Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

Interjections in Taiwan Mandarin

by Myrthe Kroon

In this thesis, I investigated interjections in spoken Taiwan Mandarin. I gathered data from a contemporary spontaneous conversation between two Taiwan Mandarin speakers that I recorded in the Leiden University for Linguistics Phonetics Laboratory. I described these interjections by writing down their form as accurately as possible, and placed them into categories I designed based on their meaning. After that, I discussed existing literature about interjections and compared it with my own data. Since there is no standard definition of interjections, I formulated my own definition based on my data. Finally, I tested whether or not the presence of a running microphone has an influence on the use of interjections by speakers. I compared one part during which the speakers think the microphone is running with another part during which they think it is off. The interjections I found in these parts are very similar, suggesting that my data reflect a natural language conversation. This work aims to shed light on the use of interjections in Taiwan Mandarin, and to contribute to a wider discussion of interjections. Advisors/Committee Members: Wiedenhof, Jeroen (advisor).