LINGUIST List 6.1448

Wed Oct 18 1995

Sum: After you, please.

Editor for this issue: Annemarie Valdez <avaldezemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. hiro-t, Summary: After you, please.

Dear Linguists,
 I posted a a query on the acceptability of _After you, please_,
on behalf of my teacher at the university I graduated from a
couple of months ago. 13 people responded to my query. I wish to thank them
for their help with this troublesome problem.

 Jorge Koch (karpfenzedat.fut-berlin.de)
 Lynne Hewitt (leh5psu.edu)
 Sharon goodman (S.Goodmanopen.ac.uk)
 David M.W. powers (powersist. flinders.edu.au)
 Anton Sherwood (dashernetcom.com)
 Bret Parker (bparkervms1.cc.uop.edu)
 Elsa Lattey (elsa.latteyuni-tuebingen.de)
 Hiroshi Nara (HNARAvms.cis.pitt.edu)
 Steven Schaufele (fcoswsprairienet.org)
 James Kirchner (JPKIRCHNERaol.com)
 Anthea F. Gupta (ellguptaleonis.nus.sg)
 David. M.W. Powers (Powersist.flinders.edu.au)
 Karen H. Stanley (Karen_Stanleycppcc.cc.nc.us)

The following table is the result of the acceptability.

 accpetable unacceptable ?
 7 people 5 1

One said it is a "Germanism", another said it is a repetition, and so on.
An interesting response was Sharon Goodman's answer from the viewpoint of
politeness behavior. But she did not want her comments on the list.
Please ask her directly. It was very interesting to me.

 Syntacticaly or grammatically, it is right to analyse the phrase
into (I will go) after you; please go ahead as Hiroshi Nara pointed out,
although we will definitely put an intonation that is different from
_Close the door, please_, and pause or comma.
 Or, as Karen Stanley said, this phrase is derived from _(Allow me
to go) after you, please._

 Thank you very much.

Best Wishes,
Hiroaki Tanaka, Tokushima University, japan
hiro-tias.tokushima-u.ac.jp