Fwd: yeah, no
Sam Raker
sam.raker at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 20 16:58:06 UTC 2012
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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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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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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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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