How is oral communication develop on the internet ? In this series on cyberspace philology , Gretchen McCullochbreaks down the latest innovations in online communication .
This is the best fresh manner of ask questions , y / y ? Some example from around the internet show how this method of tag on ay / yto the end of statements is start to be used .
What ’s going on here ? Both of theYs iny / ystand for yes , so " yes or yes " is expect a rhetorical motion , in comparing to " yes or no , " abbreviatedy / n. The matter is , when you in reality spell it out in full , " yes or yes " look a little dissimilar :
Full - on " yes or yes " is often notice with question , as sort of extra reinforcing stimulus that make it into a rhetorical question , while " y / y " tend to be observe with command , making them into questions . In fact , while it sounds OK to say " yes or yes " with a instruction ( " technology is a approving and a curse , yes or yes ? " ) , it sounds downright weird to say " y / y " with a inquiry ( " * do you like lettuce , y / y ? " ) .
And that means that the " y / y " construction is actually something more interesting than just an abbreviation of " yes or yes"—it ’s a new instance of a phenomenon call atag enquiry . A tag head is one spring by adding a light word or musical phrase onto the final stage of a argument . Other ways of forming tag questions in English includeisn’t it , doesn’t s / he , correct , OK , andright .
There are also dedicated news just for take tag questions : in French , you could addhein ? to a financial statement to turn it into a question , while in Portuguese , you’re able to addné?—and some English accent also have dedicated question tags :
Many other languages permit you use the give-and-take for yes or no to shape a tag question . In Russian , for exemplar , you may addда ? ( yes ? ) , whereas in Spanish and Italian you may add¿no?andno?Saying the equivalents in English will still be understood , but it ’s not fully idiomatical — it’ll generally make you sound kind of like a non - aboriginal speaker system :
So with y / y , English is kind of sneaking in the back threshold and letting in a full - fledged tag question based on yes . I ’ve found a few lesson of " no or no " ( Is it too other to start drinking ? no or no ) but I have n’t blot anyone using its tag question , " n / n , " yet .
