Years ago during a wonderful visit of my mother from California, we were planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast. Until the last minute our trip was uncertain due to my husband's difficulty in getting away from work. Mother, SO excited and hopeful about the trip, anxiously asked Maurizio when he returned for lunch: "So can we go?", "Are we leaving this afternoon?", "Can we stay for several days?". To each of her can't wait-for-the-answer questions, Maurizio responded the very common Italian way: "Si - no?". Frustrated after hearing repeatedly this "Si - no?" she turned to me and with annoyed exasperation asked me: "Mary, are we going or not? Is the answer Yes or No ? Using the inflected word "no" to confirm the "si" made no sense to her!!!!!
In the Italian dialogue, the only words which stood out, which registered with her, were "Si - no". Naturally she didn't catch the inflected voice, a nuance which took years for her to "hear", so she was absolutely clueless as to the positive answer to her questions!
Every time I hear this response to a question or use this inflected voice "Si - no?" as my own answer to a question, I think of my mother's utter confusion AND of the strangeness of this linguistic usage. Over the years other English speaking guests have noticed and been confused by this "Yes, no?".
I wonder if other languages use this negative affirmation of a positive? Perhaps I will hear from some of you with the answer, "Si - no?"
