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From: dacosta@natlab.research.philips.com (Paulo da Costa)
Subject: Re: Portuguese phrase
Originator: dacosta@bach
Sender: news@natlab.research.philips.com (USENET News System)
Message-ID: <dacosta.843477889@bach>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 11:24:49 GMT
References: <51sf3n$5be@uwm.edu> <51u497$k1j@news01.aud.alcatel.com>
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven, Netherlands
Lines: 20

In <51u497$k1j@news01.aud.alcatel.com> shhouche@aud.alcatel.com (Stephen H. Houchen) writes:

>>How does the Portuguese phrase *pois nao* come to mean what it does, i.e.
>>"yes indeed."  It seems it ought to be the opposite, and it is hardly
>>possible to consider it a rhetorical question. There is nothing similar in
>>other Romance languages known to me. Does it occur in Catalan or Galician?

>Compare the Spanish phrase "como no", which means "of course".

As a native speaker of Portuguese, I understand "pois nao" (and its
opposite, "pois sim") as rhetorical questions. "Pois" normally
introduces an explanation, so it is, "for (how could the answer be)
no". "Como nao" is the same in Portuguese too.


-- 
      Paulo M. Castello da Costa     /\/\/\  Minha terra tem palmeiras   /\/\/\
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