Yes and no questions in languages: Difference between revisions
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From http://aveneca.com/yesno.html | From http://aveneca.com/yesno.html | ||
== Two-Form languages== | == Two-Form languages== |
Latest revision as of 09:55, 5 June 2019
From http://aveneca.com/yesno.html
Two-Form languages
A two-form language has two words for yes and no. One for a positive answer, and one for a negative one. Languages include English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hungarian and Greek.
English | POSITIVE ANSWER | NEGATIVE ANSWER |
POSITIVE QUESTION | Did you kill him? Yes I killed him. |
Did you kill him? No I didn't kill him. |
NEGATIVE QUESTION | Didn't you kill him? Yes I killed him. |
Didn't you kill him? No I didn't kill him. |
Three-form languages
Three-form languages have three words, two for yes, and one for no. The two words for yes are distinguished by whether they answer a positive or negative question. Three-form langauges include German, Scandinavian, Icelandic and French.
Scandinavian | POSITIVE ANSWER | NEGATIVE ANSWER |
POSITIVE QUESTION | Did you kill him? Ja I killed him. |
Did you kill him? Nej I didn't kill him. |
NEGATIVE QUESTION | Didn't you kill him? Jo I killed him. |
Didn't you kill him? Nej I didn't kill him. |
Four-form languages
Four-form languages have two words for yes, and two for no. They are distinguished by whether both the question and the answer is positive or negative. Examples include Early Modern English and Romanian.
Early Modern English | POSITIVE ANSWER | NEGATIVE ANSWER |
POSITIVE QUESTION | Did you kill him? Yea I killed him. |
Did you kill him? Nay I didn't kill him. |
NEGATIVE QUESTION | Didn't you kill him? Yes I killed him. |
Didn't you kill him? No I didn't kill him. |
Agreement languages
In an agreement language the important distinction is not whether the answer is positive or negative, but rather agreement with the question stated. Roughly, in these languages, yes can be exchanged for "That's correct" and no for "That's not correct". Agreement languages include Japanese, Russian and Tok Pisin.
Japanese | POSITIVE ANSWER | NEGATIVE ANSWER |
POSITIVE QUESTION | Did you kill him? Hai I killed him. |
Did you kill him? Iie I didn't kill him. |
NEGATIVE QUESTION | Didn't you kill him? Iie I killed him. |
Didn't you kill him? Hai I didn't kill him. |
Echo languages
An echo language is a language that doesn't use specific words for yes and no, but rather restates the main verb of the question. Some echo languages do have words for yes and no as well, but their usage is usually quite restricted compared to non-echo languages. Echo languages include Mandarin, Finnish, Latin and Welsh.
Mandarin | POSITIVE ANSWER | NEGATIVE ANSWER |
POSITIVE QUESTION | Did you kill him? Shā le I killed him. |
Did you kill him? Méi yǒu I didn't kill him. |
NEGATIVE QUESTION | Didn't you kill him? Shā le I killed him. |
Didn't you kill him? Méi yǒu I didn't kill him. |