Fwd: yeah, no

[Sam Raker]

I don't think the "yeah" is 'empty,' although whether its content is 'semantic' is really a question of, well, semantics. My gut instincts tell me the "yeah" contributes something along the lines of, "I can see how you might think that, but..." or a sarcastic "I can see how YOU might think that, but..."

-Sam

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Date: July 20, 2012 12:21:01 PM EDT
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: yeah, no
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: yeah, no
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> And, of course, there's the immortal "Yes, we have no bananas . . . ."
> 
> --Charlie
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Joel S. Berson [Berson at ATT.NET]
> Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 12:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> At 7/20/2012 12:02 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> Ben's links show just how complex "Yeah, no" really is.  There's more than
>> one kind.
> 
> And he's not even including the Japanese response to a question posed
> in the negative.  Which I as a non-native don't understand too.
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
>> JL
>> 
>> On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: yeah, no
>>> 
>>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> On Jul 20, 2012, at 9:28 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Isn't introductory "Yeah" sometimes semantically empty--just a filler
>>> like "Hmm"?  Or perhaps signifying merely '+ politness'?
>>>> 
>>>> --Charlie
>>> 
>>> Maybe sometimes, but not obviously in Jon's example (which isn't unique),
>>> where a simple "No, you're right" would strike me as a bit odd.  I confess
>>> that as a non-native "Yeah, no" speaker, I'm not sure I have a handle on
>>> what it's doing.
>>> 
>>> LH
>>>> ________________________________________
>>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>>> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>>>> Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 9:05 AM
>>>> 
>>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> There it seems to mean, "Yes indeed, and no, I wouldn't think of
>>>> contradicting you."
>>>> 
>>>> JL
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Former NYPD detective on CNN today: "Yeah, no, you're right!"
>>>>> 
>>>>> JL
>>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>> 
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