Abstract
Interjection is the word used to show spontaneous expression. Batak language has a specific emotive interjection Bah! which is different from other interjections in the language. The objectives of this study are to find the meanings of interjection Bah! and to classify the elements of feelings of this interjection. This is a descriptive qualitative study employing the semantic explication method of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. The data was collected from the interjection Bah! in a Batak Toba short story entitled Mangongkal Holi. The data were obtained by the attentive observation method and tapping technique. The methods used for data analysis were the distribution and contextual method. The results of this study showed that there are five meanings of the interjection Bah! They are astonishment, disappointment, confusion, surprise, and amazement. Meanwhile, those meanings express two elements of feelings, which are the positive feeling element (i.e. surprise and amazement), and the negative feeling element (i.e. astonishment, disappointment, and confusion). The revelation of the various meanings of Bah! is expected to provide richer understanding on its use in communication, and to further avoid miscommunication between different ethnics in Indonesia which each has their own mother tongue.
Highlights
Literature, like short stories, works by linguistic means
This study examined the interjection Bah! in a Batak short story entitled Mangongkal Holi written by Tambunan (1992)
Interjection Bah! is the single most frequently used in Mangongkal Holi short story
Summary
Literature, like short stories, works by linguistic means. The idea of literary works is stated through words explicitly and implicitly. Interjection is used to build and elaborate interaction between or among figures It leads to a certain feeling where it comes before and after utterances. This phenomenon is found in one of Batak Toba short stories i.e. Mangongkal Holi written by Saut Poltak Tambunan in 1992. Is not a coincidence because the way he started, built and ended up the story was the key to the flow of this story. It is always spoken in daily conversations and becomes one of ‘Batak’s identity’. It is very familiar for Batak themselves and for other tribes in Indonesia
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