Balanced vs unbalanced tag questions...?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:03 pm
I was going over this topic with some English students last week and I realised I wasn't sure how it worked in Gaelic.
A question tag is a little question "tagged" on to the end of a statement to request confirmation, eg:
Bidh thusa ann, nach bi? - You'll be there, won't you?
Chan roch thusa ann, an robh? - You weren't there, were you?
The examples above are called "balanced" tag questions -- the verb's positive on one side and negative on the other.
In English, we also have "unbalanced" tag questions, eg:
You were there, were you?
The distinction that is made in English is that a balanced question is used for confirmation of old information, whereas the unbalanced question is used for confirmation of new information.
So if someone says "I saw John at the party last night", you could say "you were there, were you?" because it's new information that you're confirming.
I suspect this holds in Gaelic, but can't find anything about it. Any ideas? I'll keep my ears open for it when I'm speaking to natives in the future....
A question tag is a little question "tagged" on to the end of a statement to request confirmation, eg:
Bidh thusa ann, nach bi? - You'll be there, won't you?
Chan roch thusa ann, an robh? - You weren't there, were you?
The examples above are called "balanced" tag questions -- the verb's positive on one side and negative on the other.
In English, we also have "unbalanced" tag questions, eg:
You were there, were you?
The distinction that is made in English is that a balanced question is used for confirmation of old information, whereas the unbalanced question is used for confirmation of new information.
So if someone says "I saw John at the party last night", you could say "you were there, were you?" because it's new information that you're confirming.
I suspect this holds in Gaelic, but can't find anything about it. Any ideas? I'll keep my ears open for it when I'm speaking to natives in the future....