Syntactically, "You're welcome" can only be used as a predicate, while "You're welcome" can be used as a predicate, an object, an attribute, an adverbial and a complement. On the semantic level, they are the same in domain sense; You're welcome has no domain meaning and domain meaning, but you're welcome has domain meaning and domain meaning.
Keywords: syntactic level, semantic level, domain meaning, line meaning, domain meaning, domain meaning.
I. Introduction
At present, only two monographs have discussed the syntactic semantics of "You're welcome" and "You're welcome" in detail: A Word in Modern Chinese by Tang Xiaoling and Discrimination between You're welcome and You're welcome by Pan. The former compares the pragmatic differences between "you're welcome" and "you're welcome", analyzes the differences between "no" and "no" and the way that the independent adjective "you're welcome" expresses its dynamic meaning, and finally reveals the reasons for the differences. The latter first points out that "you're welcome" is not only a common polite expression in daily life, but also has two semantic connotations-heartless, unfriendly and indifferent to people; Then it analyzes the difference between "you're welcome" and "you're welcome" from the aspects of frequency of use, syntactic function, semantic connotation, applicable style and language application. The syntactic and semantic analysis of "You're welcome" and "You're welcome" in these two works has made some achievements in observation and description, but it is not enough in explanation. By searching the modern Chinese part (***632428846 bytes) of the corpus of Peking University Chinese Linguistics Research Center (hereinafter referred to as Peking University Corpus), we find that the corpus only contains1more than 40 examples of "Don't mention it", and there are more than 1200 examples of "Don't mention it", and the frequency is quite different. In view of this phenomenon, this paper intends to combine the theory of "behavior, knowledge and speech" and a wider corpus to conduct a deeper discussion and analysis from the syntactic and semantic levels.
Second, look at "you're welcome" and "you're welcome" from the perspective of "knowledge field and speech field".
Shen Jiaxuan (2003) put forward the viewpoint of "line, knowledge and speech" according to the three levels distinguished by sweetser( 1990): "content", "knowledge n 10 Dali" and "speech". In addition, Shen Jiaxuan (2008) pointed out that there are three corresponding worlds in the language world-the realm of lines, the realm of knowledge and the realm of words. There is not only a parallel relationship between these three fields, but also an extended relationship. Linear domain meaning is the most basic, from which fuzzy domain meaning is derived, and then fuzzy domain meaning is further blurred. In the final analysis, there is a speech world in the language world because of two characteristics of language: first, language can be used to refer to or state the language itself, which is the "reflexivity" of language; Second, the power of language, such as questions, requests and promises, can come from the speech act itself.
In this part, we refer to Mr. Shen's theory and discuss the semantic similarities and differences between "you're welcome" and "you're welcome" with concrete examples.
1. Modern Chinese Dictionary (5th edition, hereinafter referred to as "Dictionary") defines "politeness" as: ① (adjectives) being humble and polite to people; (verb) Say polite words and do polite actions. The usage and meaning of "Don't mention it" in "Don't mention it" should be that the L: (adverb) of "Don't 4" in the dictionary means prohibition or dissuasion, which has the same meaning as "Don't". The usage and meaning of the word "no" in "you're welcome" should be the eighth word of "no" in the dictionary: (adverb) no use; Don't (just for some courtesy). According to the definition in the dictionary, "don't" and "don't" both mean "don't", so "don't mention it" and "you're welcome" can be used to politely express gratitude and discourage others. (1) A: Thank you! B: You're welcome.
In this case, it can be used universally, and it is a polite expression with roughly the same meaning. According to Mr. Shen Jiahua's "three worlds" theory-domain of action, domain of knowledge and domain of speech, the words "you're welcome" and "you're welcome" in the above example are polite expressions and should belong to the domain of speech, because they are neither a responsive dissuasion after expressing gratitude to the other party, nor an inference of whether the other party is really grateful, but rather a discouragement from saying thank you. "Don't mention it" and "Don't mention it" have the same meaning, both of which are "Don't speak kindly".
However, they are all polite terms, and there are subtle differences between "you're welcome" and "you're welcome". That is, in verbal communication activities, except as a polite discourse, if the speaker intends to express the intention of persuading or discouraging others from being polite and humble, he can only use "you're welcome" instead of "you're welcome". (2) On the top, there is a baby seat, which is a very quiet place. Usually, the lady is asked to order first, and the menu is given to her. I told her at that time, too. I said you are free. Don't be angry. Just order.
No matter where you are, you are a rare guest, and you can't be invited on weekdays. Don't stand up straight, have some fruit, have some fruit.
The words "don't mention it" in the above example are all used in the field of speech. Besides being polite, they also intentionally express the meaning of persuading or discouraging others from being polite and humble. This kind of "you're welcome" in the linguistic sense cannot be replaced by "you're welcome".
In the corpus of Peking University, although the examples of "you're welcome" (1, more than 200 cases) are nearly 9 times as many as "you're welcome" (1, more than 40 cases), the words "you're welcome" used in "speech field" are far less than "you're welcome", which fully shows that when answering other people's thanks. 50 people in the north), the frequency of using "you're welcome" and "you're welcome" is about 50% respectively, which shows that the frequency of using "you're welcome" as a polite expression in spoken language is obviously higher than that in written language.
Interestingly, the eighth definition of the word "no" in the third edition of Modern Chinese Dictionary (19%) is "(Fang) doesn't need it; Don't (just for some pleasantries): thank me, let me off the hook and be polite. " This shows that "you're welcome" originally came from dialects. The fifth edition of Modern Chinese Dictionary (2005) is no longer marked with the word "(Fang)", which shows that "you're welcome" has completely entered Mandarin. In the corpus of modern Chinese collected by Peking University, modern works account for a certain proportion, and most of the contemporary works are before 2005, so it is difficult to reflect the situation after 2005. The results of our investigation and the definition of Modern Chinese Dictionary show that you're welcome has a strong penetrating power, and it tends to surpass you're welcome, which may be because the pronunciation of the word "bu" is easier than that of the word "bie".
2. The domain "Don't mention it" can't be used in the domain, because its only linguistic force is "dissuasion", which is a typical domain meaning. Please look at the examples of "you're welcome" used in other places: (4) Wang stole the column and said that the problem of appointing people on merit or cronyism was not solved well.
(5) If Wang Yi insists that our impression in Lanzhou is better than that in Xi.
(6) This refers to me. You are all monks, and only I am a Taoist. I wanted to hear what you said. Since I am accused of stealing the law, I will present it to you. I might as well compete with you.
(7) There are some things to criticize. Naughty and persistent, but also "fired", even relatives and friends are welcome! In the above example, "You're welcome" is used in the fields, which means "no mercy". As adverbials in examples (4) and (5), express your opinions without mercy, and as predicates in examples (6) and (7), express your actions without mercy. The word "you're welcome" is used as a verb, and the word "no" in "you're welcome" is used as an adverb before the verb "you're welcome" to express negation.
3. Know the domain because the only coercive force of "don't mention it" is "dissuasion", which is a typical domain meaning, so it can't be used to know the domain.
Please take a look at the previous examples of "you're welcome" in Zhihu: (8) This time, Duanna seems a little arrogant, mainly accusing Jiang's wrong policy of causing the incident and supporting Zhang Xueliang's political views.
(9) Jiang Jiang's general, a former commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Central Army, was a concubine with Zhang Xueliang.
(10) But Hou Tiancheng stretched out his hand and pushed the manager of Tianhuajing aside. How can Hou Tiancheng be so angry with Tianhuajing's manager? (1 1) The long-haired boy speaks very well.
"You're welcome" in the above example is used to know the domain, which means "impolite, not modest, not enthusiastic and unfriendly to people". It refers to the speaker or writer's evaluation of people's speech and behavior according to his existing knowledge and experience, which embodies the evaluation function of "unwelcome". You're welcome is used as an adjective, meaning "humility, courtesy, enthusiasm and friendliness", and the "no" in you're welcome is used as an adverb, which is used before the adjective "you're welcome" to express negation.
4. From the perspective of "three domains", the difference between "customer loyalty" and "you're welcome" is that "Z polite" can only be used in the domain, indicating "dissuasion", which is beyond the domain and domain. Isn't it contradictory with Mr. Shen Jiahua's theory that "the domain meaning is the most basic, which leads to the ambiguity of the domain meaning, and then the domain meaning is further blurred"? Whether the answer is definite or not, in fact, the word "politeness" can be used in three fields, such as "he is always polite", in the field of knowledge such as "he is polite to others" and in the field of speech such as "what are you polite about". The reason why "you're welcome" can only be used in words is that "you're welcome" has only one meaning: (adverb) means to prohibit or discourage, which is the same as "don't"; In other words, it is the only meaning of "don't mention" that makes "don't mention" only used in the speech field.
You're welcome can be used both orally and intellectually, because the word "no" in "you're welcome" has two meanings. When "you're welcome" is used in the verb field, it means: (adverb) is useless; Don't (just for some courtesy). When "you're welcome" is used in the field of knowledge, "no" means: it is used before verbs and adjectives to express negation. When "you're welcome" is used in the field, "you're welcome" is used as a verb, which means "show mercy"; When you are welcomed, you are a polite adjective, meaning "modesty, courtesy, enthusiasm and friendliness".
Thirdly, the syntactic function and semantic orientation of "you're welcome" and "you're welcome"
The function and semantic orientation of 1. "You're welcome" can only be used as a predicate in syntactic structure. (12) Please, within the range of13 million yuan, you can make a decision for me. You can't get less commission, so don't mention it.
(13) There are too many people. "My concubine, I should stay here with you for the night." However, my humble Jing came, and I was too rude to all of you. I hope you have a good time.
(14) Today everyone is a row of fish. Let's sing a song together. I will sing first. I was born to be the subject of work.
"Don't mention it" in the above example is a predicate, and its semantics all point to the previous subject, that is, "you", "everyone" and "who" respectively. In addition, from the above examples and all the 140 examples in the corpus, it can be seen that the subject of "don't mention it" can only be the second personal pronouns "you" and "you" in the three-part pronouns, the non-three pronouns "everyone" and "you" and the interrogative pronoun "who" indicating any reference. If we look at it in a specific context, the non-trisyllabic pronouns "everyone" and "gentlemen" actually point to the listener, such as (13), and the interrogative pronoun "who" indicating any reference also points to the listener, such as (14). So the meaning of "forget it" is aimed at the listener.
2. The syntactic function and semantic orientation of "You're welcome" can be used as predicate, object, attribute, adverbial and complement in syntactic structure.
(15) At the invitation of Mrs. Wang, Yu also wrote down his speech and included it in the anthology.
(16) He listened carefully and his memory was amazing. He can point out every inappropriate line in time, meticulous and extremely upright.
The semantics of "you're welcome" as the predicate in the above examples all point to the subjects in front of it, namely Yu and He.
Object: (17) It's a pity that many people only learn to be concubines and fish, but China's good tradition of being polite to others is not.
(15) I didn't show my arrogance when I spoke, but I did have an unnatural levity out of sarcasm and arrogance.
The semantics of "you're welcome" used as the object in the above examples all point to the verb center in front of it, that is, it means learning and expressing respectively.
Attribute: (19) I come from a technical background. Frankly speaking, these products are inferior and can't be taken.
(20) Qian Zhongshu once said: Mr. Wu Shi is a great man, and his poems have no arrogant ridicule of kings and concubines, and no lewd descriptions; Its seriousness is rare in old and new love poems so far (1937).
The semantics of "you're welcome" used as an attribute in the above examples all point to the head language behind it, that is, speaking and mocking respectively.
Adverbial: (Zhang Chuan Cai Ying sat down angrily.
(22) After I returned to Hangzhou, Qu Qiyu, who was in charge of security work, severely criticized me.
The semantics of the adverbial "You're welcome" in the above examples all point to the following predicate verb and the preceding subject, that is, example (2 1) points to the predicate verb "Left" and the subject "Zhang Yingcai", and example (22) points to the predicate verb "Criticism" and the subject "Quqi".
Supplement: (23) I then made a fool of myself with what I learned, and cooperated with designers to design five provincial-level new products, among which 1 also filled the domestic blank.
The long-haired boy talks like a concubine.
The semantics of the complement "you're welcome" in the above examples generally point to the verb center in front of it, and both examples point to the verb "Shuo".
From the above, we can know that the subject of "You're welcome" can be the first person "I", the third person "He", and of course it can also be the second person, such as "You're welcome to do so". In other words, the semantic meaning of "you're welcome" can point to the speaker or the listener or the third party, and its semantic meaning is much wider than that of "you're welcome" only pointing to the listener. Furthermore, you're welcome can only refer to the front, and you're welcome can refer to the front and the back.
In addition, by examining the sample sentences containing "You're welcome" and "You're welcome" in the whole corpus, we know that they can all be restricted or modified by range adverbs "Du", frequency adverbs "Ye, Ye" and modal adverbs "Jiu, Ke", but "You're welcome" can be modified by modal adverbs "Jing" and degree adverbs "hen, Tai, Ke". You're welcome can't be restricted or modified by adverbs of degree and frequency, but you're welcome can be modified by affirmative adverbs.
Four. conclusion
As "don't mention it" is a polite language, which can only be used in the field of speech and has a strong oral style, it can only be used in spoken language and rarely used in written language. As a polite language, "you're welcome" can only be used in the field of speech, with strong oral style, and can only be used in oral English generally; When "you're welcome" is used in domain meaning and domain meaning, it is mostly used in written language, and only a few are used in spoken language. Therefore, you're welcome is a spoken word, and you're welcome is both a spoken word and a written language.
Precautions:
① Unless otherwise specified, all the examples in this article are taken from the corpus of Peking University Chinese Linguistics Research Center, without indicating the source one by one, and a few examples are abridged.
References: [l 1 Tang Xiaoling. On the sentence "You're welcome" in modern Chinese 0 1 China Journal, 2006 (7).
Pan's analysis of "You're welcome" and "You're welcome". Journal of Heilongjiang Institute of Education, 2007(8).
I3j Shen Jiaxuan. Three world fields. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 2008(6).
[4] Shen Jiaxuan. "Line, Cognition and Word" in three domains of complex sentences. China Language, 2003(3).
[5] Dictionary Compilation Room, Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Modern Chinese Dictionary (5th Edition) [M]. Beijing: Commercial Press, 2005.
[Lu Jianming, Shenyang. Fifteen lectures on Chinese and Chinese studies c]. Beijing: Peking University Publishing House, 2004.
[v] Ma Zhen. Research methods of function words in modern Chinese. Beijing: Commercial Press, 2004.
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