Your Welcome!
Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:34 pm
I would guess that I see the phrase "your welcome" on the web and in emails more often than "you're welcome." I think what's happening is similar to the evolution of "good bye", which was derived from "god be with you".
I don't know if people are consciously associating "welcome" with a possessive modifier. Do these people think that it would be appropriate to say "our welcome" or "their welcome"? People never say "bad bye" or "great bye", but they also never say "bad morning" or "great evening".
Most Chinese students cannot be persuaded that "your welcome" or "you're welcome" is not the semantic equivalent of "bu ke qi" or "bu yong xie". I can talk about phatic communion etc., but unless I've taught the students a great deal of grammar, they will automatically dismiss my point.
My point is that communication is a sharing of mental perceptions. Everyone has personal physical perceptions of light and sound. How personal are the phrases that supposedly represent most people's mental perceptions? Grammar reveals who and what have shaped our thoughts.
Your welcome!
I don't know if people are consciously associating "welcome" with a possessive modifier. Do these people think that it would be appropriate to say "our welcome" or "their welcome"? People never say "bad bye" or "great bye", but they also never say "bad morning" or "great evening".
Most Chinese students cannot be persuaded that "your welcome" or "you're welcome" is not the semantic equivalent of "bu ke qi" or "bu yong xie". I can talk about phatic communion etc., but unless I've taught the students a great deal of grammar, they will automatically dismiss my point.
My point is that communication is a sharing of mental perceptions. Everyone has personal physical perceptions of light and sound. How personal are the phrases that supposedly represent most people's mental perceptions? Grammar reveals who and what have shaped our thoughts.
Your welcome!