# English: yeah - from yea or from yes?



## airelibre

*Moderator note: Split from quoted thread.*



Drink said:


> Well some theories are that "yeah" originated as an alternative of "yea" (which is pronounced like "yay"), I can hardly picture it coming from "yes", but it is also possible.


I would think yes>yeah is more likely than yea>yeah! since the latter is formal, legal language, and the former can be easily explained by lenition/deletion of the final s in [jɛs].


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## Drink

airelibre said:


> I would think yes>yeah is more likely than yea>yeah! since the latter is formal, legal language, and the former can be easily explained by lenition/deletion of the final s in [jɛs].



"Yea" didn't used to be legal language. If it were simply the deletion of the /s/, then I don't understand why the vowel became /æ/ ([jɛs] > [jæ] ?).


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## airelibre

[jæ] as in the vowel in "hat"? I don't think so. To me yeah is just yes without the s. Even in American English, I think.


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## Drink

airelibre said:


> [jæ] as in the vowel in "hat"? I don't think so. To me yeah is just yes without the s. Even in American English, I think.



Yes, the vowel in "hat" (except longer). Maybe some parts of America don't pronounce it that way, but where I live and on national TV, they do. Also, the pronunciation [jɛ], if it were the original one, does not explain the spelling, which then should have been "yeh".


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## arielipi

Drink said:


> Also, the pronunciation [jɛ], if it were the original one, does not explain the spelling, which then should have been "yeh".


But this is english and why have it simple.. ;P


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## Drink

arielipi said:


> But this is english and why have it simple.. ;P



English does have spelling rules, however complicated they may be.


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## Forero

Actually _yes_ is a combination of two words, _yea_ and _sie_ (= let/may it be). I don't know, but perhaps the second syllable of _yeah_ is from another word like _sie_ that was often said just after _yea_.


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## killerbee256

Forero said:


> Actually _yes_ is a combination of two words, _yea_ and _sie_ (= let/may it be). I don't know, but perhaps the second syllable of _yeah_ is from another word like _sie_ that was often said just after _yea_.


That is amazing close to romance si and oïl in it's origin.


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## fdb

I suggest that it might be an idea to look these words up in the OED before making wild guesses. “Yea” and “Yes” go back to Old English, but the former is now archaic or dialectal. The (originally) American “yeah” first occurs (according to the OED) in 1905. It is a relaxed pronunciation of “yes” and does not continue the then already extinct “yea”.


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## merquiades

airelibre said:


> [jæ] as in the vowel in "hat"? I don't think so. To me yeah is just yes without the s. Even in American English, I think.



This is exactly my impression too.   It could have been written "yeh", "yai".  "Yep", which is becoming more popular, is just replacing /s/ with /p/.  All of these have the same vowel as "yes".


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## Wolverine9

merquiades said:


> This is exactly my impression too.   It could have been written "yeh", "yai".  "Yep", which is becoming more popular, is just replacing /s/ with /p/.  All of these have the same vowel as "yes".



The vowel in yes, yeah, and yep (also spelled yup) has a different sound in each word, though.


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## merquiades

Wolverine9 said:


> The vowel in yes, yeah, and yep (also spelled yup) has a different sound in each word, though.



Not for me.  Well, I guess I could make a diphthong "ye-ah" and exaggerate a bit but it does not sound very natural most of the time.

yes is [jɛs], yeah is [jɛ], and yup is [jɛp]


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## Gavril

In my speech (West Coast United States), _yes _is [jɛs], _yeah _is [jæ], and _yup _is [jʌp]. I don't use "yeh" or "yep", though I often see them used in writing.


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## Forero

Where I live, _yeah_ is always two syllables. It starts with the "ye" of "yes" but ends with either a schwa or a vocalized dark "l" sound.


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## Cenzontle

Thank you, fdb, for your sobering reference to the OED (#9).
"A relaxed pronunciation of 'yes'", eh?  
I find this less than satisfying because I don't know of a precedent for final "-s" turning into zero or a schwa-like offglide.
Is there any speculation that "yeah" might be connected with German "ja"?  German immigration to the U.S. peaked in the 1880s.


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## mataripis

There were cases in many languages that h become s.


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## airelibre

mataripis said:


> There were cases in many languages that h become s.


For example? I'm only aware of s becoming h, and then nothing.


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## alexparker20

Before, I just only knew that yea and yes have same meaning. Thanks to this forum. I am learning new things.


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## berndf

Actually not. _Yea _meant in early modern English what _yes _means today. _Yes _was an emphatic forms (_oh yes!_), primarily, but not exclusively, used for expressing disagreement with a negative statement or a negative answer to a negative question, much like French _si_ or German _doch_ (example: Hostess: _Nay, that a' did not_. Boy: _Yes, that a' did; and said they were devils incarnate_; Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene 3). When _yea_ became obsolete, _yes _its emphatic meanings and assumed to meaning of _yea__._


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## Unoverwordinesslogged

What about the: _yah_ in (ok yah)


http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/OK_yah


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