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Interjection

An interjection, sometimes called a filled pause, is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions. Interjections are uninflected function words that express the attitude or emotion of the speaker. They are used when the speaker encounters events that cause these emotions -- unexpectedly, painfully, surprisingly or in many other sudden ways.

The word "interjection" literally means "something thrown in between" from the Latin inter ("between") and jacer ("throw").

Table of contents
1 English
2 Other languages

English

Examples in English include ugh, wow, ouch, scat, alas. Conventions like Hello and Goodbye are also interjections, as are exclamations like Cheers! and Hurray!. In fact, very often they are characterized by exclamation marks depending on the stress of the attitude or the force of the emotion they are expressing. At the beginning of a sentence, Well is an interjection. Much profanity takes the form of interjections (and many other parts of speech). See also expletive.

Interjections can be phrases or even sentences as well as words:

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

English interjection phonetics

Several interjections contains sounds that do not, or very rarely, exist in regular English phonetic inventory. For example,

Other languages

Almost all Chinese interjections are written with the radicalss "mouth" (口) on the left. And the right part is purely phonetic. An exception is eh!.

Popular interjections are:

Interjection plays an important grammatical role in the Cantonese language, such as the sentence-end -ah! that has numerous meanings.