Re: Yes, and yes

 --- H. S. Teoh skrzypszy:

> The answer is, surprisingly, not _ji'e_, but _0so'_.
>
> As some of you may know, _0so'_ is the strong optative marker, usually
> used to indicate the speaker's opinion. For example:
Hehe. Is this a case of anadewism? Because that is more or less what happens in
Russian: "da" normally means "yes", but also serve like an optative marker, for
example in "da zdravtsvujet".
I'm not sure what the relationship is between this "da" and the normal optative
marker "pust'", though. Perhaps one of our Russian speaking friends could
enlighten me here.

> So why is it that _0so'_ would be used in this odd way as an answer to a
> yes/no question, instead of the expected _ji'e_? As my informant explains
> to me, one would not use _ji'e_ in questions like "will you help me?",
> because _ji'e_ means "it is true", and it doesn't really answer the
> question.  _0so'_ on the other hand, in this context, indicates that the
> speaker is saying, "yes, I will help you as I *ought* to."
So what do you answer if asked: "Is it going to rain tomorrow"?

> This interesting feature having been cleared up, I then asked my informant
> what would be the appropriate answer in the negative. It is,
> unsurprisingly, _myso'_, a contraction of _my'e 0so'_ (it is not the case
> that it ought to be). _my'e_, of course, would be an appropriate negative
> answer for true/false questions.
Can _myso'_ on its turn also serve as a negative optative: "May he not ...", "I
should not ..."?

> However, there is another interesting side to _myso'_: if I was told a
> false statement, I would object with a _my'e_, "that is not true". But I
> could also reply _myso'_, which means, "it may be true, but I don't agree
> with it!" So I can either acknowledge, deny, or acknowledge under protest.
Nice feature!

> Such fascinating shades of meaning that these Ebisedi lexicalise. Now in
> an anticipation of impending anadewism, does any conlang/natlang exhibit
> this interesting difference as well? :-)
So it seems ;)

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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