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. For examples:
- "Did you go to the cinema?" (or "Didn't you go to the cinema?")
- "I did not." or "I didn't go."
Read more about Echo Answer: Finnish, Celtic Languages, Latin, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese
Famous quotes containing the words echo and/or answer:
“Bondage is hoarse and may not speak aloud,
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
With repetition of “My Romeo!””
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Slowly, and in spite of anything we Americans do or do not do, it looks a little as if you and some other good people are going to have to answer the old question of whether you want to keep your country unshackled by taking even more definite steps to do so—even firing shots—or, on the other hand, submitting to be shackled for the sake of not losing one American life.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)