[Lingtyp] affirmative particles and affirmative answers

[Adam Singerman]

Dear Ion,

Anders Holmberg has a 2016 monograph entitled "The Syntax of Yes and
No." It's couched in a Generative approach but it's still full of data
that may be useful to you! (I have a PDF copy of the book and am happy
to pass it along to you.)

Re: this statement of yours:
"Among the Indo-European languages, some use a dedicated affirmative
particle such as "yes", others don't, using for affirmative answers
the repetition of the verb or of the focused  word, or an adverb with
other uses (so, truly, indeed). The variety of forms and constructions
suggests that the parent language didn't have an affirmative
particle."

Unless we have a concrete theory about how answers to questions can
change over time, I don't believe we can infer from the diversity of
affirmative answers in the modern Indo-European languages anything
concrete about how affirmative answers would've worked in Proto-IE.
Plus, how to respond to answers (with repetition of the verb, with a
particle meaning 'yes,' with an adverb that has other uses) seems like
the exact kind of discourse-situated practice that could be expected
to spread in contact scenarios.

All the best,
Adam