The syntax of interjections in isiXhosa : A a corpus-driven study

Abstract

This paper examines the syntactic properties of interjections in isiXhosa and their compliance with the interjectional prototype and its extra-systematicity as postulated in linguistic typology. By reviewing nearly two thousand uses of interjections in the comic genre, the authors conclude the following: in its integrity, the category of interjections is internally complex and diversified, containing members with varying degrees of canonicity and extra-systematicity. Although in various uses interjections comply with the interjectional prototype, and being extra-systematic in many others, their canonicity and extra-systematicity are significantly lower.

Keywords

• african languages
• isixhosa
• interjections
• syntax
• comics
• extra-systematicity