5 ms·

There are a lot of languages which don't have words which map neatly onto the English 'yes' and 'no'.

by becquerel 4y ago

BossingAround 4y ago
Yes, such as Chinese.
- shawabawa3 4y ago
  But there's also no word for negation which is how Chinese gets around not having no
  - SeanLuke 4y ago
    Sure, Chineses has a word for negation. In cantonese, it's "mh", and can be attached to nearly every verb.
    - bobthepanda 4y ago
      In fact, in cantonese to say no you would just add negation to ‘yes’. hai/mh hai ‘Hai’ is basically used as yes but it’s actually the verb to be, so essentially yes is more like ‘{subject} is’.
      - SeanLuke 4y ago
        Sure but it's not just haih. For example, if I were to ask you if you have any snakes, in english, you'd say "no". But in Cantonese you'd say "mouh" (effectively mh yauh: "don't have" or "without").
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        Oh okay, I think I get it now. (It's weird to think about grammar sometimes in a language you just grow up with.)
    - derekzhouzhen 4y ago
      No, Cantonese is a prime example of "mh" being only a prefix, not a word by itself. It doesn't even have a vowel. There is no way that you answer a question with just "mh". In Mandarin Chinese the corresponding prefix is "bu", so you can sometimes hear broken Chinese from English speakers answering a question with just "bu".
      - SeanLuke 4y ago
        ??? I'm not saying you can use it on its own as "no" -- indeed that was the whole point of this discussion. But gramatically mh is absolutely a word. Similarly you can't just say "not" on its own except if you're a cast member of Wayne's World. "Not!" But "not" is certainly a word. Also: since when did the presence of a vowel dicate wordness? Next you'll tell me that "ng" (five) isn't a word.
        derekzhouzhen 4y ago
        Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. The more important thing is that you and I both agree that "mh" cannot be used by itself. In Chinese numbers are also prefixed to measure words or classifier. eg; "How many brothers do you have?" No one will answer "m" but "m'go". So, I don't believe in colloquial Chinese that a pure number is a word. You are welcome to disagree. By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. Unless you were talking about Shanghainese, but then is "n". "ng" is a common starting consonant in Cantonese, like "ngao" (cow) or "ngo" (I). but it doesn't have a standard meaning.
        SeanLuke 4y ago
        > Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. Reasonable people can disagree, but I think it's safe to say that mh would be broadly considered a word by most. And anyway, languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken. Indeed many languages have no formal written form (heck, in cantonese there are major grammatical words with no written form at all.) > By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese
  - samatman 4y ago
    Bu is one of maybe thirty words in Chinese I know. You've never been asked "yao bu yao"?
    - shawabawa3 4y ago
      I think you misunderstood what I meant I was saying Chinese has no word for "no" but does have a negation word "bu" instead, so it's not the same as the language featured in the article which has no negation word at all
      - samatman 4y ago
        Yes, on a more careful reading I am able to infer the subject of the sentence, which you elided. Note that both comments replying to you misunderstood in the same way.
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        Yeah I think the English phrasing that would make more sense (at least to me) would be > But there's also a word for negation which is how Chinese gets around not having no
a9h74j 4y ago
If you can negate a verb regarding action, what about a presumed statement of fact. Are there still equivalents of 'true' and 'false'?
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  the verbs "to be" and "to have" are used to make affirmative statements so you would just negate those, which is also valid English. e.g. "Is he coming to the meeting?", instead of "Yes/No", you would basically say "They are/They are not" (Chinese also doesn't really distinguish "him/her" for third person pronouns)
- Rebelgecko 4y ago
  That's how a lot of older Latin does it. For example if the question is "Did you go to the forum today?", the questionee might respond "I did not go to the forum today" (or something more concise like "I didn't go", or if they were being super informal just say the equivalent of "didn't")

There are a lot of languages which don't have words which map neatly onto the English 'yes' and 'no'.

BossingAround 4y ago

Yes, such as Chinese.

shawabawa3 4y ago
But there's also no word for negation which is how Chinese gets around not having no
- SeanLuke 4y ago
  Sure, Chineses has a word for negation. In cantonese, it's "mh", and can be attached to nearly every verb.
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    In fact, in cantonese to say no you would just add negation to ‘yes’. hai/mh hai ‘Hai’ is basically used as yes but it’s actually the verb to be, so essentially yes is more like ‘{subject} is’.
    - SeanLuke 4y ago
      Sure but it's not just haih. For example, if I were to ask you if you have any snakes, in english, you'd say "no". But in Cantonese you'd say "mouh" (effectively mh yauh: "don't have" or "without").
      - bobthepanda 4y ago
        Oh okay, I think I get it now. (It's weird to think about grammar sometimes in a language you just grow up with.)
  - derekzhouzhen 4y ago
    No, Cantonese is a prime example of "mh" being only a prefix, not a word by itself. It doesn't even have a vowel. There is no way that you answer a question with just "mh". In Mandarin Chinese the corresponding prefix is "bu", so you can sometimes hear broken Chinese from English speakers answering a question with just "bu".
    - SeanLuke 4y ago
      ??? I'm not saying you can use it on its own as "no" -- indeed that was the whole point of this discussion. But gramatically mh is absolutely a word. Similarly you can't just say "not" on its own except if you're a cast member of Wayne's World. "Not!" But "not" is certainly a word. Also: since when did the presence of a vowel dicate wordness? Next you'll tell me that "ng" (five) isn't a word.
      - derekzhouzhen 4y ago
        Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. The more important thing is that you and I both agree that "mh" cannot be used by itself. In Chinese numbers are also prefixed to measure words or classifier. eg; "How many brothers do you have?" No one will answer "m" but "m'go". So, I don't believe in colloquial Chinese that a pure number is a word. You are welcome to disagree. By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. Unless you were talking about Shanghainese, but then is "n". "ng" is a common starting consonant in Cantonese, like "ngao" (cow) or "ngo" (I). but it doesn't have a standard meaning.
        SeanLuke 4y ago
        > Because there is no spacing in Chinese so there can be some ambiguity about word boundary. Reasonable people can disagree, but I think it's safe to say that mh would be broadly considered a word by most. And anyway, languages are generally not defined by how they are written, but by how they are spoken. Indeed many languages have no formal written form (heck, in cantonese there are major grammatical words with no written form at all.) > By the way, it is "m" for 5 in Cantonese. It is ngh, low rising tone. I'm sure you can verify this online. https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese https://www.google.com/search?q=5+in+cantonese
- samatman 4y ago
  Bu is one of maybe thirty words in Chinese I know. You've never been asked "yao bu yao"?
  - shawabawa3 4y ago
    I think you misunderstood what I meant I was saying Chinese has no word for "no" but does have a negation word "bu" instead, so it's not the same as the language featured in the article which has no negation word at all
    - samatman 4y ago
      Yes, on a more careful reading I am able to infer the subject of the sentence, which you elided. Note that both comments replying to you misunderstood in the same way.
      - bobthepanda 4y ago
        Yeah I think the English phrasing that would make more sense (at least to me) would be > But there's also a word for negation which is how Chinese gets around not having no

a9h74j 4y ago

If you can negate a verb regarding action, what about a presumed statement of fact. Are there still equivalents of 'true' and 'false'?

bobthepanda 4y ago
the verbs "to be" and "to have" are used to make affirmative statements so you would just negate those, which is also valid English. e.g. "Is he coming to the meeting?", instead of "Yes/No", you would basically say "They are/They are not" (Chinese also doesn't really distinguish "him/her" for third person pronouns)
Rebelgecko 4y ago
That's how a lot of older Latin does it. For example if the question is "Did you go to the forum today?", the questionee might respond "I did not go to the forum today" (or something more concise like "I didn't go", or if they were being super informal just say the equivalent of "didn't")