Swedish Answer Particles

[Hol16]

Answer particles are pro-sentential — they stand alone as utterances rather than associating with a host constituent — so they deliberately do not instantiate the host-associated Syntax/Particle core.

Swedish has a three-way answer particle system:

• ja — affirmative ("yes")
• nej — negative ("no")
• jo — polarity-reversing affirmative (contradicts a negative context)

Jo is the paradigm example of a polarity-reversing particle, the same class as German doch and French si. It assigns [+Pol] while presupposing a negative context (negative question or negative assertion).

Swedish is polarity-based: "Dricker han inte?" → "Ja" = "He does drink."

Swedish also allows verb-echo answers alongside particles (mixed strategy).

def Swedish.AnswerParticles.ja : Features.AnswerParticle

ja — standard affirmative. Assigns [+Pol]. Responds only to positive contexts: "Dricker han inte?" → *"Ja" is ungrammatical ([Hol16], p165). Swedish uses jo instead.

Equations

• Swedish.AnswerParticles.ja = { form := "ja", assigns := Features.Polarity.positive, respondsTo := [Features.Polarity.positive] }

def Swedish.AnswerParticles.nej : Features.AnswerParticle

nej — standard negative. Assigns [-Pol]; responds to positive and negative contexts alike.

Equations

• Swedish.AnswerParticles.nej = { form := "nej", assigns := Features.Polarity.negative, respondsTo := [Features.Polarity.positive, Features.Polarity.negative] }

def Swedish.AnswerParticles.jo : Features.AnswerParticle

jo — polarity-reversing affirmative: "Dricker han inte?" → "Jo" = "He does drink". Infelicitous responding to positive questions or out of the blue (no negative context to reverse).

Equations

• Swedish.AnswerParticles.jo = { form := "jo", assigns := Features.Polarity.positive, respondsTo := [Features.Polarity.negative] }

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.jo_is_reversal : jo.IsReversal

jo is a polarity-reversing particle — derived from its assign/respond profile.

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.ja_not_reversal : ¬ja.IsReversal

ja is not polarity-reversing.

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.jo_ja_same_polarity : jo.assigns = ja.assigns

jo and ja both assign positive polarity; only the antecedent contexts differ.

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.ja_jo_complementary : Features.Polarity.negative ∉ ja.respondsTo ∧ Features.Polarity.positive ∉ jo.respondsTo

ja and jo partition the context polarities: ja is blocked where jo is required (negative contexts) and vice versa.

@[reducible, inline]

abbrev Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking : Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Entry

jo — Swedish polarity-reversing affirmative particle. Assigns [+Pol] while contradicting a negative context. Clause-initial or standalone response; not sentence-internal. Correction-only: requires a negative context to reverse. [Hol16]: paradigm example of polarity-reversing particle, same class as German doch and French si.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking_form : joMarking.form = some "jo"

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking_not_sentenceInternal : Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Env.sentenceInternal ∉ joMarking.environments

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking_not_contrastOk : Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Env.contrast ∉ joMarking.environments

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking_correctionOk : Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Env.correction ∈ joMarking.environments

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking_strategy : joMarking.strategy = Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Strategy.polarityReversal

def Swedish.AnswerParticles.allPolarityMarkings : List Semantics.Polarity.Marking.Entry

Equations

• Swedish.AnswerParticles.allPolarityMarkings = [Swedish.AnswerParticles.joMarking]

def Swedish.AnswerParticles.profile : Features.PolarAnswerProfile

Swedish polar answer profile: polarity-based, mixed strategy (particles + verb echo), with polarity reversal (jo).

Equations

• Swedish.AnswerParticles.profile = { system := Features.AnsweringSystem.polarityBased, strategy := Features.AnswerStrategy.mixed, hasPolarityReversal := true }

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.swedish_polarity_based : profile.system = Features.AnsweringSystem.polarityBased

Swedish is polarity-based.

theorem Swedish.AnswerParticles.swedish_has_reversal : profile.hasPolarityReversal = true

Swedish has polarity reversal.