Hop(p)la in French and German

There is a growing body of conversation analytic research on the role of vocalizations and interjections in interaction. This conversation analytic article contributes to this research by comparing the use and functions of the interjection hop(p)la in French and German interaction. While hop(p)la occurs frequently in everyday French and German conversation, it has not been studied as it occurs in real time. The data come from publicly-available data repositories and from the authors’ own collections. Findings show that the use and function of hop(p)la differs from what is described in popular culture publications. In addition, there are differences in the function of hop(p)la as it is used in French and German. The paper discusses the implications of this research for language teaching, translation, and applications in AI.