The retrospective (final-particle) use of so and but (Thanks, but.) is documented in Irish English, but not in American English, which only has the prospective (final-hanging) use (I could scream, but …). American English (AmE) speakers are expected to have communication difficulty in understanding the retrospective use of so and but. Interestingly, however, our questionnaire survey indicated a partially contradictory result: some AmE speakers were able to arrive at the retrospective-scope interpretation of final so and but. To gain a more in-depth understanding of how AmE speakers interpret such final-particle uses, we conducted a qualitative analysis using data obtained from semi-structured interviews with AmE speakers.

中文翻译：

---

美国和爱尔兰英语使用者对最后助词 so and but 的理解

so and but ( Thanks , but .)的回顾性（final-particle）使用在爱尔兰英语中有记录，但在美式英语中没有，它只有预期（final-hanging）使用（我可以尖叫，但是 ……）。预计美国英语 (AmE) 使用者在理解so和but的回顾性使用时会遇到沟通困难。然而，有趣的是，我们的问卷调查显示了一个部分矛盾的结果：一些 AmE 演讲者能够得出最终的so and but. 为了更深入地了解 AmE 说话者如何解释这种最终粒子的使用，我们使用从 AmE 说话者的半结构化访谈中获得的数据进行了定性分析。