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Yes and no are two words for expressing the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in modern English. English originally used a four-form system up to and including Early Middle English but Modern English has reduced this to a two-form system consisting of just 'yes' and 'no'. Some languages do not answer yes–no questions with single words meaning 'yes' or 'no'. Welsh and Finnish are among several languages that typically employ echo answers (repeating the verb with either an affirmative or negative form) rather than using words for 'yes' and 'no', though both languages do also have words broadly similar to 'yes' and 'no'. Other languages have systems named two-form, three-form, and four-form systems, depending on how many words for yes and no they employ. Some languages, such as Latin, have no yes-no word systems. The words ''yes'' and ''no'' are not easily classified into any of the eight conventional parts of speech. Although sometimes classified as interjections, they do not qualify as such, and they are not adverbs. They are sometimes classified as a part of speech in their own right, sentence words, word sentences, or pro-sentences, although that category contains more than ''yes'' and ''no'' and not all linguists include them in their lists of sentence words. Sentences consisting solely of one of these two words are classified as minor sentences. The differences among languages, the fact that in different languages the various words for ''yes'' and ''no'' have different parts of speech and different usages, and that some languages lack a 'yes-no' word system, makes idiomatic translation difficult. == English grammar classification == Although sometimes classified as interjections, these words do not express emotion or act as calls for attention; they are not adverbs because they do not qualify any verb, adjective, or adverb. They are sometimes classified as a part of speech in their own right: sentence words or word sentences. This is the position of Otto Jespersen, who states that "'Yes' and 'No' () are to all intents and purposes sentences just as much as the most delicately balanced sentences ever uttered by Demosthenes or penned by Samuel Johnson." Georg von der Gabelentz, Henry Sweet, and Philipp Wegener have all written on the subject of sentence words, Wegener calling them "Wortsätze". Both Sweet and Wegener include ''yes'' and ''no'' in this category, with Sweet treating them separately from both imperatives and interjections, although Gabelentz does not. Watts classifies ''yes'' and ''no'' as grammatical particles, in particular ''response particles''. He also notes their relationship to the interjections ''oh'' and ''ah'', which is that the interjections can precede ''yes'' and ''no'' but not follow them. ''Oh'' as an interjection expresses surprise, but in the combined forms ''oh yes'' and ''oh no'' merely acts as an intensifier; but ''ah'' in the combined forms ''ah yes'' and ''ah no'' retains its standalone meaning, of focusing upon the previous speaker's or writer's last statement. The forms '' *yes oh'', '' *yes ah'', '' *no oh'', and '' *no ah'' are grammatically ill-formed. Aijmer similarly categorizes the ''yes'' and ''no'' as ''response signals'' or ''reaction signals''. Ameka classifies these two words in different ways according to context. When used as back-channel items, he classifies them as interjections; but when they are used as the responses to a yes-no question, he classifies them as formulaic words. The distinction between an interjection and a formula is, in Ameka's view, that the former does not have an addressee (although it may be directed at a person), whereas the latter does. The ''yes'' or ''no'' in response to the question is addressed at the interrogator, whereas ''yes'' or ''no'' used as a back-channel item is a ''feedback usage'', an utterance that is said to oneself. However, Sorjonen criticizes this analysis as lacking empirical work on the other usages of these words, in addition to interjections and feedback uses. Bloomfield and Hockett classify the words, when used to answer yes-no questions, as ''special completive interjections''. They classify sentences comprising solely one of these two words as minor sentences.〔 Sweet classifies the words in several ways. They are sentence-modifying adverbs, adverbs that act as modifiers to an entire sentence. They are also sentence words, when standing alone. They may, as question responses, also be absolute forms that correspond to what would otherwise be the ''not'' in a negated echo response. For example, a "No." in response to the question "Is he here?" is equivalent to the echo response "He is not here." Sweet observes that there is no correspondence with a simple ''yes'' in the latter situation, although the sentence-word "Certainly." provides an absolute form of an emphatic echo response "He is certainly here." (Many other adverbs can also be used as sentence words in this way.) Unlike ''yes'', ''no'' can also be an adverb of degree, applying to adjectives solely in the comparative (e.g. ''no greater'', ''no sooner'', but not ''no soon'' or ''no soonest''), and an adjective when applied to nouns (e.g. "He is no fool." and Dyer's "No clouds, no vapours intervene.")〔 Grammarians of other languages have created further, similar, special classifications for these types of words. Tesnière classifies the French ''oui'' and ''non'' as ''phrasillons logiques'' (along with ''voici''). Fonagy observes that such a classification may be partly justified for the former two, but suggests that ''pragmatic holophrases'' is more appropriate.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「yes and no」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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