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Interjection
 
 
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An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence
Sentence (linguistics)

In linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, et...
 and simply expresses emotion
Emotion

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior.Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual point of view....
 on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definition
Definition

A definition is a statement of the Meaning of a word or phrase. The term to be defined is known as the definiendum . The words which define it are known as the definiens ....
s. Filled pauses such as uh, er, um, are also considered interjections. Interjections are generally uninflected
Uninflected word

In the context of morphology , an uninflected word is a word that has no morphological marker s such as affixes, ablaut, consonant gradation, etc., indicating declension or grammatical conjugation....
 function word
Function word

Function words are words that have little lexical Meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammar relationships with other words within a Sentence , or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker....
s and have sometimes been seen as sentence-words, because they can replace or be replaced by a whole sentence
Sentence (linguistics)

In linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, et...
 (they are holophrastic
Holophrasis

Holophrasis is the prelinguistic communication use of a single word to express a complex idea. A holophrase may resemble an interjection, but whereas an interjection is linguistic, and has a specific grammatical function, a holophrase is simply a vocalization memorized by rote and used without grammatical intent....
).






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An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence
Sentence (linguistics)

In linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, et...
 and simply expresses emotion
Emotion

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior.Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual point of view....
 on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definition
Definition

A definition is a statement of the Meaning of a word or phrase. The term to be defined is known as the definiendum . The words which define it are known as the definiens ....
s. Filled pauses such as uh, er, um, are also considered interjections. Interjections are generally uninflected
Uninflected word

In the context of morphology , an uninflected word is a word that has no morphological marker s such as affixes, ablaut, consonant gradation, etc., indicating declension or grammatical conjugation....
 function word
Function word

Function words are words that have little lexical Meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammar relationships with other words within a Sentence , or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker....
s and have sometimes been seen as sentence-words, because they can replace or be replaced by a whole sentence
Sentence (linguistics)

In linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, et...
 (they are holophrastic
Holophrasis

Holophrasis is the prelinguistic communication use of a single word to express a complex idea. A holophrase may resemble an interjection, but whereas an interjection is linguistic, and has a specific grammatical function, a holophrase is simply a vocalization memorized by rote and used without grammatical intent....
). Sometimes, however, interjections combine with other words to form sentences, but not with finite verb
Finite verb

A finite verb is a verb that is Inflection for grammatical person and for grammatical tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs....
s. When an exclamation point is not needed, a comma can take the place.

Interjections are used when the speaker encounters events that cause these emotions — unexpectedly, painfully, surprisingly, or in many other sudden ways. However, several languages have interjections that cannot be related to emotions.

The word "interjection" literally means "thrown in between" from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 inter ("between") and iacere ("throw").

Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion. They are included in a sentence usually at the start to express a sentiment such as surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, or enthusiasm.

Some examples of interjections are "Oh!" and "Wow!".

Examples in English

For a list of English interjections, see the list of English interjections at Wiktionary
Wiktionary

Wiktionary is a multilingualism, World Wide Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. Unlike standard dictionaries, it is written collaboratively by volunteers, dubbed "Wiktionarians", using wiki software, allowing articles to be changed by almost anyone with access to the website....
.


Conventions like Hello
Hello

Hello is a salutation or Greeting habits in the English language. Hello was recorded in dictionaries in 1883....
, Bye, and Goodbye are interjections, as are exclamations like Cheers! and Hurray!. In fact, very often they are characterized by exclamation mark
Exclamation mark

An exclamation mark or exclamation point is a punctuation mark: ! It is usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and often marks the end of a sentence....
s depending on the stress of the attitude or the force of the emotion they are expressing. Well can also be used as an interjection, for example when put at the beginning of a sentence. Much profanity
Profanity

The original meaning of the adjective profane referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g. "The fort is the oldest profane building in the town, but the local monastery is older, and is the oldest sacred building," or "besides designing churches, he also designed many profane buildings"....
 (see also expletive
Expletive

The word expletive is currently used in three senses: syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and "bad language".The word expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", via expletivus, "filling out"....
) takes the form of interjections. Some linguists consider the pro-sentence
Pro-sentence

A pro-sentence is a function word or expression that substitutes for a whole Sentence whose content is recoverable from the context. Pro-sentences are a kind of pro-forms and are therefore Anaphora ....
s yes, no, amen
Amen

The word Amen is a declaration of affirmation found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Its use in Judaism dates back to its earliest texts....
 and okay
Okay

Okay, frequently spelled OK and occasionally okeh is a colloquial English language word denoting approval, assent, or acknowledgment....
 as interjections, since they have no syntactical connection with other words and rather work as sentences themselves. Expressions "Excuse me!", "Sorry!", and similar ones often serve as interjections. Interjections can be phrases or even sentences, as well as words:

As I entered the room — Oh, my gosh! What I saw! — he was still standing there.


Oh dude!


Phonology


Several English interjections contain sounds that do not, or very rarely, exist in regular English phonological
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
 inventory. For example (see help:IPA for key):
  • Ahem , or ("attention!") contains a glottal stop
    Glottal stop

    The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound which is used in many Speech communication languages....
     that is common in German
    German language

    German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
    .
  • Shh ("quiet!") is an entirely consonantal syllable.
  • Ps ("here!"), also spelled psst, is another entirely consonantal syllable-word, and its consonant cluster does not occur initially in regular English words.
  • Tut-tut ("shame..."), also spelled tsk-tsk, is made up entirely of click
    Click consonant

    Clicks are speech sounds such as English tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval, or the tchick! used to spur on a horse. In many languages of southern Africa, and in three languages of East Africa, they are ordinary consonants, found for example in the name of the language Xhosa language....
    s, which are an active part of regular speech in several African language
    Language

    A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
    s. This particular click is dental
    Dental click

    The dental clicks are a family of click consonants found, as constituents of words, only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia....
    .
    There is also a less popular pronunciation .
  • Ugh ("disgusting!") ends with a Spanish
    Spanish language

    Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
     and Gaelic
    Scottish Gaelic language

    Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
     consonant, a velar
    Velar consonant

    Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the Soft palate)....
     fricative.
  • Whew/Phew ("what a relief!") starts with a bilabial fricative
    Voiceless bilabial fricative

    The voiceless bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p....
    , a sound pronounced with a strong puff of air through the lip
    Lip

    Lips are a visible body part at the mouth of humans and many animals. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake, as an erogenous organ used in kissing and other acts of intimacy, as a tactile sensory organ, and in the articulation of speech....
    s. This sound is a common phoneme in such languages as Suki (a language of New Guinea
    New Guinea

    New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
    ) and Ewe
    Ewe language

    Ewe is a Niger-Congo language spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin by over three million people. Ewe is part of a cluster of related languages commonly called Gbe languages, spoken in southeastern Ghana and southern Togo....
     and Logba
    Logba language

    Logba is a Kwa language spoken in the south-eastern Ghana by approximately 7 500 people. The Logba people call themselves and their language Ikpana, which means ?defenders of truth?....
     (both spoken in Ghana
    Ghana

    The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders C?te d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south....
    ).
  • Gah ("Gah, there's nothing to do!"), pronounced how it is spelled, ends with , which does not occur with regular English words.
  • Yeah ("yes") ends with the short vowel , which is not permitted in regular English words.


See also


  • Ejaculation (grammar)
    Ejaculation (grammar)

    In grammar, an ejaculation is an utterance that expresses a feeling outside of the normal language structure. Often, but not always, it is an exclamation, most often consisting of a single word, either an interjection or a profanity or both....
  • Discourse marker
    Discourse marker

    In linguistics, a discourse marker is a word or phrase that is relatively syntax-independent, does not have a particular grammatical function, does not change the meaning of the utterance, and has a somewhat empty meaning....
  • Filler (linguistics)
    Filler (linguistics)

    In linguistics, fillers are sounds or words that are spoken to fill up gaps in utterances. Different languages have different characteristic filler sounds; in English, the most common filler sounds are "uh" "er" and "um"....
  • Aizuchi
    Aizuchi

    Aizuchi is the Japanese language term for frequent interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention and understanding the speaker....
  • Words without vowels
  • List of interjections by language at Wiktionary
    Wiktionary

    Wiktionary is a multilingualism, World Wide Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. Unlike standard dictionaries, it is written collaboratively by volunteers, dubbed "Wiktionarians", using wiki software, allowing articles to be changed by almost anyone with access to the website....
    .
    • Re
      Re

      Re, bre, mor? is an interjection common to the Balkan sprachbund, Turkish language, and Venetian language, with its "locus... more in the Greek world than elsewhere"....
      , bre, moré (with many variants)
    • Ekh (expression)
      Ekh (expression)

      Ekh is a spoken interjection in Russian language and certain other Slavic languages. Ekh-ma is closely related.It is typically spoken by itself or at the beginning of a sentence, and can be used to express wonder, feeling sorry for something, reproach, pride at a just-accomplished feat, and other strong feelings....