語言、大腦與時間的相遇：漢語的觀點

Abstract

時間被視為人類認知中至關重要的概念，時間標記則因語言而異。不過，大腦處理時間標記仍然不清楚。現今絕大多數的相關研究皆是針對印歐語系語言中的「時態」(tense)標記。本論文將要探討漢語中的「了」及「過」兩個「時貌」(grammatical aspect)標記和過去時間的關係，以及大腦如何處理「了」及「過」之時間標記。首先，本論文針對漢語中存在已久的「了」及「過」是否具有「時態」成分之辯論提供反證，並且主張「了」及「過」被用於表示過去時間是因為其時貌特徵。本論文將兩者時貌特徵與表示過去時間的關係分析成對應到不同語法的意義、功能：「了」對應到「時間先後關係」的認知功能，而「過」對應到「時間定位」的認知功能。接著，本論文透過三個採用事件相關電位(event-related potential，稱ERP)技術的實驗測試/探討以上的分析。相關結果顯現了兩種質變上不同的效果進而支持上述分析：「了」在時間標記上的大腦處理誘發前腦及早期之負極性波幅(early frontal negativity)，而「過」則是誘發晚期之正極性波幅(P600)，此外，「了」及「過」在時間標記上的大腦處理方式與「了」及「過」在時貌上(非時間上)不同。最後，為使以上兩種大腦處理方式有廣義的且跨語言的功能解釋，本論文將漢語的時貌標記在時間上的大腦處理與印歐語系的時態標記在時間上的大腦處理方式做相互對比：前腦及早期之負極性波幅(early frontal negativity)被視為反映「時間先後關係」的認知功能，晚期之正極性波幅(P600) 被視為反映「時間定位」的認知功能。總而言之，本論文採用以上分析及證據提供大腦如何處理時間標記之類型神經語言學模式。Time, a crucial concept in human cognition, is differently encoded from one language to another. Yet, how time in language is processed in the brain remains unclear, as such an investigation was mainly conducted based on tense marking in Indo-European languages. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how past time is expressed in Mandarin with the grammatical aspect markers LE and GUO, as well as how the expression of past time with LE and GUO is processed in the brain. First, this dissertation takes side in the long-standing debate in the linguistic literature concerning whether LE and GUO encode tense in addition to aspect information. Pieces of evidence are brought against the tense analysis of LE and GUO. It is further argued that LE and GUO are used to express past time based on their respective aspectual characteristics, linked with different grammatical processes: ‘temporal sequencing’ for LE and ‘temporal localization’ for GUO. Second, the proposed analysis is tested with a set of three event-related potential (ERP) experiments, in which the temporal and aspectual processing in the brain of LE and GUO is investigated. Results from the ERP experiments support the proposed analysis, in that the processing of time with LE and GUO is reflected by qualitatively distinct ERP signatures: an early frontal negativity for LE, and a P600 for GUO. In addition, these ERP components are different from the ones found concerning the processing of aspect with LE and GUO. Third, the processing of time in the brain with grammatical aspect in Mandarin is contrasted with the one with tense in Indo-European, in order to state a generalized functional account of the above ERP signatures: the early frontal negativity is related to the cognitive operation of ‘temporal sequencing’, and the P600 to the one of ‘temporal localization’. In sum, the pieces of evidence exposed in this dissertation allow us to formulate a neurotypological model of the processing of time in the brain.