Editing Interrogative (section)

==Responses==
{{Further information|Question|Yes and no|Yes–no question}}
Responses to questions are often reduced to [[ellipsis (linguistics)|elliptical sentence]]s rather than full sentences, since in many cases only the information specially requested needs to be provided. (See [[Answer ellipsis]].) Also many (but not all) languages have words that function like the English [[yes and no|'yes' and 'no']], used to give short answers to yes–no questions. In languages that do not have words compared to English 'yes' and 'no', e.g. Chinese, speakers may need to answer the question according to the question. For example, when asked {{lang|zh|喜歡喝茶嗎？}} (Do you like tea?), one has to answer {{lang|zh|喜歡}} (literally 'like') for affirmative or {{lang|zh|不喜歡}} (literally 'not like') for negative. But when asked {{lang|zh|你打籃球嗎？}} (Do you play basketball?), one needs to answer {{lang|zh|我打}} (literally 'I play') for affirmative and {{lang|zh|我不打}} (literally 'I don't play') for negative. There is no simple answering word for 'yes' and 'no' in Chinese. One needs to answer the yes–no question using the main verb in the question instead.

Responses to negative interrogative sentences can be problematic. In English, for example, the answer "No" to the question "You don't have a passport?" may confirm the negative, i.e. it means that the responder does not have a passport, but on the other hand, it can also imply that the responder does have a passport. Most often, a native speaker would also state an indicative sentence for clarification, i.e. "No, I don't have a passport," or even "No, I do have a passport," the latter most likely being used if the question were phrased, "Do you not have a passport?" which would connote serious doubt. However, in some other languages, such as Japanese, a negative answer to a negative question asserts the affirmative – in this case that the responder does have a passport. In English, "Yes" would most often assert the affirmative, though a simple, one-word answer could still be unclear, while in some other languages it would confirm the negative without doubt.<ref>Farkas and Roelofsen (2015)</ref>

Some languages have different words for "yes" when used to assert an affirmative in response to a negative question or statement; for example the French {{lang|fr|si}}, the German {{lang|de|doch}}, and [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] or [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ''jo''.

Ambiguity may also arise with choice questions.<ref name="Gutiérrez-Rexach">{{cite book |title=Semantics |author=Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach |pages=410&ndash;411 |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-26637-8}}</ref> A question like "Do you like tea or coffee?" can be interpreted as a choice question, to be answered with either "tea" or "coffee"; or it can be interpreted as a yes–no question, to be answered "yes (I do like tea or coffee)" or "no (I do not like tea or coffee)".