Emotive interjection in Asahan Malay language: A natural semantic metalanguage perspective

Emotive interjections are phrases that express intense emotions like surprise, happiness, sorrow, anger, and disgust. These exclamations function independently, adding emphasis to speech or writing, and enabling speakers to establish an emotional connection with their listeners or readers. It can be found in many languages including Asahan Malay Language (AML). This article aims to describe the semantic types and the meaning of emotive interjection in AML. This study was conducted by using qualitative approach. The research data were obtained through interviews with native speakers and through observations of the verbal behavior of people in Tanjungbalai (Asahan), North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Disclosure of the type and meaning of emotive interjection based on the set of semantic primitives derived from the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory. This article explains that emotive interjection has two main types, namely, emotions and sensations. The type of emotion is built by the components ‘I feel something now because I think something now’ and consists of subtypes ANGRY (e.g. amboi and wih), LOVE (e.g. anyalah, bayadah, and alahbaya), DOUBT (e.g. aih and aihmak), FEAR (e.g. amak, makjang, and ayamakjang), and AMAZED (e.g. aba, ha, and alamak), while the type of sensation is built by the component ‘I feel something now because something happened to (part of) my body’ and consists of BODY (e.g. adoi and oih) and MOUTH (e.g. ih, is, and uwi). The meaning of emotive interjection is built by elements derived from the mental predicate, such as ‘feel’, ‘think’, ‘want’, and ‘know’, and temporal element ‘now’.