38 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ ArtSj and Letters. 



mitted tliat ^^Yes" means ^^Brown is ill." In expressing this 

 meaning, ^'Yes'' might reinstate preceding thought as a total, 

 in two parts or in three. If the last, the most difficult method, 

 be the one pursued, I must find in ^^Yes'' three factors, say (1), 

 (2), and (3), which respectively reinstate "Brovsoi," "is,'' and 

 "ill.'' But the "is," being easily supplied, is therefore often 

 omitted. It may be, then, that "Yes" contains only (1) and 

 (3). Assuming such to be the case, let "Hoc" take the place 

 of (1) and "illud" the place of (3), developing "Hoc— illud," 

 with the understood value of "Hoc est illud," namely, "This 

 (i. e. Bro^vn) is that (i. e. ill)."^ This combination, historically 

 familiar, produced by successive changes, "o — il," "ou — il," 

 "oui." That is, and I argue nothing more, the "oui" is con- 

 ceivable as a simultaneous reinstatement of those preceding 

 thought-factors, which are regarded as most necessary. 



That "hoc" may rather reinstate the whole preceding thought, 

 being merely reinforced by "illud," or vice-versa, I should not 

 seek to disprove ; I would even admit that different minds may 

 have used this linguistic mechanism differently ; I imagine, too, 

 that minds have utilized other expedients for reaching the re- 

 sults accomplished by "yes" and "no." For instance^ such a 

 word as "truly" may add to the power of initiatively suggesting 

 truth the power of reinstating what is conceived to be true ; and 

 such procedure would justify, so far as it goes, the grammatical 

 practice of ranking "yes" and "no" as affirmative and negative 

 adverbs. All that I wish to emphasize is that the affirmative 

 and negative idea, to be of use, must be juxtaposed in mind with 

 what is affirmed or denied. In the case of "yes" and "no" 

 this requirement involves the reinstatement of preceding 

 thought. In the absence of other means, this reinstatement 

 must be effected by these words themselves. That is, the so- 

 called affirmative and negative adverbs express all that is ex- 

 pressed by affirmative or negative propositions. They properly 

 rank then, as others have noted, not as parts of speech, but as 

 sentences. 



XI. THEIR ORIGIN. 



This may very well have been of many kinds. For instance, the ini- 

 tiative may have changed into a vicarious symbol. Conceived as a mere 



>Conf, "That's it.' 



