The position and meaning of interjections in Ga

Abstract

Interjections have been dealt with in language in various ways either as part of language or as non-words indicating feelings or state of mind. The paper focuses on interjections in Ga, a Kwa language of Niger Congo branch to find out how and what they communicate among the Gas. It attempts to answer the question of whether interjections are part of the Ga language by employing the Relevance theory. Data used were gathered from natural conversations and interviews on some of their uses in Ga such as eh, hmmm, waao, aahh among others. Both secondary and primary interjections were found in Ga. The paper shows that these interjections may occur sentence initial and sentence final. They communicate emotional feelings of the speaker in most instances which confirms what other linguistic scholars have found in literature. Such feelings include surprise, anger, contempt, pleasure, and pain among others. It also shows that interjections are used spontaneously in certain situations or places such as hospitals and playing fields. The stress or emphasis placed on an interjection in speech may also change its communicative meaning as context plays a role in deriving its meaning. Keywords: interjections, relevance, emotional, primary, secondary, intonation