language. Each issue (2 per year) of the journal publishes three papers in Chinese and three papers in English; summaries are always provided both in Chinese and English. We are especially interested in publishing articles and research papers that investigate how empirical findings of CSL research can advance and develop better Chinese language teaching methodologies, explore the implications of CSL research for theoretical developments and practical applications, focus on the acquisition and use of varieties of CSL, study the nature of interaction between native speakers and non-native speakers of Chinese, address major issues of second language acquisition from the perspective of CSL, analyze the ways in which language is both shaped by culture and is the medium through which culture is created.