Echo answer
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
, an echo answer or echo response is a way of answering a
polar question Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates *Polar climate, the cli ...
without using words for
yes and no ''Yes'' and ''no'', or word pairs with similar words, are expressions of the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in several languages, including English. Some languages make a distinction between answers to affirmative versus negative ...
. The verb used in the question is simply echoed in the answer, negated if the answer has a negative
truth-value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values (''true'' or '' false''). Computing In some progra ...
. For example: * "Did you go to the cinema?" (or "Didn't you go to the cinema?") * "I did not." or "I didn't go."


Finnish

The
Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedis ...
is one language that employs echo answers in response to yes-no questions. It does not answer them with either
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s or
interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
s. So the answer to "Tuletteko kaupungista?" ("Are you coming from town?") is the verb form itself, "Tulemme" ("We are coming."). Negatively phrased questions are answered similarly. Negative answers use the
negative verb Dryer defined three different types of negative markers in language. Beside negative particles and negative affixes, negative verbs play a role in various languages. The negative verb is used to implement a clausal negation. The negative predic ...
''en'' in coordination with the infinitive. The negative answer to "Tunnetteko herra Lehdon?" ("Do you know Mr Lehto?") is "En tunne" ("I don't know.") or simply "En" ("I don't.").


Celtic languages

The
Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edwar ...
also primarily employ echo answers.
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...
lack the words "yes" and "no" altogether. In Welsh, the words for "yes" and "no" (" ie" and "
nage The Nage are an indigenous people living on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores and Timor. They descended from the indigenous population of Flores They are largely assimilated by the neighboring people. They speak Nage, one of the major lan ...
") are restricted to specialized circumstances. Like Finnish, the main way in these languages to state yes or no, to answer yes-no questions, is to echo the verb of the question. In Irish, the question "An dtiocfaidh tú?" ("Will you come?") will be answered with "Tiocfad" ("I will come") or "Ní thiocfad" ("I will not come"). (In
Hiberno-English Hiberno-English (from Latin '' Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland ...
, it is the auxiliary that is echoed: the English question "Will you come?" is often answered in Ireland with "I will" instead of "Yes" or "I will not" instead of "no".) Similarly, in Welsh, the answers to "Ydy Fred yn dod?" ("Is Fred coming?") are "Ydy" ("He is") or "Nag ydy" ("He is not"). In general, the negative answer is the positive answer combined with " nag". As in Finnish, it avoids the issue of what an unadorned "yes" means in response to a negative question. A "yes" response to the question "You don't beat your wife?" is ambiguous in English, but the Welsh response "nag ydw" has no ambiguity.


Latin

Although
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
has words or phrases that can stand in for "yes" and "no", it also employs echo answers. Echo answers would be the more common and neutral response: * Nōnne Sextus molestus discipulus est? *: "Sextus is an annoying student, isn't he?" * Est. *: "He is." * Num Sextus litterās memoriā tenēre potest? *: "Sextus cannot remember the alphabet, can he?" * Nōn potest. *: "He cannot."


Portuguese

The
Portuguese language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...
is the only major Romance language to use echo answers often, even though it has words for "yes" and "no" proper (''sim'' and ''não'' respectively) as well. Portuguese will most commonly answer a polar question in the affirmative by repeating the main verb. For example, one would answer the question, "Tens fome?" ("Are you hungry?" literally, "Do you have hunger?") by simply replying, "tenho" ("I have"). One could also add ''sim'' before or after the verb for the use of emphasis or to contradict a negative question, producing "sim, tenho" or "tenho sim". To produce a ''negative'' answer to a polar question, the verb is repeated followed by ''não'' before or after it. Thus, a negative answer to our above question would be: "Não tenho," "Tenho não" or "Não tenho fome." For emphasis, one could even say, "Não tenho, não."


Chinese

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
s often employ echo answers. Often, yes-no questions in
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
are expressed in the
A-not-A In linguistics, an A-not-A question, also known as an A-neg-A question, is a polar question that offers two opposite possibilities for the answer. Predominantly researched in Sinitic languages, the A-not-A question offers a choice between an aff ...
form, and are answered with either A or not-A.Li, Charles N., and Thompson, Sandra A., ''Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar'', Univ. of California Press, 1981. For example, where Q stands for question, A for affirmative, and N for negative: In addition, yes-no questions are often formed by adding the particle "吗" (''ma'' for "yes or no?") to the end of a sentence, in which case the answer can be "是的" (''shì de'' for "is (so)") or "不是" (''bu shì'' for "not is (so)"), or "对" (''duì'' for "right") or "不对" (''bu duì'' for "not right"):


See also

*
Yes–no question In linguistics, a yes–no question, also known as a binary question, a polar question, or a general question is a question whose expected answer is one of two choices, one that provides an affirmative answer to the question versus one that provid ...
*
Yes and no ''Yes'' and ''no'', or word pairs with similar words, are expressions of the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in several languages, including English. Some languages make a distinction between answers to affirmative versus negative ...


References

{{reflist Grammar Human communication