Re: [lojban] reply to a negated selbri

[jcowan@reutershealth.com]

xahlee.org scripsit:

> * it is not well-known how average English speaker responds to negated
> question. (assuming that average English speaker does in fact respone
> in one way.)

Well, it's well-known to native speakers, who are primarily the ones addressed.

> So for example, if someone asks:
> 
> This is not white?
> 
> and i wanted to reply that it is white, i think average English speaker
> would answer "yes". (more likely: "that's right!").

Not at all.  The answer would be "no" in this case, i.e. "No, that is not
white".  The presence of "not" in the question is completely disregarded.
In the other case, one says "It *is* white", as "Yes" by itself would be
confusing: one might instead say "On the contrary".

This pattern varies from one language to another.  In Russian and
Japanese, one replies "logically":  "yes" means "Yes, that is not white",
and "no" means "No, that is white".  In French and German as in English,
"non/nein" means "No, that is not white", but the affirmative form is different
from the regular affirmative ("si" instead of "oui" in French, "doch"
instead of "ja" in German).

> According to the "What is lojban" paragraph cited above, if we have
> a conversation thus:
> A: "xu ti na blabi"
> B: "na go'i"
> 
> what B is means is that "it is not white". Am i right here?

Yes, you are right.

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