Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 March 19

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March 19

Errr Eeerr Errr Errrrrrrrrrrr errrrrr

Why do people need to do this during conversation. Is it unique to english speakers only? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.32.51.253 (talk) 19:12, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

See Speech disfluency. The phenomenon seems to be known in most if not all languages, but the specific sound one makes differs from language to language, showing it's a learned thing. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:58, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

I once listened for an hour to a speaker whose hesitation noise was “Um. Ah. Then.” Definitely a learned thing, but I gotta wonder how he learned it. —Tamfang (talk) 20:22, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

In Italian, you have to keep making sound, or the other participants in the conversation think you've stopped talking (even if you haven't finished your sentence) and will start. The usual thing to do when you haven't completely decided on your next word is to draw out the last vowel of the word you're currently speaking. That's a lot more workable in Italian than it would be in English. --Trovatore (talk) 20:36, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

Related, and nearly as annoying: I've noticed a recent trend (US English speakers) for always beginning talking with "So". Presumably, this is a means of communicating "it's my turn to speak" (?). —2600:1004:B020:810B:4832:C809:7B8E:F128 (talk) 21:08, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

I don't hear it that way. I think it's one of the ordinary meanings of "so" — "what I am about to say is logically connected to what has gone before". I'm not annoyed by it in general, though I suppose I would be if someone did it every single time.

The Italian drawn-out-vowel is not annoying either, per se; what takes getting used to is people interrupting you when you haven't finished your thought. Then you learn to do the drawn-out-vowel, and it's all good. --Trovatore (talk) 21:14, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 December 31#So

and Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 December 31#"So".

and Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 March 16#So.

—Wavelength (talk) 21:34, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

French speakers do this too, with a sound I could only describe as "euhh". Adam Bishop (talk) 23:31, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

I generally find, when I want to participate in a conversation, that I can't get a word in edgeways. Would that somebody did stop a moment to say "err ..." 2.126.60.239 (talk) 23:39, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

See also filler (linguistics). Peter Grey (talk) 15:24, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

I once had a conversation with a Japanese woman, and they apparently use the word "hi" to mean they are listening. I didn't know that at the time, though, and wondered why she kept saying "hi" in the middle of the conversation. :-) StuRat (talk) 17:57, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

See wikt:hai#Japanese and wikt:はい#Japanese.—Wavelength (talk) 22:23, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

'Hai' means yes, doesn't it? So that Japanese woman was affirming that she understood what you were saying. Akld guy (talk) 02:07, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

That's aizuchi. It's not the same as filler. I think it's more like call and response. -- BenRG (talk) 02:51, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Why is that an article? This is so in any human conversation I would have thought. The article says, unreferenced, "but are more pronounced and important in Japanese.". I'm going to tag it for notability. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 19:10, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

It did indeed seem like she was saying an actual word, as opposed to something like "uh-huh", so I agree that it was more pronounced. StuRat (talk) 19:28, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Even in English, it is regarded as good active listening practice to hum along when another person is talking at length, you could say anything like "uh huh", "yes", "right", "okay" or "indeed", or even repeat what the other person just said. There is no difference in substance to Asian practice, which furthermore is by no means unique to Japan. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 10:17, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

She said "hai" louder than I would normally say those words, in English, while listening. StuRat (talk) 04:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Okay, I think we are talking on different wavelengths here. I was talking about the Wikipedia article, not doubting the authenticity of your experience with the Japanese lady in question.

As an aside, I sometimes use "so desu ne" in a conversation in English, just for fun, but obviously that would only work if the other participants in the conversation understand what that means... --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 18:24, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

When I was an insurance worker, we had a senior underwriter who would pepper his sentences with "at the end of the day" to fill up the spaces. We used to play "end-of-the-day bingo" which involved counting the number of times he used the phrase in a single meeting. I believe the record was 37. Alansplodge (talk) 08:51, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Ah yes. My co-worker's thing was "as far as it's concerned". Literally millions ... er, at least dozens, of times a day, every day.

And another one was wedded to "in terms of". I once heard her greet someone she'd just seen for the first time that day, with "Hi Jenny. How are you in terms of how you are?". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:21, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

I find that if I just listen to somebody without any prompts (e.g. nodding occasionally) they will stop and ask me if I understand what they are saying. 78.149.118.97 (talk) 12:58, 22 March 2016 (UTC)