Filler (linguistics)
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In linguistics, fillers are sounds or words that are spoken to fill up gaps in utterances. Different languages have different characteristic filler sounds; in English, the most common filler sounds are "er" (British spelling, "uh" in American spelling) and "um".
[edit] Filler words in different languages
- In Italian, e is one of the most common fillers
- In Mandarin Chinese speakers often say zhege zhege zhege ("this this this")
- In Japanese, e or to or some combination e...to are often used; also the filler word nani ("what") is common
- In Spanish, fillers are called muletillas; the most common are este ("this") and o sea ("I mean"). [1]
- In French, euh is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi ("what"), bah (or ben), tu vois ("you see"), and eh bien (roughly "well", as in "well, I'm not sure")
- In Russian, fillers are called слова-паразиты (vermin words); the most common are "Э-э" (eh), "это" (this), "того" (that), "ну" (well), "значит" (it means), "как его" (how is it called).
A common pitfall among language learners is using fillers from their native tongue. For example, "Quiero una umm.... quesadilla". While less of a shibboleth, knowing the placeholder names (sometimes called kadigans) of a language (e.g. the equivalent of "thingie") can also be useful to attain fluency, such as the French truc: Je cherche le truc qu'on utilise pour ouvrir une boîte ("I'm looking for the thingie that you use to open up a can")
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Why do people say "um" and "er" when hesitating in their speech?, New Scientist, May 6 1995
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