In linguistics, an echo answer or echo response is a way of answering a polar question without using words for yes and no. The verb used in the question is simply echoed in the answer, negated if the answer has a negative truth-value.[1] For examples:
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The Finnish language is one language that employs echo answers in response to yes-no questions. It does not answer them with either adverbs or interjections. So the answer to "Tuletteko kaupungista?" ("Are you coming from town?") is the verb form itself, "Tulemme." ("We are coming."). Negatively-phrased questions are answered similarly. Negative answers use the negative verb en in coordination with the infinitive. The negative answer to "Tunnetteko herra Lehdon?" ("Do you know Mr Lehto?") is "En tunne" ("I don't know.") or simply "En" ("I dont.").[2][3]
The Celtic languages also primarily employ echo answers. Irish and Scottish Gaelic lack the words "yes" and "no" altogether. In Welsh, the words for "yes" and "no" ("ie" and "nage") are restricted to specialized circumstances. Like Finnish, the main way in these languages to state yes or no, in answer to yes-no questions, is to echo the verb of the question. In Irish, the question "An dtiocfaidh tú?" ("Will you come?") will be answered with "Tiocfaidh" ("[I] will come") or "Ní thiocfaidh" ("[I] will not come"). Similarly, in Welsh, the answers to "Ydy Fred yn dod?" ("Is Fred coming?") are either "Ydy" ("He is coming.") or "Nag ydy" ("He is not coming."). In general, the negative answer is the positive answer combined with "nag". As in Finnish, this avoids the issue of what an unadorned "yes" means in response to a negative question. Whilst a "yes" response to the question "You don't beat your wife?" is ambiguous in English, the Welsh response "ydw" has no ambiguity.[3][4][5][6]
Latin, which has no single words for "yes" and "no", also employs echo answers.[7][8][9] For example:[10]
The Portuguese language is the only major Romance Language to regularly make use of echo answers. In spite of having words for "yes" and "no" proper (sim and não respectively.), Portuguese will most commonly answer a polar question in the affirmative by repeating the main verb. For example, one would answer the question, "Tens fome?" ("Are you hungry?" or transliterated as "Do you have hunger?") by simply replying, "Tenho." ("(I) have"). One could also add sim before or after the verb for the use of emphasis, or to contradict a negative question; producing "Sim, tenho." or "Tenho sim.". In order to produce a negative answer to a polar question, you repeat the verb and must also add não before or after it. Thus, a negative answer to our above question would be: "Não tenho.", "Tenho não" or "Não tenho fome.", or for emphasis one could even say, "Não tenho, não."
Mandarin Chinese often employs echo answers.[11]:pp.558-563 Often yes-no questions in Mandarin are expressed in the A-not-A form, and are answered with either A or not-A. For example:
In addition, often yes-no questions are formed by adding the particle ma ("yes or no?") to the end of a sentence, in which case the answer can be shì de ("is (so)") or bu shì ("not is (so)"), or duì ("right") or bu duì (not right"):