LINGUIST List 12.259

Wed Jan 31 2001

Sum: French "Si"

Editor for this issue: Lydia Grebenyova <lydialinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Ira NOVECK, French "Si"

For Query: Linguist 11.2201

Hello,

I am grateful to the 40 or so people who responded to this query. Here is a
brief summary of the replies:

The following languages were reported (with confidence) to have an
equivalent to "Si" in French:

German 				"doch"

Dutch					"jawel"

"Danish Norwegian"			"jo'"	

Swedish			 	 	"jo"

Icelandic				"ju'"

Finnish					"Kyll�p�"

Hungarian				"dehogynem"

Sorbian					"ju"

Japanese	 			"iie"

Occitan (related to catalan) 		"hoc"	

Arabic					"balaa" stress on first syllable

Eastern Armenian			"inchu che" or "her che"

Other possibilities are Korean and perhaps Portuguese ("sim", at least in
some circumstances).

Interestingly, Quebecois French does NOT have "Si" and a forerunner to
Catalan DID ("hoc") but does not now.
I learned that references conerning this question are Emily Pope: Questions
and Answers in English, Mouton, 1976 and there is some information on the 
question from one of the respondents (Bob Morris Jones) -- Welsh: The Welsh 
Answering System, Mouton de Gruyter 1999, pp. 36-41.

I would like to thank the following people who (easily) identified themselves:
Bill Palmer, Bob Morris Jones, Bruno Estigarribia, Catherine Walter,
Christopher Miller, Daniel Buncic, Ernest N. McCarus, foxmbgeorgetown.edu,
Frank Joosten, Gary H. Toops, Geoffrey Sampson, Hans-Werner Hatting,
Johannes Heinecke, Hank Mooney, John Goldsmith, Karine Megerdoomian, Kevin
R. Gregg, Laurence Horn, Laurent Gautier, Liesbeth Degand, Madalena
Cruz-Ferreira, Mark A. Mandel, Martin Forst, Mar�a In�s Van Messem, Michael
L. Mazzola, Michael Swan, Nancy Salay, Nancy Stenson, Patrick Grommes,
Regina Weinert, Rachel Ricarda (?), Raija Solatie, Rick Mc Callister,
Wolfgang Schellinger, Bill Fletcher, Bill Morris, zappy

Thank you all for a very useful and enlightening experience.

Ira Noveck

Ira Noveck
Institut des Sciences Cognitives
CNRS
67 Blvd. Pinel
69675 Bron FRANCE

Tel. (de la France):	04 37 91 12 68
Tel. (from abroad): + 33 4 37 91 12 68

http://www.isc.cnrs.fr/nov/novmenu.htm
http://www.isc.cnrs.fr/nov/novmenuen.htm