Defining the indefinable? Interjections

Abstract

Interjections are usually defined as an anomalous grammatical class in most levels of analysis. This paper presents an alternative account of interjections within the frameworks of prototype theory, on the one hand, and grammaticalization, on the other hand. Adopting a prototype approach to grammatical categorization, interjections are better seen as peripheral instances of sentences, since they behave as maximal units of syntax but do not exhibit a subject plus predicate structure. On the other hand. grammaticalization theory accounts for the distinction between primary and secondary interjections and allows to establish the limits between interjections and phrases.