yes and no

[Michael Daniel]

Hi everybody

Russian "da" seems to be non-derived, while Russian "net" is 
historically complex, derived from "not is here" (at least according to 
Vasmer, who seems to follow the tradition); the latter etymology is 
completely opaque to the speakers, synchronically.

Bagvalal (Andian, Nakh-Daghestanian) uses negative copula for 'no' and 
ananalyzable (at least synchronically) one phoneme word for 'yes' (and 
some words also having other usages, as 'then').

Archi (Lezgic, Nakh-Daghestanian) uses negative copula for 'no', too.

In the Caucasus what apparently is a non-phonological click is also 
commonly used for 'no'.

Michael Daniel