摘要
我們所說的語言是否會影響我們如何理解這個世界？以「時間」為例，說中文和說英文的人在表達時間的時候，都是以空間的譬喻方式來進行。說英文的人在談論時間的時候是假想它是水平的（例：the good days ahead of us），而說中文的人除了水平思考之外，也常常用垂直的方式描述時間（例：上個月）。這種以空間譬喻時間的方式不同，是否會造成說英文的人和說中文的人對時間的理解方式產生不同？Boroditsky（2001b）的研究發現就證實了：語言上的差異會反映在說話者對時間的思考，且語言的確是一個強而有力的工具，足以型塑人類的對抽象思維的模式與習慣（例如對時間的思考）。
本研究藉由漢語語料調查發現：說中文的人使用「水平」（前/後）空間譬喻時間的頻率大於使用「垂直」（上/下）空間譬喻時間的頻率，這樣的結果與Boroditsky（2001b）的宣稱有歧異。因此，本研究認為Boroditsky的實驗與結論有必要重新檢驗。於是本研究參考Boroditsky所設計的實驗材料以及程序來進行測試。實驗一是以中、英文受試者為施測對象（中文：外文系的大學生及研究生。英文：母語是英文的外國人）。在實驗中，讓受試者先連續看兩張水平或兩張垂直的空間圖片與句子，並根據空間圖片位置和句子描述，作「對錯」的判斷（如：The black worm is ahead of the white worm.）。等受試者看完兩張空間圖之後，接下來再讓他針對一個有關時間的目標句（如：June comes before April.）作「是否」的回答。本研究將時間目標句細分成三種不同的時間單位「日、月、季節」，且在目標句子中，以空間表達時間的介系詞也細分成前/後（before/after）和早/晚（ealier/later）兩種不同的句型。研究結果顯示，中英文受試者在時間目標句的反應時間，都是在垂直的促發狀況下會比在水平的促發狀況下來得快，但統計上仍未達顯著效果。實驗二是以中文受試者為主，把實驗一的英文句子改譯為中文句子來進行測試，數據結果仍與實驗一相同。實驗三的程序、圖片、句子與實驗二相同，不過有些許的改變，受試者必需先按下空白鍵之後，才能對圖片和句子做反應。實驗四的流程仍與實驗三一樣，但是本研究針對水平促發項圖片的排列方式做調整，改為上下排列的方式，利用深度知覺錯覺的原理，來呈現水平促發項。實驗三和實驗四的結果仍與實驗一和二相同。
總括而言，本研究參考Boroditsky（2001b）的實驗方式，設計四種不同的實驗，卻無法得到與她相同的數據結果。因此，本研究的結論是：漢語使用者和英語使用者對於時間的思考方式，不會因為漢語使用者多了垂直的時間觀念，而使得兩者在時間上的認知有所差異。

Abstract
English uses the horizontal spatial metaphors to express time (e.g., the good days ahead of us). Chinese also uses the vertical metaphors (e.g.,‘the month above’ to mean last month). Do Chinese speakers, then, think about time in a different way than English speakers? Boroditsky (2001b) claimed that they do, and went on to conclude that ‘language is a powerful tool in shaping habitual thought about abstract domains’ (such as time). By
estimating the frequency of usage, we found that Chinese speakers actually use the horizontal spatial metaphors more often than the vertical metaphors. This offered no logical ground for Boroditsky’s claim. We also attempted to replicate her experiment. Experiment 1 followed her design closely. Chinese-English bilinguals (undergraduate and graduate students with an English major) and English monolinguals determined if a sentence correctly described the spatial relationship of two objects in a picture (e.g., The black worm is ahead of the white worm). The spatial relationship could be horizontal or vertical. They did this for two consecutive pictures, and then, had to decide if a target sentence correctly described the temporal relationship of two time units (e.g., June comes before April). Three types of time units (week day, month, and season) were used in the sentences, and the prepositions were either before/after or earlier/later. Results showed that both groups of participants displayed a slight tendency (not statistically reliable) of responding faster to the time sentences when they had just processed the vertical spatial relationship than when they had just processed the horizontal spatial relationship. This was regardless of the time units and the prepositions used. Experiment 2 changed all the sentences into Chinese. Results from another group of Chinese-English bilinguals were similar to those of Experiment 1. Experiment 3 repeated Experiment 2, but gave the participants the control of when to receive the spatial picture and the time sentence (by pressing the space bar). Experiment 4 followed the procedure of Experiment 3, but changed the horizontal arrangement of the objects in the picture so that they were vertically aligned yet signaling a horizontal relationship (using the linear perspective in visual perception). Both experiments obtained similar results as those of Experiment 1 and 2. In summary, we were unable to replicate Boroditsky’s findings in four different attempts.
We conclude that Chinese speakers do not think about time in a different way than English speakers just because Chinese also uses the vertical spatial metaphors to express time.

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