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January 29, 2020
Have you been told to use fewer filler words? Do you feel self-conscious about your filler words when you read transcripts or listen to recordings of yourself speaking? You may be worrying needlessly: filler words can sometimes be friends.
What are filler words?
Every language has filler words; we use them every day in conversation. Some English examples are:
Iâd love to go to the party tomorrow, but I, um, already have plans.1
I want to make sure weâre, you know, on the same page and everything.
When you have work to do, itâs not always easy to, like, find the motivation to sit down and do it.
Google âfiller words,â and youâll be bombarded with blog posts, listicles, and editorials; none of them positive. We love to hate filler words.
And itâs true: we donât want to hear them in speeches, scripts, or research papers. But, as a linguist, I hope you do use them in conversations. To understand why, letâs take a brief dive into some basic linguistics.
Form and function
You may have noticed that some of the examples above are words that also do other things in Englishâthey only moonlight as filler words. For example, the word like does a lot of overtime:
I like cats. (verb)
That dog looks like a cloud. (preposition)
Like, the building is really old, is what Iâm getting at. (particle)
My dog is, like, super needy. (discourse-marker)
And I was like, âWhy would you do that?â (quotative)
This word has one form (like), but many functions. Linguists call this form-function asymmetry, and it happens in every language. All it means is that a given word or phrase can serve different purposes in different contexts.
So, obviously we canât get rid of like entirely, because it serves many functions.
Filled pauses
The function that like and its ilk serve even in their capacity as filler words is also important.
Letâs return to this sentence:
My dog is, like, super needy.
Here, likeâs function is to be a filled pause. Filled pauses are integral to spoken conversation: using one holds the floor for you to express yourself clearly and correctly. It usually tells the listener: Iâm not finished my thought, hold on just a minute while I express it in the clearest way I can think of.
A filled pause can also emphasize the emotion or severity of what weâre about to say. For example:
Um, did you really just say that to me?
Here, the speaker is shocked and/or angry about what someone has just said. The um indicates that what was said was so inappropriate that the speaker needs a beat to process it.
Backchannels and affirmatives
Another type of filler word, the backchannel, is used mainly in interactional contexts. A backchannelâs function is to be used by the listener rather than the speaker, and it usually lets the speaker know: Iâm paying attention to what youâve said so far; please continue. For example:
Speaker 1: So what he said to me was that they were trying to find a distributor for the materials, someone who could get those out to us quickly, and then we would be able to create and ship the order.
Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
Speaker 1: So once we can find a distributor, we'll know how long it will take to deliver the materials, and weâll let you know when the order would ship based on that info. Does that work for you?
Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you, please do keep me in the loop.
The backchannel uh-huh conveys important social and linguistic information to Speaker 1: it says that Speaker 2 understood them, and doesnât want a turn speaking yet.
As if that werenât enough, form-function asymmetry strikes again: Speaker 2 could have used uh-huh in their final utterance too:
Speaker 2: Uh-huh. Thank you, please do keep me in the loop.
This function of uh-huh isnât exactly rare, either: in our own transcript data, at least 30% of the time a backchannel like uh-huh appeared in a transcript, it was actually being used to reply to a question in the affirmative. Of those that are used as affirmative responses, up to 65% of these occur with no other affirmative word in the preceding or following sentenceâmeaning that these words are the only indication that the speaker has responded âyes.â
People sometimes expect filler words
If youâre still on the fence about fillers, hereâs another surprising fact: in some contexts, not using filler words actually makes people uncomfortable.
A major struggle faced by individuals on the Autism Spectrum is having verbal interactions with othersâbut it can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly is âawkwardâ or âdifferentâ about their speech. Recent findings provide a hint about whatâs going on: people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to use fewer filler words in conversations than neurotypicals do. (This difference disappears when those with ASD are talking to someone they know is actually interested in having the conversation.) That is, not using enough filler words in a conversation makes the interaction sound strange to neurotypicalsâeven though we donât consciously realize thatâs whatâs going on.
Why? The answer lies in the nature of a conversation: itâs interactional. That means we (usually) need to take conversational turns, we (usually) want people to understand what weâre saying, and we (usually) want them to feel good about their interactions with us. Filler words allow us to do all those things, and to do them without a lot of conscious thought.
That means that there can be consequences to not using filler words. For example, potential clients tend to think of a sales call (learn more about sales call reporting) as a conversation about your product meeting their needs. That means theyâre expecting filler words; without them, the interaction might be interpreted as scripted or overly rehearsed. These wordsâbe they filled pauses, backchannels, or other discourse markersâare part of what we expect in a conversational context. Remove them, and youâve changed the context to a more formal, less interactional one.
So if youâre a conversational filler word fanatic, then like, just keep talkingâor filling those pausesâthe way you want.
Bio: Shayna is an NLP Engineer at Dialpad, where she analyzes everyday language as it relates to Dialpad Ai. She received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Toronto in 2017, with a focus on sociolinguistics and morphosyntax.
Footnotes
1 All of the examples present in this post are fabricated, but are intended to represent natural language. We respect our clientsâ privacy.
References & Further Reading
- Why We Use Discourse Markers and Filler Words Like âum,â âlike,â âyou know,â and âerâ
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/um-like-filler-words-discourse-markers-why-use-er-you-know-a7665721.html - Why Filler Words Like âUmâ and âAhâ Are Actually Useful
https://hbr.org/2019/08/why-filler-words-like-um-and-ah-are-actually-useful - Pauses Can Make or Break a Conversation
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150930110555.htm - The psychological reasons why we use filler words like 'um' and 'you know' in conversations
https://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-reasons-we-use-filler-words-2017-4 - Brief Report: âUmâ Fillers Distinguish Children With and Without ASD
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-018-3736-1 - Uh and um in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders or Language Impairment
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958035/pdf/nihms730505.pdf - When âEasyâ Conversations Seem Harder: Filler Words and Social Context in Adults with ASD
https://www.centerforautismresearch.org/when-%E2%80%9Ceasy%E2%80%9D-conversations-seem-harder-filler-words-and-social-context-adults-asd - Researcher says Canadians don't really say eh that often, eh
https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/jack-knox-researcher-says-canadians-don-t-really-say-eh-that-often-eh-1.20598223 - Like, don't blame 'like' on kids these days, says sociolinguist
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/like-don-t-blame-like-on-kids-these-days-says-sociolinguist-1.3992564 - Why building customer relationships is so important
https://www.klipfolio.com/blog/why-building-customer-relationships-is-so-important