tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post309348030625603597..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: nolynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-58203996976115752002010-04-22T10:28:18.543+01:002010-04-22T10:28:18.543+01:00Sorry for the derail, but Robbie, I don't thin...Sorry for the derail, but Robbie, I don't think 'so' in Japanese means anything close to what it means in English (besides the two words sounding pretty different to me). As far as I've noticed it's actually a lot closer semantically to 'yes' than 'hai' is, in that it indicates active affirmation and agreement, whereas 'hai' is just acknowledgement that has to be followed by something else to indicate agreement.<br /><br />Anyway, to try and get back on topic, I think in Australia we tend towards the American usage. I certainly can't imagine someone replying 'no' in the same way as 'uh huh' except maybe in a sarcastic "I already knew that" kind of way.Squirrelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-46121204757013699842009-07-06T12:24:53.982+01:002009-07-06T12:24:53.982+01:00I can't say I've noticed this use of "...I can't say I've noticed this use of "no" in the UK, but will start listening more carefully!<br /><br />It is indeed mandatory in Japanese to make frequent aizuchi ("chiming-in" interjections). These include vigorous nodding, saying "hai" or other forms of yes, "so" (same meaning as in English), "so desu ne" ("so it is"), "honto" ("really") etc. None of this necessarily means you agree with what's being said, only that you've heard and understood.Robbienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-40210067477861848682009-05-18T05:20:00.000+01:002009-05-18T05:20:00.000+01:00I'm late responding to this, but I just wanted to ...I'm late responding to this, but I just wanted to say, that you may soon be noticing quirks not only between the differences between Am. English and English English, but perhaps experience first-hand the oddities of a child's acquisition of English.<br /><br />With "no", my three year old is reminding me of a difficulty we had understanding my older son, because he's doing the same thing my older son did at his age. It caused more confusion the first time round and was maybe more pronounced. Let me see if I can remember it accurately. We'd ask him, "do you want this?" And he would say "no". So we would confirm, "you don't want this?" And he would say, "no". Which somehow made us think that he did want it, afterall. As I write it, I wonder if I'm remembering right, or what more there was to it. It was confusing for us, that he would answer "no" the second time, though as I write it, it is understandable so I'm wondering if I'm describing it quite right. We would expect, "Yes, that's right, I don't want it." not "No, that's right..." (BTW, we're American.)Anne t.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-85141094878687454582009-05-07T15:36:00.000+01:002009-05-07T15:36:00.000+01:00Around the end of 2008, I read several reviews of ...Around the end of 2008, I read several reviews of a new biography:<br />'The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius <br />By Graham Farmelo' <br />Among many examples of the strange personality quirks of this brilliant physicist was: 'When I say yes, I am acknowledging that I have heard you, not that I agree with you'. Is this a comment on the inability of his colleagues to understand the distinction - most reviewers have used it to show that Dirac was very odd, almost autistic (a common interest among scientists, as readers of New Scientist will know!).<br /><br />I can definitely think of numerous occasions in UK conversation where I might say 'No, I think you're right' - where 'No' is supporting the other person about their stance on something controversial.biochemistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-35900500323956622342009-05-06T20:18:00.000+01:002009-05-06T20:18:00.000+01:00The BrE use of "No!" to express surprise does not ...The BrE use of "No!" to express surprise does not indicate real disbelief - though perhaps there's an element of transparently feigned disbelief. It's a friendly exclamation, showing that the information conveyed was unexpected, and so interesting. "Well I never!" would roughly fill the same slot.David Younghttp://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/davidy/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-70515927719862480062009-05-06T18:16:00.000+01:002009-05-06T18:16:00.000+01:00it is meant to say "Being" above and not "Bring"it is meant to say "Being" above and not "Bring"billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-5245543138573427162009-05-06T18:15:00.000+01:002009-05-06T18:15:00.000+01:00I gotta say, I love this blog. And I, bring far f...I gotta say, I love this blog. And I, bring far from a lynguist, am actually able to follow most things.<br /><br />But for some reason, this post went zooming so far over my head that I am not even sure I actually read it.billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-82289701330354210622009-05-06T14:32:00.000+01:002009-05-06T14:32:00.000+01:00When said in a friendly way, it might build solida...When said in a friendly way, it might build solidarity, but it's not so much affiliating with what the person said, since it's expressing disbelief.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-31576190457194439092009-05-06T13:54:00.000+01:002009-05-06T13:54:00.000+01:00My feeling is that a very common use of "no" on it...My feeling is that a very common use of "no" on its own in BrE is to express surprise, without disagreement, as in:<br />"Eugene just passed his cycling proficiency."<br />"No!"<br />(when Eugene is well known to be wobbly on a bike).<br /><br />(This seems a little like Anne's first example above, but I don't think it's related to "Oh no!" which expresses quite a different sentiment.)<br /><br />The original statement could equally well be positive or negative. Would this be a simple affiliative use, or is it in a different category?David Younghttp://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/davidy/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54126693637631726562009-05-06T08:37:00.000+01:002009-05-06T08:37:00.000+01:00Oh, should have read the comments first. ;)Oh, should have read the comments first. ;)Roshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02669423378438380019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20673297471867586122009-05-06T08:36:00.000+01:002009-05-06T08:36:00.000+01:00Have you come across the 'Yes, no,' answer? I don...Have you come across the 'Yes, no,' answer? I don't hear this a lot but one or two people I know use it regularly and I have found myself saying it on occasion too.<br /><br />I don't really know what it means but I think it is affiliative.Roshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02669423378438380019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-14127820462574778672009-05-05T18:13:00.000+01:002009-05-05T18:13:00.000+01:00Lynneguist:
When one is Indian, the word "no@ tak...Lynneguist:<br /><br />When one is Indian, the word "no@ takes an altogether different dimension, pregnant with social context and connotations of power, power distance, authority, acquiesence and obedience. <br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/aqnfrd<br /><br />Living in Britain is so much easier to parse for me, than my own country men and women. :-/Shefalyhttp://laviequotidienne.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-27045580729781444682009-05-05T06:32:00.000+01:002009-05-05T06:32:00.000+01:00Excellent blog!! It is extremely interesting to me...Excellent blog!! It is extremely interesting to me as I am a Canadian and am engaged to an Englishman. I lived in England for 3 years (just came home in Dec) and have noticed that I speak differently to people in England than I do people in Canada.girliegeekhttp://girliegeek.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-28362164923295063622009-05-04T23:45:00.000+01:002009-05-04T23:45:00.000+01:00I've heard this sort of thing in BrE:
Quidam: "I ...I've heard this sort of thing in BrE:<br /><br />Quidam: "I don't know if I'm right or wrong..."<br />Dougal: "No, I think you're right".Frugal Dougalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07459572116047155640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54863642189908790112009-05-04T22:50:00.000+01:002009-05-04T22:50:00.000+01:00Thanks for this: I teach non-native speakers and t...Thanks for this: I teach non-native speakers and they not only bring oddities like the 'hai' as anonymous said, but also get confused about pragmatic correctness. I have also thought that Brits are misjudged by Americans because of negative affiliation.Sikander7https://www.blogger.com/profile/16451482856957051138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29841265284803159172009-05-04T17:03:00.000+01:002009-05-04T17:03:00.000+01:00Yeah-no has had some discussion on Language Log, f...Yeah-no has had some discussion on Language Log, for instance <A HREF="http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005523.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>. It is found in the UK too--as indicated by Billy's comment above.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-15457162615983694202009-05-04T16:54:00.000+01:002009-05-04T16:54:00.000+01:00What I've been hearing a lot lately, for negative ...What I've been hearing a lot lately, for negative statements requiring acknowledgment I mean, is "yeah, no." I live in the US, in Texas, but I don't think it's Texas specific - I've heard it on TV quite a bit. (Can't say I noticed that we were all doing this, however, until Language Log posted a column on it 3/3/08). Is the "yeah, no" thing happening in Britain, or is that only an American phenomenon?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13685879787937904046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62056199259358773072009-05-04T10:12:00.000+01:002009-05-04T10:12:00.000+01:00Fascinating stuff. Think I'll show this to my stud...Fascinating stuff. Think I'll show this to my students next year. I'm not very confident about my own intuitions on this but will start listening more carefully (to myself and others). We've had a fair bit of discussion of the use of 'yeah' as a first response to a wh-question ('how are you? 'yeah, I'm fine', 'what did you think of the meal?' 'yeah, it was good') and 'yeah-no' as the start of an utterance, and also recently speculated that this might connect with psycholinguistic work suggesting pragmatic principles are not active for the first microseconds of an utterance.<br />B-)billyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14362296959308192335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56496043351394848092009-05-04T08:58:00.000+01:002009-05-04T08:58:00.000+01:00Can we be really international and bring in the Ja...Can we be really international and bring in the Japanese "hai" (yes). I have been told that when a Japanese person says hai (eg in commercial negotiations), they mean "yes, I've heard you" rather than "yes, I agree with you".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-7863316288483755322009-05-04T08:54:00.000+01:002009-05-04T08:54:00.000+01:00There is a great scene in Fawlty Towers where Sybi...There is a great scene in Fawlty Towers where Sybil is on the phone and making a string of sympathizer comments, which go on for some time - some of these comments may, from memory, be "ooh, I know" rather than "no".<br /><br />One of the usages of "no" is with heavy irony, as in "I watched television last night"; "no! [how fantastic, etc]".<br /><br />My usual, British response to someone asking how I am, is to say "not too bad". When speaking to Americans, I am never quite sure how this response plays to them, and they usually say "great".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-24677770348774211232009-05-04T03:52:00.000+01:002009-05-04T03:52:00.000+01:00"No" can indicate agreement and empathetic sympath..."No" can indicate agreement and empathetic sympathy/horror that borders disbelief.<br /> "My dog just died."<br /> AmE sympathizer, not denying the truth: "No!" [Or, "Oh, no!"]<br /> I haven't heard "No way" recently. It could be used in a similar fashion.<br /> "I just got fired!"<br /> Sympathetic response, as if this is so improbable that it can hardly be believed: "No way!"<br /> In contrast, "no way" can also be used to indicate that something will never happen.<br /> "Think you'll ever work for that creep again?"<br /> Firm response: "No way, man, ain't no way."Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11916187234293845661noreply@blogger.com