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Phatic expression
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===English=== "You're welcome", in its phatic usage, is not intended to convey the message that the hearer is welcome; it is a phatic response to being thanked, which in turn is a phatic whose function is to acknowledge the receipt of a benefit. Similarly, the question "how are you?" is usually an automatic component of a social encounter. Although there are times when "how are you?" is asked in a sincere, concerned manner and does in fact anticipate a detailed response regarding the respondent's present state, this needs to be [[Pragmatics|pragmatically]] inferred from [[Context (language use)|context]] and [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]. Example: a simple, basic exchange between two acquaintances in a non-formal environment: :Speaker one: "What's up?" (US English. In UK English this more commonly means "Is there something wrong?") :Speaker two: "Hey, how's it going?" (In US English "Hey" is equivalent to "Hi", or "Hello". Adding "How's it going" returns the initial greeting-query, paraphrased, without offering any information about what is possibly "up". In short, the first speaker's token is replied to with the second speaker's equivalent token, not actually answering the first speaker's literal query.) Or: :Speaker one: "All right?" (UK English. In US English this can only be a [[tag question]], approximately meaning "Do you agree with or accept what I've said?" In the US, the longer question "(Are) you all right?" is possible to mean "Is something wrong?") :Speaker two: "Yeah, all right." In both dialogues, neither speaker expects an actual answer to the question but rather it is an indication that each has recognized the other's presence and has therefore sufficiently performed that particular social duty.
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