Filler (linguistics) explained

In linguistics, a filler, filled pause, hesitation marker or planner (sometimes called crutches) is a sound or word that participants in a conversation use to signal that they are pausing to think but are not finished speaking.^[1] ^[2] These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig. Fillers fall into the category of formulaic language, and different languages have different characteristic filler sounds. The term filler also has a separate use in the syntactic description of wh-movement constructions (see below).

Usage

Every conversation involves turn-taking, which means that whenever someone wants to speak and hears a pause, they do so. Pauses are commonly used to indicate that someone's turn has ended, which can create confusion when someone has not finished a thought but has paused to form a thought; in order to prevent this confusion, they will use a filler word such as um, er, or uh.^[3] The use of a filler word indicates that the other person should continue listening instead of speaking.^[4]

Filler words generally contain little to no lexical content, but instead provide clues to the listener about how they should interpret what the speaker has said.^[5] The actual words that people use may change (such as the increasing use of like), but the meaning and reason why people use them does not change.^[6]

In English

In American English, the most common filler sounds are ah or uh pronounced as //ʌ// and um pronounced as //ʌm// (er pronounced as //ɜː// and erm pronounced as //ɜːm// in British English).^[7] Among younger speakers, the fillers "like",^[8] "you know", "I mean", "okay", "so", "actually", "basically", and "right?" are among the more prevalent.

In other languages

In Afrikaans, Afrikaans: ah, Afrikaans: um, and Afrikaans: uh are common fillers (um, and uh being in common with English).
In American Sign Language, UM can be signed with open-8 held at chin, palm in, eyebrows down (similar to FAVORITE); or bilateral symmetric bent-V, palm out, repeated axial rotation of wrist (similar to QUOTE).
In Arabic, Arabic: يعني Arabic: yaʿni ("means") and Arabic: وﷲ Arabic: wallāh(i) ("by God") are common fillers. In Moroccan Arabic, Arabic: زعمة Arabic: z3ma ("like") is a common filler, as well as Arabic: ewa (so).^[9] ^[10] In Iraqi Arabic, Arabic: shisma ("what's its name") is a filler.^[11]
In Armenian, Amharic: բան Amharic: ban ("thing"), Amharic: Միգուցե Amharic: Miguts'e, ("maybe"), Amharic: էլի Amharic: ēli ("c'mon") and Amharic: ոնց որ Amharic: vonts' vor ("as if") are common fillers.*
In Bengali, Bengali: ইয়ে (Bengali: yay and Bengali: thuri ("..er..that is")) are common fillers.
In Bislama, Bislama: ah is the common filler.
In Bulgarian, common fillers are Bulgarian: ъ (Bulgarian: uh), Bulgarian: амии (Bulgarian: amii, 'well'), Bulgarian: тъй (Bulgarian: tui, 'so'), Bulgarian: така (Bulgarian: taka, 'thus'), Bulgarian: добре (Bulgarian: dobre, 'well'), Bulgarian: такова (Bulgarian: takova, 'this') and Bulgarian: значи (Bulgarian: znachi, 'it means'), Bulgarian: нали (Bulgarian: nali, 'right').
In Cantonese, speakers often say Chinese: 即係 zik1 hai6 ("that is to say"; "meaning") and Chinese: 噉 gam2 ("so; then") as fillers.
In Catalan, Catalan; Valencian: eh pronounced as //ə//, Catalan; Valencian: doncs ("so"), Catalan; Valencian: llavors ("therefore"), Catalan; Valencian: o sigui ("it means"), saps? ("you know"?) and Catalan; Valencian: diguem-ne ("say") are common fillers.
In Croatian, the words Croatian: ovaj (literally "this one", but the meaning is lost) and Croatian: dakle ("so"), and Croatian: znači ("meaning", "it means") are frequent.
In Czech, fillers are called Czech: slovní vata, meaning "word cotton/padding", or Czech: parasitické výrazy, meaning "parasitic expressions". The most frequent fillers are Czech: čili, Czech: tak or Czech: takže ("so"), Czech: prostě ("simply"), Czech: jako ("like").
In Danish, Danish: øh and Danish: øhm are among the most common fillers.
In Dhivehi, Danish: aney, Danish: mee, Danish: ehkala, Danish: dhen and Danish: alhey (“aww”) are some common fillers.
In Dutch, Dutch; Flemish: ehm, and Dutch; Flemish: dus ("thus") are some of the more common fillers. Also Dutch; Flemish: eigenlijk ("actually"), Dutch; Flemish: zo ("so"), Dutch; Flemish: allez ("come on") and Dutch; Flemish: zeg maar ("so to say") in Netherlandic Dutch, Dutch; Flemish: nou ("well") or Dutch; Flemish: (a)wel ("well") in Belgian Dutch, Dutch; Flemish: weet je? ("you know?") etc.
In Esperanto, Esperanto: nu ("well") and Esperanto: do ("so") are the most common fillers.
In Estonian, Estonian: nii ("so") is one of the most common fillers.
In Filipino, Filipino; Pilipino: ah, Filipino; Pilipino: eh, Filipino; Pilipino: ay, and Filipino; Pilipino: ano ("what"), Filipino; Pilipino: parang ("like"), Filipino; Pilipino: diba? ("isn't it right?"), Filipino; Pilipino: ayun ("that's") are the most common fillers.
In Finnish, Finnish: niinku ("like"), Finnish: tuota, and Finnish: öö are the most common fillers. Swearing is also used as a filler often, especially among youth. The most common swear word for that is Finnish: vittu, which is a word for female genitalia.
In Metropolitan French, French: euh pronounced as //ø// is most common; other words used as fillers include French: quoi ("what"), French: bah, French: ben ("well"), French: tu vois ("you see"), French: t'vois c'que j'veux dire? ("you see what I mean?"), French: tu sais, French: t'sais ("you know"), French: eh bien (roughly "well", as in "Well, I'm not sure"), and French: du coup (roughly "suddenly"). Outside France other expressions are French: t'sais veux dire? ("y'know what I mean?"; Québec), or French: allez une fois ("go one time"; especially in Brussels, not in Wallonia). Additional filler words used by youngsters include French: genre ("kinda", "like"), French: comme ("like"), and French: style ("style"; "kind").
In German, traditional filler words include German: äh pronounced as //ɛː//, German: hm, German: so pronounced as //zoː//, German: tja, German: halt, and German: eigentlich ("actually"). So-called modal particles share some of the features of filler words, but they actually modify the sentence meaning.
In Greek, Greek, Modern (1453-);: ε (Greek, Modern (1453-);: e), Greek, Modern (1453-);: εμ (Greek, Modern (1453-);: em), Greek, Modern (1453-);: λοιπόν (Greek, Modern (1453-);: lipon, "so") and Greek, Modern (1453-);: καλά (Greek, Modern (1453-);: kala, "good") are common fillers.
In Hebrew, (Hebrew: eh) is the most common filler. (Hebrew: em) is also quite common. Millennials and the younger Generation X speakers commonly use (Hebrew: ke'ilu, the Hebrew version of "like"). Additional filler words include (Hebrew: zt'omeret, short for Hebrew: zot omeret "that means"), (Hebrew: az, "so") and (Hebrew: bekitsur, "in short"). Use of fillers of Arabic origin such as (Hebrew: yaʿanu, a mispronunciation of the Arabic Arabic: يعني, Arabic: yaʿani) is also common.
In Hindi, Hindi: मतलब (Hindi: matlab, "it means"), Hindi: क्या कहते हैं (Hindi: kya kehte hain, "what do you say"), Hindi: वो ना (Hindi: woh na, "that") and Hindi: ऐसा है। (Hindi: aisā hai, "what it is") are some word fillers. Sound fillers include Hindi: हूँ (Hindi: hoon, pronounced as /ɦuːm̩/), अ (a, [ə]),Hindi: आ (Hindi: aa, pronounced as /äː/).
In Hungarian, filler sound is Hungarian: ő, common filler words include Hungarian: hát, Hungarian: nos (well...) and Hungarian: asszongya (a variant of Hungarian: azt mondja, which means "it says here..."). Among intellectuals, Hungarian: ha úgy tetszik (if you like) is used as filler.
In Icelandic, a common filler is Icelandic: hérna ("here"). Icelandic: Þúst, a contraction of Icelandic: þú veist ("you know"), is popular among younger speakers.
In Indonesian, Indonesian: anu and Indonesian: apa sih are among the most common fillers.
In Irish, Irish: abair pronounced as //ˈabˠəɾʲ// ("say"), Irish: bhoil pronounced as //wɛlʲ// ("well"), and Irish: era pronounced as //ˈɛɾˠə// are common fillers, along with English: emm|italic=yes as in Hiberno-English.
In Italian, common fillers include Italian: ehm ("um", "uh"), Italian: allora ("well then", "so"), Italian: tipo ("like"), Italian: ecco ("there"), Italian: cioè ("actually", "that is to say", "rather"), and Italian: be' ("well", "so"; most likely a shortening of Italian: bene or Italian: ebbene, which are themselves often used as filler words).
In Japanese, common fillers include Japanese: ええと (Japanese: ēto, or "um"), Japanese: あの (Japanese: ano, literally "that over there", used as "um"), Japanese: ま (Japanese: ma, or "well"), Japanese: そう (Japanese: sō, used as "hmmm"), and Japanese: ええ (Japanese: ē, used as "huh" as a response of surprise or confusion).
In Kannada, Kannada: matte for "also", Kannada: enappa andre for "the matter is" are common fillers.
In Korean, Korean: 응 (Korean: eung), Korean: 어 (Korean: eo), Korean: 그 (Korean: geu), and Korean: 음 (Korean: eum) are commonly used as fillers.
In Kyrgyz, Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: анан (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: anan, "then", "so"), Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: баягы (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: bayağı, "that"), Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: жанагы (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: janağı, "that"), Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: ушуреки (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: uşureki, "this"), Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: эме (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: eme, "um"), are common fillers.
In Lithuanian, Lithuanian: nu, Lithuanian: am, Lithuanian: žinai ("you know"), Lithuanian: ta prasme ("meaning"), Lithuanian: tipo ("like") are some of common fillers.
In Malay, speakers often use words and phrases such as Malay: apa nama (literally, "what name") or Malay: itu ("that") as common fillers.
In Malayalam, Malayalam: അതായതു (Malayalam: athayathu, "that means...") and Malayalam: ennu vechaal ("then...") are common.
In Maltese and Maltese English, Maltese: mela ("then"), or just Maltese: la, is a common filler.
In Mandarin Chinese, speakers often say ; (pronounced nàge/nèige), meaning 'that'. Other common fillers are Chinese: c=就|p=jiù|l=just|labels=no and Chinese: c=好像|p=hǎoxiàng|l=as if/kind of like|labels=no.
In Mongolian, Mongolian: одоо (Mongolian: odoo, "now") and Mongolian: нөгөө (Mongolian: nögöö, "that") are common fillers.
In Nepali, Nepali: माने (Nepali: maane, "meaning"), Nepali: चैने (Nepali: chaine), Nepali: चैं (Nepali: chai), Nepali: हैन (Nepali: haina, "No?") are commonly used as fillers.
In Norwegian, common fillers are Norwegian: eh, Norwegian: altso/altså, Norwegian: på ein måte / på en måte ("in a way"), Norwegian: berre/bare ("just") Norwegian: ikkje sant / ikke sant (literally "not true?", meaning "don't you agree?", "right?", "no kidding" or "exactly")l, Norwegian: vel ("well"), Norwegian: liksom ("like") and Norwegian: er det ("is it", "it is"). In Bergen, Norwegian: sant ("true") is often used instead of Norwegian: ikkje/ikke sant. In the region of Norwegian: Trøndelag|italic=no, pronounced as //ʃø//^[12] (comes from which means "you see/understand)", "as you can see/understand") is also a common filler.
In Persian, Persian: ببین (Persian: bebin, "look"), Persian: چیز (Persian: chiz, "thing"), and Persian: مثلا (Persian: masalan, "for instance") are commonly used filler words. As well as in Arabic and Urdu, Arabic: يعني (Arabic: yaʿni, "I mean") is also used in Persian. Also, Persian: اه Persian: eh is a common filler in Persian.
In Portuguese, Portuguese: é, Portuguese: hum, Portuguese: então ("so"), Portuguese: tipo ("like") and Portuguese: bem ("well") are the most common fillers.
In Polish, the most common filler sound is Polish: yyy pronounced as //ɨ// and also Polish: eee pronounced as //ɛ// (both like English um) and while common, its use is frowned upon. Other examples include, Polish: no pronounced as //nɔ// (like English well), Polish: wiesz pronounced as //vjeʂ// ("you know"). Among the younger generation new, often english-inspired, fillers are gaining popularity: generalnie/ogólnie ("generally"), jakby ("like"), w sensie ("in the sense that"), w sumie ("to sum it up").
In Punjabi, Panjabi; Punjabi: مطلب (Panjabi; Punjabi: मतलब, Panjabi; Punjabi: mat̤lab, "it means") is a common filler.
In Romanian, Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: deci pronounced as //detʃʲ// ("therefore") is common, especially in school, and Polish: ă pronounced as //ə// is also very common (can be lengthened according to the pause in speech, rendered in writing as Polish: ăăă), whereas Polish: păi pronounced as //pəj// is widely used by almost anyone. A modern filler has gained popularity among the youths – gen pronounced as //dʒɛn//, analogous to the English "like", literally translated as "type".
In Russian, fillers are called Russian: слова-паразиты (Russian: slova-parazity, "parasite words"); the most common are Russian: э-э (Russian: è-è, "eh"), Russian: вот (Russian: vot, "here it is"), Russian: это (Russian: èto, "this"), Russian: того (Russian: togo, "that kind, sort of"), Russian: (ну) такое (Russian: (nu) takoye, "some kind [of this]"), Russian: ну (Russian: nu, "well, so"), Russian: значит (Russian: značit, "I mean, kind of, like"), Russian: так (Russian: tak, "so"), Russian: как его (Russian: kak ego, "what's it [called]"), Russian: типа (Russian: tipa, "kinda"), Russian: как бы (Russian: kak by, "[just] like, sort of"), and Russian: понимаешь? (Russian: ponimayesh, "understand?, you know, you see").
In Serbian, Serbian: значи (Serbian: znači, "means"), па (pa, "so"), мислим (mislim, "i think") and Serbian: овај (Serbian: ovaj, "this") are common fillers.
In Slovak, Slovak: oné ("that"), Slovak: tento ("this"), Slovak: proste ("simply"), or Slovak: akože ("it's like...") are used as fillers. The Hungarian Hungarian: izé (or Slovak: izí in its Slovak pronunciation) can also be heard, especially in parts of the country with a large Hungarian population. Slovak: Ta is a filler typical of Eastern Slovak and one of the most parodied features.
In Slovene, Slovenian: pač ("indeed", "just", "merely"), Slovenian: a ne? ("right?"), Slovenian: no ("well"), v bistvu ("in fact"), and pravzaprav ("actually") are some of the most common fillers.
In Spanish, fillers are called Spanish; Castilian: muletillas. Some of the most common in American Spanish are Spanish; Castilian: e, Spanish; Castilian: em, Spanish; Castilian: este (roughly equivalent to uhm, literally means "this"), and Spanish; Castilian: o sea (roughly equivalent to "I mean", literally means "or be it").^[13] In Spain the previous fillers are also used, but Spanish; Castilian: ¿Vale? ("right?") and Spanish; Castilian: ¿no? are very common too. and occasionally Spanish; Castilian: pues ("well") is used. Younger speakers there often use Spanish; Castilian: en plan (meaning "as", "like" or "in [noun] mode"). The Argentine filler word che became the nickname of rebel Ernesto "Che" Guevara, by virtue of his frequent use of it. Other possible filled pauses in Spanish are: a, am, bueno, como, and others.^[14]
In Swedish, fillers are called Swedish: utfyllnadsord; some of the most common are Swedish: öhm or Swedish: öh, Swedish: ja ("yes"), Swedish: ehm or Swedish: eh (for example Swedish: eh jag vet inte) or Swedish: ba (comes from Swedish: bara, which means "only"), Swedish: asså or Swedish: alltså ("therefore", "thus"), Swedish: va (comes from Swedish: vad, which means "what"), and Swedish: liksom and Swedish: typ (both similar to the English "like").
In Tamil, Tamil: paatheenga-na ("if you see...") and Tamil: apparam ("then...") are common.
In Telugu, Telugu: ఇక్కడ ఏంటంటే (Telugu: ikkada entante, "what's here is...") and Telugu: తర్వాత (Telugu: tarwatha, "then...") are common and there are numerous like this.
In Turkish, Turkish: yani ("meaning..."), Turkish: şey ("thing"), Turkish: işte ("that is"), and Turkish: falan ("as such", "so on") are common fillers.
In Ukrainian, Ukrainian: е (Ukrainian: e, similar to "um"), Ukrainian: ну (Ukrainian: nu, "well"), Ukrainian: і (Ukrainian: i, "and"), Ukrainian: цей (Ukrainian: tsey, "this"), Ukrainian: той-во (Ukrainian: toy-vo, "this one") are common fillers.
In Urdu, Urdu: یعنی (Urdu: yani, "meaning..."), Urdu: فلانا فلانا (Urdu: flana flana, "this and that" or "blah blah"), Urdu: ہاں ہاں (Urdu: haan haan, "yeah yeah") and Urdu: اچھا (Urdu: acha, "ok") are also common fillers.
In Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt), "ơ" or "à" (surprise); "ý là" (I mean); ...
In Welsh (Cymraeg), Welsh: 'dê or Welsh: yndê, from Welsh: onid e — ‘Is it not so?’ — is used as a filler, and in a similar way, especially in southern dialects Welsh: t'mod and Welsh: ch'mod (abbreviations of Welsh: rwyt ti'n gwybod and Welsh: rydych chi'n gwybod — the singular and plural/respectful forms of ‘you know’) along with Welsh: t'wel(d) and Welsh: ch'wel(d) (abbreviations of Welsh: rwyt ti'n gweld and Welsh: rydych chi'n gweld — ‘you see’); Welsh: 'lly (from Welsh: felly — ‘so/such/like/in that way’, used in northern dialects) ; Welsh: iawn (‘alright/right’) is used as a filler at the beginning, middle or end of sentences ; Welsh: o'r gorau|lit=of the best — used loosely to mean ‘alright’ ; Welsh: ’na ni, an abbreviation of Welsh: dyna ni — ‘there we are’; Welsh: ym… and Welsh: y… are used similarly to the English ‘um…’ and ‘uh…’.

In syntax

See main article: article and Wh-movement.

The linguistic term "filler" has another, unrelated use in syntactic terminology. It refers to the pre-posed element that fills in the "gap" in a wh-movement construction. Wh-movement is said to create a long-distance or unbounded "filler-gap dependency". In the following example, there is an object gap associated with the transitive verb saw, and the filler is the wh-phrase how many angels: "I don't care [how many angels] she told you she saw."

External links

Why do people say "um" and "er" when hesitating in their speech?, New Scientist, May 6, 1995
Eils. Lotozo. September 4, 2002. The way teens talk, like, serves a purpose. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. December 11, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081213205331/http://www2.jsonline.com/enter/gen/sep02/71334.asp. December 13, 2008. dead. mdy-all. Citing Muffy E. A. . Siegel . 2002 . Like: The Discourse Particle and Semantics . Journal of Semantics . 19 . 1 . 35–71 . 10.1093/jos/19.1.35 .
Nino Amiridze, Boyd H. Davis, and Margaret Maclagan, editors. Fillers, Pauses and Placeholders. Typological Studies in Language 93, John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2010. Review

Notes and References

Juan, Stephen (2010). "Why do we say 'um', 'er', or 'ah' when we hesitate in speaking?"
Book: Tottie, Gunnel. Outside the Clause: Form and Function of Extra-Clausal Constituents. Planning what to say: Uh and um among the pragmatic markers. 2016. 97–122. Kaltenbock. Gunther. Keizer. Evelien. Lohmann. Arne.
Crible. L. Pascual. E. 2020. Combinations of discourse markers with repairs and repetitions in English, French and Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics. 156. 156, 54–67. 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.05.002. 1854/LU-8747324. 182739572. free.
Book: Curzan. A. How English works: A linguistic introduction. Adams. M. Pearson. 2014. 978-0205032280. 253–256.
Web site: Um, Is This, You Know, a Filler Word?. Ph. D.. Rhetoric and English. M. A.. Modern English and American Literature. ThoughtCo. en. 2020-03-28. B. A.. English.
Web site: Why you say 'um' 'like' and 'you know?' so much. 2017-04-04. The Independent. en. 2020-03-28.
Disfluency Rates in Conversation: Effects of Age, Relationship, Topic, Role, and Gender . BORTFELD & al. . Language and Speech . 2001 . 2 . 44 . 123–147 . 10.1177/00238309010440020101 . 11575901 . 10.1.1.10.8339 . 10985337 .
News: It's, like, so common. Winterman. Denise. 2010-09-28. . 2017-12-17. en-GB.
Web site: yanni . UniLang . 2017-12-17 .
Web site: Egyptian Arabic Dialect Course . Egyptianarabiccourse.blogspot.com . 2008-03-17 . 2019-04-08.
Book: Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XV . January 2003. 2019-04-08. 9027247595 . Parkinson . Dilworth B. . Farwaneh . Samira . John Benjamins .
Web site: X Trøndersk - NTNU. 2020-08-26. www.ntnu.edu.
Web site: Erichsen . Gerald . Filler Words and Vocal Pauses . Spanish.about.com . 2019-04-08 . 2016-10-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161008023827/http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/filler_words.htm . dead .
Erker. Daniel. Bruso. Joanna. 2017-07-25. Uh, bueno, em … : Filled pauses as a site of contact-induced change in Boston Spanish. Language Variation and Change. en. 29. 2. 205–244. 10.1017/S0954394517000102. 148769172 . 0954-3945.