LINGUIST List 10.589

Fri Apr 23 1999

Disc: Exclamations and Interjections

Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. James L. Fidelholtz, RE: 10.483, Sum: Exclamations and Interjections

Message 1: RE: 10.483, Sum: Exclamations and Interjections

Karl Reinhardt [remyhal-pc.org] says:

... it occurs to me that Spanish has "Eh?, "Ah?, "Oh?, -Uy!, -Ay!,
-Cataplon! ('Kerplunk'), -Aj~! -Pas pas! (sound of a slap) etc.
etc. ...

Rosa Graciela Montes has an article on the use of many of these
interjections in mother-child interactions, which will shortly appear
in the _Journal of Pragmatics_. Aside from interesting aspects of
their development in the child's language (and, to a lesser extent, in
the mother's), she especially analyzes ah, oh, uh vs. ay, oy, uy,
showing that there is a consistent semantic distinction between V and
Vy. All of these involve 'seeing', while 'eh' seems to involve
'hearing'.

Jim

James L. Fidelholtz			e-mail: jfidelsiu.buap.mx
Maestri'a en Ciencias del Lenguaje
Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades
Beneme'rita Universidad Auto'noma de Puebla, ME'XICO