Yes, I am.

[Ultra Pidgeot]

We all say this.

"Are you Timmy?"

"Yes, I am."

So why can't we just say

"Yes, I'm."

After all, we can say

"No, I'm not"

and

"No, I am not."

So why does the English language keep us from saying

"Yes, I'm."

???

 

[Chebon]

Hmm, hard to explain but the easiest way is that it doesn't make sense.
I'll try to find some info on it, and get back to you.

Thanks.

 

[Senzura]

MINDFUCK

Ill have to actually look into this

 

[Lugion]

Well, I don't believe there's an actual rule stating that. It's just the status quo, like saying "let's" instead of "let us".

 

[Neltharion S. Deathwing]

To me, it's just the way people spoke

 

[Zekurom]

"Yes, I'm."

I guess the English language just doesn't like ending sentences with contractions representing the word "to be".

You don't see "Yes, you're" either. Come to think about it, I think it's because normally when we say a sentence like "Yes, I am", the word "am" is emphasized (stressed), meaning that it shouldn't be in a contraction.

Normally, when putting words into a contraction, the contracted word is one that is normally unstressed. Stressing syllables isn't just important in words, some words are stressed as a whole. (In the poetic line "O truant Muse what shall be thy amends", the words "O", "what", and "be" are unstressed.)

For example, you see people saying "doesn't" for "does not", but you'd be hard pressed to find a person who says "d'snot", or stresses the second syllable (e.g. "No, he doesN'T watch the anime").

So for example, "No, you're not!" and "No, you aren't!" would be two examples of unstressed and stressed words. In both cases, the contracted word ("are" and "not" respectively) is the unstressed one.

 

[$aturn¥oshi]

This topic is probably better suited for a blog.