Huh? Mmmhm. Wow! Oh? Ugh. Psst! These randomly placed sounds or words are presented here for a specific reasons: they are all examples of interjections. Interjections are defined as short utterances or sounds that, until recently, were not considered formal words and were provided with little attention or study by linguistic scholars. More recently, however, scholars have redirected their focus to interjections, recognizing them as important linguistic tools that help form connections, provide clarification, and assist in conversational flows.
The lack of interest in interjections can be seen in various ways, but most easily in any language’s dictionary. Dictionaries are resources that contain most, if not all, of the recognized words and their definitions within any given language. Typically, interjections are not contained within these texts. This is because they were considered word noise, and communication specialists viewed them as simple sounds that degraded language and communication and showed the speaker using them as being less intelligent or unprofessional.
This, however, does not match the everyday realities of communication, wherein interjections are voiced quite frequently in all types of conversations. They are an integral part of communication, particularly when one realizes that interjections exist in various languages spoken today. Japanese, Hungarian, Catalan, Egyptian Arabic, and Pite Saami are just a sample of the languages that have their own interjections. They also exist within the English language and their various dialects (e.g., ouch, wow, psst, um, hmm, ouch, pooh, huh).
Work completed by Mark Dingemanse highlights the importance of interjections as he seeks to normalize their study and acknowledge their importance in communication. He has identified specific classifications of interjections, which include expressive, conative, and phatic interjections. Expressive interjections are those, such as ouch or wow, that convey an emotional response. Conative interjects call attention to the speaker, such as when someone uses shh or hey. Phatic interjections are simply interactional words or sounds, such as mmmhm. These all play specific roles in communication, such as being signifiers of continuation within a conversation or clarification of what is being said.
Interjections are integral to communication based on linguistic experiments wherein their use was tested. In one study an individual was given the task of sharing a story with a listener. When the listener used continuation and clarification interjections the speaker provided a rich and detailed story. When the listener did not do so the story being shared lacked detail, often very significantly. This underscores the importance of interjections within everyday language patterns. Failure to include them leaves individuals with the impression that the listener is not actually listening or caring about what the speaker is saying, thereby fracturing the relationship between them.
Despite this demonstrated importance and the existence of interjections among many spoken languages they continue to be overlooked and ignored. This is evident in language learning courses wherein interjections are never discussed and not taught. This creates a situation wherein a language learner can learn to speak the language but will easily be identified as an outsider/non-native speaker due to the nuances of interjections that help establish social bonds. Interjections are also neglected in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) programming, which can help individuals identify a “deep fake” or AI created conversation (or individual conversing in a video or audio recording).
Ultimately, interjections are an important part of communication patterns. They are not simply “noise” or useless words as previously claimed. They aid in collaborative communication and social bonding, and they should not only be acknowledged but further understood to help better realize what it means to be human.
Works Cited
Dingemanse, Mark. "Interjections at the Heart of Language." Annual Review of Linguistics (2024): 257-277. Print.
Holmes, Bob. "Huh? The Valuable Role of Interjections." Sapiens 9 April 2025. Electronic.
Ponsonnet, Maia. "Interjections." The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages (2023): 564-572.
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