CrossRef
Open Access
2025
Anaphoric polar answers in Gallo‑Romance and West Germanic
Michiel de Vaan
Abstrak
Abstract In several medieval and modern varieties of Gallo-Romance and West Germanic, answers to polar questions may consist of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ followed by a personal or demonstrative pronoun with anaphoric reference. This type of answers is typologically rare, which begs the question of its origin and its possible spread via language contact. The present article reviews the dialectal evidence, especially on the Germanic side, discusses the etymology of the anaphoric responsives, and evaluates the possibilty of their contact-induced origin and spread. In passing, I propose a novel etymology for English yes .
Penulis (1)
M
Michiel de Vaan
Akses Cepat
Informasi Jurnal
- Tahun Terbit
- 2025
- Bahasa
- en
- Sumber Database
- CrossRef
- DOI
- 10.1075/nowele.00097.vaa
- Akses
- Open Access ✓