3 ms·
It's more about resolving the ambiguity of a negative question. Taking GP's example: You don’t like me, do you? If you just answer "yes", it's unclear if yo
by qsort 4y ago
It's more about resolving the ambiguity of a negative question. Taking GP's example:
You don’t like me, do you?
If you just answer "yes", it's unclear if you mean "logical yes" = "It's true, I don't like you" or "semantical yes" = "Why would you say that, I do like you".
French resolves that ambiguity with "si" to mean the latter. In languages like English that don't have the same concept, you would repeat a bit of the question to clarify.
- Wildgoose 4y agoEnglish used to have this distinction using the words "yeah" and "yes" but the distinction in usage has disappeared.
- naniwaduni 4y agoI would generally expect to interpret a "yes" as the former? The "why would you say that, I do like you" seems more like a "no", though troublingly an unqualified "no" probably also implies "No, I don't [like you]." Maybe if spoken with a tone of offense an indignation...