I was reading the Tobira textbook recently and I became a little confused when reading the following passage.
"日本語では、会話をスムーズに進めるために「あいづちをうつ」ということをします。「はい/ええ」「うん」「そうですか」など色々ありますが、これらは ″Yes, I'm following you; please continue.″という意味で、″Yes, I agree.″という意味ではありません。"
More specifically this particular sentence
"これらは ″Yes, I'm following you; please continue.″という意味で、″Yes, I agree.″という意味ではありません。"
From my understanding this sentence means
->"This means "Yes, I'm following you; please continue" and NOT "Yes I agree"."
Is this correct?
The reason I'm confused over this is because despite the clauses being opposite polarity they are using the て/で form.
Normally wouldn't a sentence with opposing polarities be better suited/more natural to using the が particle such that
これらは ″Yes, I'm following you; please continue.″という意味ですが、″Yes, I agree.″という意味ではありません。
Is using the で in the first example the same as using the が in the second example?
Theoretically speaking, if I wanted to negate both clauses would it make sense to use じゃなくて?
これらは ″Yes, I'm following you; please continue.″という意味じゃなくて、″Yes, I agree.″という意味ではありません。
Would it make sense to interpret this sentence as "These do NOT mean "Yes, I'm following you; please continue" and NOT "Yes I agree".
I.E both clauses are negative.
Basically what's troubling me is: is the polarity determined from the ending of each individual relative clause or is the polarity of the entire sentence determined by the ending of the sentence. Because tense IS determined by the sentence final ending, correct?
Thanks