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 example:
The Finnish language is one language that employs echo answers in response to yes-no questions. It does not answer them with either adverbs or interjections. So the answer to "Tuletteko kaupungista?" is the verb form itself, "Tulemme". Negatively phrased questions are answered similarly. Negative answers use the negative verben in coordination with the infinitive. The negative answer to "Tunnetteko herra Lehdon?" is "En tunne" or simply "En".
The Celtic languages also primarily employ echo answers. Irish and Scottish Gaelic lack the words "yes" and "no" altogether. In Welsh, the words for "yes" and "no" are restricted to specialized circumstances. Like Finnish, the main way in these languages to state yes or no, to answer yes-no questions, is to echo the verb of the question. In Irish, the question "An dtiocfaidh tú?" will be answered with "Tiocfad" or "Ní thiocfad". Similarly, in Welsh, the answers to "Ydy Fred yn dod?" are "Ydy" or "Nag ydy". In general, the negative answer is the positive answer combined with "". As in Finnish, it avoids the issue of what an unadorned "yes" means in response to a negative question. A "yes" response to the question "You don't beat your wife?" is ambiguous in English, but the Welsh response "nag ydw" has no ambiguity.
Although Latin has words for "yes" and "no", it also employs echo answers:
Nōnne Doofus molestus discipulus est?
: "Doofus is an annoying student, isn't he?"
Est.
: "He is."
Num Doofus litterās memoriā tenēre potest?
: "Doofus cannot remember the alphabet, can he?"
Nōn potest.
: "He cannot."
Portuguese
The Portuguese language is the only major Romance language to use echo answers often, even though it has words for "yes" and "no" proper as well. Portuguese will most commonly answer a polar question in the affirmative by repeating the main verb. For example, one would answer the question, "Tens fome?" by simply replying, "tenho". One could also addsim before or after the verb for the use of emphasis or to contradict a negative question, producing "sim, tenho" or "tenho sim". To produce a negative answer to a polar question, the verb is repeated followed by não before or after it. Thus, a negative answer to our above question would be: "Não tenho," "Tenho não" or "Não tenho fome." For emphasis, one could even say, "Não tenho, não."
Chinese
s often employ echo answers. Often, yes-no questions in Mandarin are expressed in the A-not-A form, and are answered with either A or not-A. For example, where Q stands for question, A for affirmative, and N for negative: Q: 你要不要吃桔子？ Nǐ yào bú yào chī júzi?
A: 要。 Yào.
N: 不要。 Bú yào.
Q: 他在不在慢跑？ Tā zài bú zài màn pǎo?
A: 在（慢跑）。 zài （màn pǎo).
N: 不在（慢跑）。 Bu zài （màn pǎo)
In addition, yes-no questions are often formed by adding the particle "吗" to the end of a sentence, in which case the answer can be "是的" or "不是", or "对" or "不对" : Q: 你不上课吗？ Nǐ bu shàng kè ma?
