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5.2.1. Turkish and Azerbaijani Interjections Signalling (Non)Understanding
In this study, Turkish and Azerbaijani interjections signalling (non-)
understanding in
LaRa communication were studied. Only the interjections
signalling
(non-)understanding were investigated in the study. In Table 13, all the
forms used in Turkish and Azerbaijani are presented.
Table 15: Forms of Turkish and Azerbaijani interjections
signalling understanding
Forms of Turkish and Azerbaijani interjections signalling understanding
used by Turkish and Azerbaijani native speakers
Signal Category
Turkish Interjections
Azerbaijani
Interjections
Interjections signalling
understanding
Primary Interjections
H !
H h !
E h !
(----)h h !
Heh!
H (----)!
H !
Hı hı !
Hı (----)!
(----)hı hı!
Hmm hmm!
Iı ıı!
Secondary Interjections
Yavrum be(nim)!
Primary Interjections
H (----)!
H h !
A !
A (----)!
A h !
H (----)!
H h !
Hı hı !
Hı(m) (----)!
H h h !
Mm!
I h
ı (m)
!
Interjections signalling
misunderstanding
H !
-----
Interjections signalling
believing
to understand
Hı (----)!
H (----)!
Aaa (----)!
Interjections signalling
guessing
Eem!
Aa!
Iıı!
Hıı (----)!
Eee!
Aa (----)!
Imm!
Mmm!
Interjections signalling
partial
understanding
Ee!
-----
Interjections signalling
non-
understanding
Iıı!
Ee!
As can be drawn from Table 14, in this study, Turkish participants made
use of Turkish primary and secondary interjections signalling
understanding as
follows: primary interjections made use by Turkish interlocutors were
!,
!, E !, ----) !, e !, !, H (----)!, ı ı !, ı ----)!, (----) ı ı!, mm
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mm!, Iı ıı! and secondary interjections made use by Turkish interlocutors were
[Yavrum be(nim)].
Along with Turkish primary and secondary interjections signalling
understanding, as can be drawn from Table 14, Azerbaijani participants make use
of interjections signalling
understanding as follows: interjections used by Turkish
interlocutors were
A , A ----), A h , H (----), H , ı
ı , ı m) ----), H
, Mm and
I hı m)!
5.2.1.1. Understanding
The most frequent forms to be used by both Turkish and Azerbaijani
interlocutors were observed to be included in the signal category of
understanding. Moreover, there are identical forms of interjections signalling
understanding in Turkish and Azerbaijani. Turkish and Azerbaijani identical
forms of interjections signalling
understanding are
, , (----) and
ı ----
), as can be seen in Table 15. It can be apprehended that these identical forms of
interjections help the interlocutors better interpret or understand the intended
meaning of the speaker in the constellation.
Table 16: Forms of
identical Turkish and Azerbaijani interjections signalling
understanding
Forms of identical Turkish and Azerbaijani interjections signalling
understanding used by Turkish and Azerbaijani native speakers
Signal Category
Turkish Interjections
Azerbaijani
Interjections
Interjections signalling
understanding
Primary Interjections
H !
H h !
H (----)!
Hı (----)!
Primary Interjections
H (----)!
H h !
H (----)!
Hı(m) (----)!
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However, there is no occurrence of form of secondary interjection in
Azerbaijani while two forms of Turkish secondary interjections occur in the
analyzed data:
Yavrum be! and
Yavrum benim! The reason might lie in the fact
that these two Turkish secondary interjections were observed to be used by the
same Turkish native speaker, implying a personal (over)use of these interjections.
However, Azerbaijani interlocutor did not have any difficulty in understanding his
Turkish counterpart’s secondary interjection possibly due to the intonation and
other non-verbal signs. This finding suggests that it is quite necessary to take all
the linguistic (forms, intonation pattern, pitch contour, etc.) and extra-linguistic
features (context, gestures, mimics, etc.) of interjections into consideration during
analysis.
Besides, one of the main findings of the study indicates that the Turkish
and Azerbaijani interlocutors make use of interjections signaling
understanding
quite frequently. Possibly, the explanation lies in the fact that interjections convey
hearer-based messages to the counterparts so as to maintain the discourse by
signalling their mental conditions, function as backchanneling cues or turn-taking,
turn-holding or turn-yielding in the discourse.
Additionally, as can be seen from Table 15, while there is
no occurrence of
Azerbaijani interjection signalling
misunderstanding, there is one instance in
which Turkish interjection
Ha signalling
misunderstanding is used by the
interlocutor. This case might be interpreted referring to the asymmetrical
relationship between the knowledge of the interlocutors. As Sağın-Şimşek &
König (2012) state, asymmetrical relationship is a common phenomenon between
Turkish and Azerbaijani languages in
Lingua Receptiva communication.
In the
analyzed data, in this study, it has been apprehended that there might be apparent
asymmetrical relationship as can be seen in Table 15.