AFFIXED INTERJECTIONS in ENGLISH and POLISH: a CORPUS-BASED STUDY of EMOTIONAL TALK in DIGITAL COMMUNICATION and LITERARY DIALOGUE By
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AFFIXED INTERJECTIONS IN ENGLISH AND POLISH: A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF EMOTIONAL TALK IN DIGITAL COMMUNICATION AND LITERARY DIALOGUE by Dorothy (Dorota) Lockyer B.A., The University of Victoria, 2010 M.A., The University of Victoria, 2013 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July 2018 © Dorothy (Dorota) Lockyer, 2018 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Affixed interjections in English and Polish: a corpus-based study of emotional talk in digital communication and literary dialogue submitted by Dorothy Lockyer in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Examining Committee: Jessica de Villiers, English Supervisor Laurel Brinton, English Supervisory Committee Member Katarzyna Dziwirek, University of Washington Supervisory Committee Member Barbara Dancygier, English University Examiner Caroline Rieger, Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Supervisory Committee Member Supervisory Committee Member ii Abstract Extensive cross-linguistic research documents a wide range of functions and semantic-pragmatic meanings of interjections in English and Polish that typically correspond with a primary function of conveying emotion. With many forms that have changed over time and appear in a variety of written and spoken mediums, interjections have been mainly considered ‘morphologically simple’; that is, they typically do not take on affixes. However, recent research has shown that interjections do, indeed, acquire various slang, diminutive and augmentative suffixes to change the register, to intensify or diminish the base interjections’ meaning, and/or to convey jocularity and non-serious meanings associated with play. This dissertation addresses some major gaps in the descriptive and empirical research of the semantic and pragmatic functions and meanings of affixed interjections in Polish, a synthetic Slavic language, and English, an analytic Germanic language. These two languages are compared and analyzed by examining the core and peripheral meanings of affixed interjections, their typology, and their pragmatic potential as attitudinals. The morphology and pragmatics of these affixed interjections are examined qualitatively and quantitatively by examining definitions from online dictionaries and standard corpora. It is argued that three fundamental semantic constraints underlie the formation of affixed interjections: [+INFORMAL], [+EMOTION], and [+ATTITUDE]. These three features can be subdivided into secondary semantic and pragmatic features that may or may not always apply, including [+PLAYFUL], [+CUTE], [+SILLY], [+GOOD HUMOUR], [+INTIMATE] and [+WARM]. Given the volume and variety of forms considered, affixed interjections would be methodologically challenging to gather in naturally occurring spontaneous speech; therefore, the study combines data from corpora of online sources that provide novel, current and slang words, including the micro-blogging site Twitter, Google Books, fanfiction, blogs, and blog comments. The dissertation also examines the Appraisal resources (Martin and White 2005) used for diminutive interjections. It is argued that English uses diminutive interjections mainly for positive APPRECIATION (positive meanings), negative JUDGEMENT (sarcasm), and negative AFFECT (negative meanings). These interjections are relatively rare compared to Polish. In comparison, Polish diminutives are much more frequent and conventional, and are used to facilitate social bonding, and show warmth and affection. iii Lay Summary This dissertation investigates the linguistic formations, functions and meanings associated with English and Polish interjections that receive endings which convey emotion and/or attitude, e.g. English wowie!, whoopsie! and Polish jejku! These diminutive interjections are examined in fiction, Twitter and other modes of written communication, along with dictionary entries. After examining the range of core contexts in which diminutive interjections occur (e.g. pain, sarcasm, admiration), I posit that these interjections are linked with the overarching concepts of emotion, attitude, and informality, but that their specific meanings and functions depend on context. In some cases, they intensify positive attitude, while in others they may intensify sarcastic and negative attitudes. Overall, diminutive interjections tend to appear more frequently in Polish than in English. iv Preface This dissertation is an original, unpublished, and independent work by the author, Dorothy (Dorota) Lockyer. v Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................ iv Preface ....................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... xi List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... xiii Dedication ............................................................................................................................... xv Purpose and significance of the study .................................................................... 1 1.1 Definitions and types of interjections ............................................................................... 5 1.1.1 (Primary) emotive interjections ............................................................................... 17 1.1.2 Cognitive interjections ............................................................................................. 20 1.1.3 Conative interjections .............................................................................................. 20 1.1.4 Secondary emotive interjections .............................................................................. 21 1.1.5 Contact interjections ............................................................................................... 24 1.1.6 Descriptive and onomatopoeic interjections .......................................................... 26 1.2 Morphology of interjections ............................................................................................ 27 1.3 Interjections in the Slavic languages ............................................................................... 28 1.3.1 Polish interjections .................................................................................................. 29 1.3.2 Czech and Slovak interjections ................................................................................ 31 1.3.3 Russian interjections ................................................................................................ 32 1.4 Chapter conclusions ........................................................................................................ 34 1.5 Organization of the thesis ............................................................................................... 35 Background to evaluative and slang suffixes ...................................................... 37 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 37 2.2 Defining diminutives and augmentatives ....................................................................... 38 2.3 Diminutive affixes in English .......................................................................................... 42 2.3.1 -Y (-IE) ...................................................................................................................... 44 vi 2.4 Slang suffixes in English .................................................................................................. 48 2.4.1 Diminutive-slang suffixes -O, -ER(S), -S ................................................................. 50 2.5 Diminutive affixes in Polish ............................................................................................ 53 2.6 Czech, Slovak, and Russian diminutives ......................................................................... 56 2.7 Pilot studies ...................................................................................................................... 58 2.8 Chapter conclusions ........................................................................................................ 60 Research methods and texts ................................................................................. 62 3.1 Purpose of the present case study ..................................................................................