In The Simpsons Homer makes a closed mouth sound made up of three rising and falling tones, resembling (and meaning the same as) ‘idunno’ said without opening the mouth. I hear it being used from time to time, and use it myself.
How would this be described in linguistic terms – is it a word? Do/should a dictionary contain it? How would it be written? Has it been studied at all?
Answer
In linguistic terms, it’s an interjection like iunno. It’s one of many interjections in the English language.
Interjections may be real words, but in this case, it’s not. I don’t think anyone even knows how to spell it. But its similarity to other interjections (specifically iunno, but also uh-huh and others) validates it as an interjection.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Wossname , Answer Author : Canis Lupus
