Saying Yes without Yes: The Positive Response System in Latin

Abstract

AbstractThe article studies a set of three positive response strategies in Latin: the echo response and the positive response particles ita and sic. It aims to determine their functions and division of labour and to establish what kind of agreement strategy existed in Latin, based on the typology of positive response systems by Sadock and Zwicky (1985). The main data for the study are drawn from the comedies of Plautus and Terence. Based on their position in an utterance, an attempt is made to determine whether the occurrences of ita and sic can be considered positive response particles, comparable to modern positive response particles, such as yes. By comparing the antecedents which trigger the response strategies studied here, it is shown that they are not interchangeable and that the echo response is the default positive response strategy, while ita and sic have a limited use, at least in the Latin of Plautus and Terence. The dynamic‐diachronic section shows that both the echo and non‐echo responses originate in the so‐called sentence answer.