The meanings of interjections in English and Arabic

Abstract EN

The present paper is an investigation into the meanings of interjections in English and Arabic.

The meanings of interjections are identified, analyzed and illustrated through examples.

A comparison between English and Arabic interjections is conducted in an attempt to find out whether equivalents can be found in both languages.

The paper also explores the possibility of semantically classifying interjections in terms of Wierzbicka's semantic formulae.

Wierzbicka classifies interjections into three classes :emotive, volitive and cognitive interjections.

Emotive interjections have the component 'I feel something'.

The volitive interjections have the component 'I want something' .

The cognitive interjections have the component 'I think or know something'.

The results the researchers have arrived at show that one-to-one correspondence between English and Arabic interjections cannot be always found.

A certain English interjection may not have an equivalent interjection in Arabic and vice versa.

In addition, some of the English and Arabic interjections cannot be semantically classified into emotive, volitive and cognitive interjections.

This is because a certain interjection may include more than one of Wierzbicka's components in its meaning.

Thus, it belongs to more than one of her three classes of interjections.