A Portuguese interjection and its process of pragmaticalization: pá

Interjections convey a complete linguistic act in a conventionalized way. They play different roles based on how they are pronounced. some being holophrastic and oth-ers belonging to the articulated language,they can be divided into primary and sec-ondary interjections.A pragmatic device used in European Portuguese is pá: it is used as a phatic device used on an interpersonal level and signalling the cognitive disposition of the speaker with regards to certain information during a linguistic exchange. Including pá in the group of primary interjections or in the group of secondary interjections is not easy since its process of desemantization is still ongoing. The present study reflects on its status as an interjection and the process of pragmaticalization based on its evolution from lexical item to pragmatic marker.