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29. Semitic Influence in Celtic? Yes and No *1 29. Semitic influence in Celtic? Yes and No *1 Abstract Filppula (1999) explains the sparing use of Yes and No made in Irish English as a result of language contact: Irish lacks words for 'Yes' and 'No' and substitutes what Filppula calls the Modal-only type of answer instead. This usage is carried by Irish learners of English from their native language into the target language. In my paper on Yes and No in the history of English (Vennemann 2009a), I explain the rela­ tively sparing use the English make of Yes and No and the use instead of the Mo­ dal-only type of short answer [(Yes,) I will, (No,) I can't, etc. I likewise as a contact feature: Brittonic speakers learning Anglo-Saxon earned their usage essentially the same as in Irish from their native language into the target language. In the present paper I deal with the question which is prompted by this explanation: How did Insular Celtic itself develop this method of answering Yes/No-questions with Modal-only sentences? The best answer to this question would be one which uses the same model, namely reference to substrata in this case, pre-Celtic substrata - of the Isles. Fortunately there exists a theory of such substrata: the Hamito-Semitic theory of John Morris Jones (1900) and Julius Pokorny (1927-30). Accounting for the Insular Celtic response system in terms of these substrata would yield another instance of what I have called the transitivity of language contact in Vennemann 2002d and illustrated with the loss of external possessors in Vennemann 2002c. Therefore I have established, for the most part with the assistance of professional Semitists, that in the ancient Hamitic and Semitic languages, decision questions were indeed answered in ways that may have set a pragmatic model first for Insular Celtic and then, by transitivity, for Standard English and the "Celtic Englishes". 29.1. Introduction In section 7.2 of his book The Grammar of Irish English (FilppuIa 1999: 160-167), Markku FilppuJa describes the way decision questions, i.e. Y es/No~questions, questions that may be answered by Yes or No in Standard English, are typically answered in Irish English and explains it by substratal influence of Irish on the English spoken in Ireland by native speakers of Irish and their descendants: Modern Irish, Jacking words meaning 'yes' or 'no', instead possesses a system of answering Yes/No-questions by short sentences consisting of a positive or negative auxiliary or modal verb in the appropriate tense, mood, person and 624 Yes and No number, accompanied by a personal pronoun where needed; and speakers of Irish when speaking English carried this habit into their new language, answering Yes/No-questions in what Filppula calls the "'Modal-only'" way, i.e. with short sentences such as (He is the teacher?) He is; (Don't you like that chair?) I don't; (He doesn't own this book?) He doesn't; (Do people eat it still?) They do; (Are you telling me their names?) I amn't. The answer may also consist of the main verb or a full sentence, either in addition to a Modal-only response or by itself: (D 'you have the song?) I haven't, I have only the openin' line of it; (So you belong to that parish?) Belong to that parish. In Vennemann (2009a), I point out that Standard English uses a similar system, differing mostly by a more frequent use of Yes and No, either by itself or in addition to the Irish English Modal-only type of response, e.g. (Are you ready now?) I am / Yes, I am; (Won 'f Ed be coming?) He won't / No, he won't; (Did the others help you?) They did not 1164/ No. they did not (cf. Ungerer et al. 1984: 27). I there explain this Standard English answering system, which differs markedly from the inherited Germanic answering system, the simple response with words for 'yes' and 'no', by substratal Brittonic influence, Welsh possessing essentially the same answering system as Irish. In the Indo-European languages we find various kinds of answering systems, such as the particle type like German Ja 'yes' and Nein 'no' and sentential structures like Latin Ita est 'so it is' and Ita non est 'It is not so'. But the Insular Celtic type of Modal-only response is unique in the family, as far as I know. Therefore it requires an explanation setting it apart from Indo-European, just as English required an explanation setting it apart from Germanic. Of course, the best explanation would be one modeled on that given for English. Since working with an assump­ tion of language contact has led to success in the case of Irish English and Standard English, it would be unfortunate if we had to look for a different explanatory strategy in the case of Irish and Welsh. Scientific methodology would certainly favor a uniform approach to this set of problems. Fortunately the ground for such a parallel explanation of the Insular Celtic response system has already been laid. Celtologists such as John Morris Jones (1900) and Julius Poklorny (1927-30) as well as several other scholars since then" have developed a theory that explains a num­ ber of structural developments of the Insular Celtic languages as conse­ quences of substratal influence by Hamito-Semitic languages spoken in the Isles before the advent of the Indo-European Celts; cf. the catalog of such features based on Pokorny's work (the "Pokorny list") in Ven­ nemann (2002d, 323-326). Quite specifically Pokorny attributes one Yes and No 625 concomitant of such a development, the loss of words for 'yes' and 'no', to this substratal influence, and he gives further hints to which I return further below. 3 1m Neuirischen gibt es keine Worte fUr "ja" und "nein"; in diesem FaIle muS die Antwort in der Regel stets in Form eines Satzes, bzw. Verbums erfolgen. Auch wenn die Antwort in unbestimmter Form erfolgt, muB sie stets die Form cines ganzen Satzes haben. Auf die Frage "Cad e an nul e sin?" 'Was ist dasTantwortet man nicht Leabhar 'ein Buch', sondem Leabhar is eadh e oder Is leabhar e 'es ist ein Buch' .... GemaB den Beispielen aus dem Schottisch-Galischen, die mir Prof. Watson freundlichst schickte, erfolgt hier die Antwort noch haufiger als im lrischen in Form eines ganzen Satzes .... 1m Altirischen gibt es allerdings noch Worte ftir "ja" (t6) und "nein" (naiee), aber im Lauf der Entwicklung hat sich das nichtidg. Idiom immer 1165 mehr durchgesetzt. Die Tendenz, mit einem ganzen Satz zu antworten, zeigt sich aber schon altirisch .... Die Tatsache, daB die air. Worte flir "ja" und "nein" vollig verschwunden sind, weist uns darauf hin, daB wir in dem neuir. Bmuche keine archaische idg. Gewohnheit suchen dUrfen, obwahl vielleicht auch idg. einst die Antwort in Form eines Satzes, wenn auch meist verkUrzt, erfolgt sein dtirfte; wir haben hier einen der einleitend erwahnten Hille, wo voridg. Sprachgewohnheit erst spater mit dem Untergang der herrschenden Kaste zur Herrschaft gelangt ist. Hochstens kann es sich hier darum handeln, daB die alte idg. Gewohnheit durch den EintluS des primitiveren Substrates erhalten blieb. Heute gibt es ja auBerhalb des Keltischen keine idg. Sprache, die in der Antwort die Satzform so haufig erforderte. (Pokorny 1927-30: 16,236-238) lIn Modern Irish there are no words for "yes" and "no"; in this case the answer as a rule has to be given in the form of a sentence, or a verb ... , Even if the answer is given in an indefinite form it always has to take the form of an entire sentence, The answer to the question "Cad If an ruti e sin?" 'What is that?' is not Leabhar 'a book' but Leabhar is eadh e or Is leabhar e 'It is a book' .... The examples from Scottish Gaelic that Prof. Watson most kindly sent me show that there the answer takes the form of a whole sentence even more fre­ quently than in Irish .... It is true that Old Irish still possesses words for "yes" (t6) and "no" (naice), but in the course of its development the non-Indo-European idiom increasingly got the upper hand, However, the tendency to answer with a whole sentence shows itself even in Old Irish, .,. 626 Yes and No The fact that the Old Irish words for "yes" and "no" have entirely disappeared makes it clear that we must not consider the Modem Irish usage an archaic Indo-European habit, even if perhaps in Indo-European the answer was originally given in the form of a sentence, though shortened most of the time. Rather we have here one of the cases, mentioned above by way of introduction [in Pokorny 1927-30: § I, esp. page 103f.], where pre-Indo-European linguistic habits only became dominant with the decline of the ruling caste. At best the old Indo-European habit was preserved through the influence of the more primitive substratum. Nowadays there isn't a single Indo-European language outside Celtic that would so often require answers to take the form of sentences. I In the following sections I would like to add plausibility to Pokorny's suggestion that properties of the assumed pre-Celtic substrata of the Isles have something to do with the development of the Insular Celtic re­ sponse system. Since I am not a specialist in the Hamito-Semitic lan­ guages, and since I learned fairly early that there exist no specialized studies of Hamito-Semitic response systems, I turned to colleagues for help. These rl66 colleagues most generously provided me with such a wealth of information, while at the same time allowing me to cite them verbatim, that the following pages may at the same time be read as a first brief introduction into the response system of some Hamito-Semitic lan­ guages.
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