Talk:Interjections

Is this a part of speech?

I think that this is a question of how words and phrases are used, rather than a category of word. I'd call "mu" and "pakala" semiparticles at best, but in general any content word can be used as an interjection. And phrases like "kama pona" aren't a part of speech but a special way of forming an utterance. In short, confusion. JPeton (talk) 17:35, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

you misunderstand what semiparticles are. they function as particles (mark grammatical and syntatical function) but have semantic value (meaning). meaning that both mu and pakala are squarely defined as content words.

about whether they should be considered a part of speech, for now I'm keeping them, as kala kala analysed them as such. perhaps they are because they group both content words (pona, ike, mu) and particles (a, o), and also grammatically they are a bit different (only words that take up a whole sentence). SnpoSuwan (talk) 17:46, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

prepositions

This might be tricky to talk about, but it is in use: prepositional phrases and phrases+prep phrases are also in this ~domain of interjections. Probably also phrase+en+phrase.

I was also going to suggest mentioning how interjections interact with non-sentence la... but that's such uncharted territory... Jan Ke Tami (talk) 00:36, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

ooh, and answers are interjections too Jan Ke Tami (talk) 00:36, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree with you on all counts -- what would make good examples of what you mean?

non-sentence la:

sina toki la pona　

sina toki la pona.

It's great if you speak.

answers:

sina moku e seme?
(e) kili　

sina moku e seme?
(e) kili.

What are you eating?
A fruit.

JPeton (talk) 03:22, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

Examples for what I meant:

interjections with prepositions

soweli a

soweli a

Kitty!

moku kepeken kiwen pi(moku ala)

pali moku kepeken kiwen pi moku ala

Stone Soup

tawa ma mani

tawa ma mani

A sponsored rallye (non-interjection meaning)

tawa ma mani

tawa ma mani

The Road to El Dorado (interjection meaning)

interjections with en

soweli a

soweli a

Kitty!

soweli en waso a

soweli en waso a

Kitty! And a birb!!

lipu li toki e ijo mute
kiwen en ko en telo en kon

lipu li toki e ijo mute
kiwen en ko en telo en kon

The book describes many things:
Dwarves and slimecubes and water elementals and ghosts

interjections interacting with la

soweli la mi pali

soweli la mi pali

I work so that my dog feels good

tawa soweli la mi pali

tawa soweli la mi pali

I work so that my dog feels good

soweli en kala la mi pali

soweli en kala la mi pali

I work so that my dog and my bat feel good

soweli anu waso la mi pali

soweli anu waso la mi pali

I work so that my dog or my bat feel good, depending on which one of them has fallen ill again

soweli lon tomo ante la mi pali

soweli lon tomo ante la mi pali

I work so that my dog feels good while my neighbour is taking care of her

More dubious (I don't use it):

soweli lon tomo en waso lon ma la mi pali

soweli lon tomo en waso lon ma la mi pali

I work so that my dog feels good while she's in the shed and so that my bat feels good while he's in the garden

So the way I analyse this is that if what comes before "la" is not a full sentence, it must be an interjection. But that's not an analysis that everyone will agree on, it just fits into how I use toki pona, the way I use kin (which can be an interjection and therefore goes in front of la) and taso (which can't be an interjection and therefore can't go in front of la the same way).

Yours is yet a different thing, where you put an interjection after la (which doesn't work for me).

answers

soweli li loje ala loje
loje
loje ala
ala

soweli li loje ala loje
loje
loje ala
ala

Is the bear red?
Yes
No
No, but shorter

For my style, adding the particle wouldn't usually be done. Jan Ke Tami (talk) 11:58, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

I like all these examples, but I'm also thinking that "interjections" might better be referred to as "sentence fragments". These are all examples of utterances that are not complete sentences (and frankly something I'd like to see more of in Toki Pona, for my taste). JPeton (talk) 01:07, 6 December 2023 (UTC)