Emmett Stone 1/31/22 Emmett Stone 1/31/22

2604: Answering a Negative Question: 3-Form Systems Jan 31, 2022

Now only a historical detail, English used to have a 4-form system for answering questions with 'yes', 'no', 'yea', & 'nay', but this is not the only way to set it up. German has a 3 form system, as do many Germanic languages with normal 'ja' (yes), 'nein' (no), but also the word 'doch' which responds contrarily to a negative question to clarify that is it isn't affirming the negative. For instance:

You didn’t go?

Doch, [in fact, I did]

Without such a feature, to answer 'yes' in English is ambiguous. In addition to Germanic languages, French has this with 'oui' (yes), non (no), and its third form 'si' (yes, contrary to the negative). This shares a root with the Spanish 'sí' (yes), which does not have the same nuance.

Emmett Stone 1/30/22 Emmett Stone 1/30/22

2603: Utility of Yea and Nay: 2- & 4-Form Systems Jan 30, 2022

Latin had a somewhat complicated way to answer questions, but English's manner used to be more thorough as well. English is now a 2 form system meaning that is has one affirmative 'yes' and a negative 'no'. It used to be a 4 form system with 'yea' and 'nay' as well. The difference is that 'yea' and 'nay' answer questions that were stated affirmatively (a.k.a. positively), while 'yes' and 'no' were for questions stated negatively

For example:

Did he go?

Yes, he went

Did he not go?

Nay, he did not go

Eventually, these were lost and are now considered to be dated, without common understanding in the difference of the usage.

Emmett Stone 1/29/22 Emmett Stone 1/29/22

2602: Echo Languages Jan 29, 2022

Latin famously doesn't have a word for 'yes', but this is not unique. Other Goidelic languages don’t have words for either 'yes' or 'no', and just repeat the verb of the question back. This would appear like

"Do you run every day"

"I run" [yes]

These are known as "echo languages". Finnish, and Chinese do this as well, as did Latvian until they got 'ja' from the Germans. Likewise, Romanian had this quality until it got the Slavic affirmative ‘da’. In addition to echoes, Latin would also employ lots of adverbs like 'sic', 'certe' (certainly), 'sane' (healthy), planē (plainly), or for negative responses, 'minime' (least).