| Yes and no are the standard basic ways in modern English of responding to another person or rhetorically to oneself, yes expressing such notions as affirmation, assent, and agreement, and no such notions as dissent, refusal, and denial. In earlier English, the situation was more complex. Yes and no were used when the stimulus utterance contained a negative word; |
and yea and nay were used when no such word was present. In the following examples from the early scenes of Hamlet, both of these usages can be seen (the negative words are highlighted). |
| Item |
Location |
Stimulus |
Response |
| yes |
Ham I.ii.230 |
Then saw you not his face? |
O yes, my lord |
| yea |
Ham I.v.98 |
Remember thee? |
Yea, from the table of my memory / I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records |
| no |
Ham I.iv.62 |
But do not go with it |
No, by no means |
| nay |
Ham I.ii.76 |
Why seems it so particular with thee? |
‘Seems’, madam? Nay, it is |
This distinction was already breaking down around 1600: yes and
no were beginning to take over all functions, with
yea and
nay becoming restricted to emphatic usage. (They eventually leaving the standard language altogether, though they are still widely used in regional dialects.)
|
Hamlet displays the new system alongside the old (though there are few instances of
yes, as the usual affirmative response in that play is
ay). An example of a ‘self-response’ is given as a comparison (
Ham I.v.135), along with an example from a different play. In each case, there is no negative word in the stimulus utterance.
|
| Item |
Location |
Stimulus |
Response |
| yes |
Ham I.v.135 |
I am sorry they offend you, heartily. |
Yes, faith, heartily. |
| yes |
MM II.iii.25 |
Love you the man that wronged you? |
Yes, as I love the woman that wronged him |
| ay |
Ham I.iv.13 |
Is it a custom? |
Ay, marry, is’t |
| no |
Ham I.v.119 |
Good my lord, tell it |
No, you will reveal it |
| no |
Ham II.i.108 |
have you given him any hard words of late? |
No, my good lord |
Both new and old negative usages can be seen in quick succession in
Ham II.ii.334,ff:
Hamlet:
Are they so followed?
Rosencrantz:
No, indeed are they not.
Hamlet:
How comes it? Do they grow rusty?
Rosencrantz:
Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace.
|
All four words had other functions than direct response.
Nay, for example, could also used as an introductory word, expressive of doubt or reservation, without any direct response being made to the preceding utterance.
|
| Item |
Location |
Stimulus |
Response |
| nay |
Ham I.i.2 |
Who’s there? |
Nay, answer me |
| nay |
Ham II.ii.290 |
[aside] Nay then, I have an eye of you |
wide range of other words and phrases (e.g. content, ha, buzz buzz) could of course also be used as responses: 
DISCOURSE MARKERS; POLITENESS; EXCLAMATIONS