Bamberg M, Damrad-Frye R
Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610.
J Child Lang. 1991 Oct;18(3):689-710. doi: 10.1017/s0305000900011314.
This study investigated the changing functions of evaluative devices in children's narratives. The evaluative devices included (a) references to 'frames of mind', particularly to emotions, (b) character speech, (c) 'hedges', (d) negative qualifiers, and (e) causal connectors. Narratives were elicited from a 24-picture story book. The subjects were three groups of native English-speaking Americans (12 per group): five- and nine-year-old children and college undergraduate students. A quantitative comparison revealed that (i) adults used evaluative devices three times as often as five-year-olds, and two-and-a-half times as often as the nine-year-old children; (ii) adults used significantly more references to 'frames of mind' and 'hedges' than the children; and (iii) whereas five-year-olds used each evaluative type equally often, nine-year-olds and adults used references to 'frames of mind' significantly more than the other four evaluation types. A second analysis, focusing specifically on the discourse functions of references to 'frames of mind' revealed that, early on, this particular device is used to express a local evaluative perspective on particular events, while with increasing age it is used to signal the hierarchial organization of the story events. These findings are discussed with regard to two non-linguistic developmental achievements, the formation of event schemas and the formation of a theory of mind.
本研究调查了儿童叙事中评价手段功能的变化。评价手段包括：（a）提及“心理状态”，尤其是情感；（b）人物对话；（c）“模糊限制语”；（d）否定限定词；以及（e）因果连接词。叙事内容源自一本有24幅图片的故事书。研究对象为三组以英语为母语的美国人（每组12人）：5岁儿童、9岁儿童和大学本科生。定量比较结果显示：（i）成年人使用评价手段的频率是5岁儿童的三倍，是9岁儿童的2.5倍；（ii）成年人提及“心理状态”和“模糊限制语”的次数明显多于儿童；（iii）5岁儿童使用每种评价类型的频率相同，而9岁儿童和成年人提及“心理状态”的次数明显多于其他四种评价类型。另一项分析专门聚焦于提及“心理状态”的语篇功能，结果显示，早期该特定手段用于表达对特定事件的局部评价视角，而随着年龄增长，它用于表明故事事件的层次结构。结合两项非语言发展成就，即事件图式的形成和心理理论的形成，对这些发现进行了讨论。
