Re: Interjections

Quoting "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...>:

> On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 18:49:13 -0500, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
>
> >Plus, of course, interjections follow the basic phonology of their
> >languages - ISTR that the French equivalent of the stereotypical
> >"oof" (e.g. getting punched in the stomach) has either a [2] or a [9] in
> >it.
>
> Interjections may often follow the basic phonology of their languages, but
> there are many samples of conventional interjections that go beyond it.
> English, for instance, may have /?/ in several interjections, even though
> this sound is alien to the English phonology (e.g. in the negation
> interjection ['?@?@], or even ['?m)m_^?m)m_^], the same but with the mouth
> shut, which has much more unusual sounds).
Of course, there's plenty of varieties of English to whom [?] isn't alien at
all. It would be interesting to know if interjections like those you mention
are more common in such than others, or derive from such.

                                                      Andreas