c) Interaction of logical and emotive meanings

37 
fact the term neutral came to be used in order to distinguish the unemotional 
communication from the emotional or otherwise distinguishable non-neutral forms of 
communication. Both words and constructions of an emotional character have a stylistic 
significance only when they are set against the non-emotional. Thus, for instance, 
interjections, which are erroneously referred to as parts of speech are, in fact, signals of 
emotional tension. They must be regarded as expressive means of the language and as 
such may be effectively used as stylistic devices in the proper context. 
Interjections and Exclamatory Words 
Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings strongly and which 
may be said to exist in language as conventional symbols of human emotions. The role of 
interjections in creating emotive meanings has already been dealt with. It remains only to 
show how the logical and emotive meanings interact and to ascertain their general 
functions and spheres of application. 
In traditional grammars the interjection is regarded as a part of speech, alongside 
other parts of speech, as the noun, adjective, verb, etc. But there is another view which 
regards the interjection not as a part of speech, but as a sentence. There is much to uphold 
this view. Indeed, a word taken separately is deprived of any intonation which will suggest 
a complete idea, that is, a pronouncement; whereas an interjection will always manifest a 
definite attitude on the part of the speaker towards the problem and therefore have 
intonation. The pauses between words are very brief, sometimes hardly perceptible, 
whereas the pause between the interjection and the words that follow it is so long, so 
significant, that it may be equaled to the pauses between sentences. 
However a closer investigation into the nature and functions of the interjection 
proves doubt that the interjection is not a sentence; it is a word with strong emotive 
meaning. The pauses that frame interjections can be accounted for by the sudden transfer 
from the emotional to the logical or versa. Further, the definite intonation with which 
interjections are pronounced depends on the sense of the preceding or following sentence. 
Interjections have no sentence meaning if taken independently. 
Let us take examples of the use of interjections: 
Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers? (Kipling) 
The interjection ‘oh’, by itself may express various feelings, such as regret, despair, 
disappointment, sorrow, woe, surprise, astonishment, lamentation, entreaty and many 
others. Here it precedes a definite sentence and must be regarded as a part of it. It denotes 
the ardent tone of the question. The ‘Oh’ here may be regarded, to use the terminology of 
theory of information, as signal indicating emotional tension in the following utterance. 
The same may be observed in the use of the interjection ‘oh’ in the following 
sentence from “A Christmas Carol” by Dickens: 
The ‘Oh’ here is a signal indicating the strength of the emotions of the author which 
are further revealed in a number of devices, mostly syntactical, like elliptical sentences, 
tautological subjects, etc. The meaning of the interjection ‘Oh’ in the sentence can again 
be pinned down only from the semantic analysis of the sentence following it and then it 
become clear that the emotion to be understood is one of disgust or scorn. 
So interjections, as it were, radiate the emotional element over the whole of the 
utterance, provided of course, that they precede it. 

38 
It is interesting to note in passing how often interjections are used by Shakespeare in 
his sonnets. Most of them serve as signals for the sestet which is the semantic or/and 
emotional counterpart to thee octave,
for example: 
“O, carve not with thy hors …”
(Sonnet 19) 
“O, Let me, true in love, but …” 
(21) 
“O, therefore, love be of thyself…”
(22) 
“O, let my books be,, then, the…”
(23) 
“O, then vouchsafe me…” 
(32) 
“O, absence, what a torment…” 
(39) 
“O, no! Thy love, though much…”
(61) 
“O, fearful meditation…” 
(65) 
“O, if I say, you look…”
(71) 
“O, lest your true love…” 
(72) 
“O, know, sweet love…”
(76) 
“Ah, do not, when my heart…”
(96) 
Interjections can be divided into primary and derivative. Primary interjections are 
generally devoid of any logical meaning. Derivative interjections may retain a modicum of 
logical meaning, though this is always suppressed by the volume of emotive meaning. Oh! 
Ah! Bah! Pooh! Gosh! Hush! Alas! Are primary interjections, though some of them once 
had logical meaning.‘Heavens!’ ‘good gracious!”, “dear me!’, ‘God!’, ‘Come on!’, ‘Look 
here!’, ‘dear!’ ‘by the Lord!’, ‘God knows!’, ‘Bless me!’, ‘Humbug!’ and many others of 
this king are not interjections as such; a better name of them would be exclamatory words 
generally used as interjections, i.e., their function is that of the interjection. 
It must be noted here that some adjectives and adverbs can also take on the function 
of interjections – for example, such words as terrible!, awful!, great! wonderful! splendid! 
fine! and the like. With proper intonation and with an adequate pause such as follows an 
interjection, these interjections. In that case we may say that some adjectives and adverbs 
have acquired a grammatical meaning, that of the interjection. 

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