Disfluencies and.. er... um... Discourse.. erm... Markers

What are disfluencies, filler words or discourse particles?
Um…., er…, erm….
Restarted sentences. That’s when you…..That’s when you restart a sentence. So you….So you start….
Repeated words – when you, when you, repeat er…repeat.

Silent ………………..pauses

Long vowel sounds in theeeeeeeee words you say
Repeated syllables…..I…I..It can happen oc..occasionally, I mean, so…sometimes
When someone does this a lot and/or over a long period or permanently, we say that they “stutter” or “stammer”.

Stuttering/Stammering is often deliberately used for comic effect in English (and Spanish and probably all languages). The humour often lies in the expectation of a swear word or “dirty word” to follow a pause or repeated syllables, which turns out to be a different “clean” word.
In Spanish, for instance, you can call someone “hijo de la gran….(pause)….Bretaña”! What did you think I was going to say?!

Why do we use them?
It’s difficult for the brain to plan what we’re going to say, and then say it, at the same time.

We plan, then we speak, then we plan, then we speak and that causes us to produce disfluencies.

Your brain is constantly making decisions on what to say next.

We communicate our thought process to the listener as we try to change the direction of the conversation or look for the right word.

Are they bad? Do people look down on them?
Craig blames radio for giving us a false perception of what natural speech sounds like.

Public speakers train themselves not to use disfluencies. Toastmasters International frown upon (to frown upon/disapprove – ver con malos ojos) disfluencies

They make you sound human
We’re not all perfect
Can you use them too much?
We don’t want to sound like computers

Discourse Markers

We’ve spoken about discourse markers in writing:
firstly
in addition
moreover
on the other hand
in conclusion, etc…

Discourse markers in speaking

Well,
I mean,
Like,
Y’know..
So,
Right,
Anyway,
Mind you,
Oh, etc…

Filler words

actually, basically, literally, like, etc…
These often do not add anything to the meaning of what we are saying – ‘I’m literally starving.” – “Basically, I can’t meet you after work tonight.”

Without discourse markers

Reza: What are you doing this weekend?
Craig: I’m thinking of going for a beer and a pizza with Steve and Jimmy for a boys night out. Wanna come along?
Reza: Yeah, sounds great! Those boys can really drink a lot. I’ve got class on Saturday morning.
Craig: That’s no problem. We’re going out Saturday night, not Friday night.

With discourse markers – Can you notice them?

Reza: So, what are you doing this weekend?
Craig: Erm…well, I’m thinking of going for a beer and a pizza with Steve and Jimmy. Y’know, a boys night out kinda thing. Wanna come along?
Reza: Yeah, sounds great! Mind you, those boys can really drink a lot. I mean, I’ve got class on Saturday morning, so…erm….I don’t know……
Craig: Oh, that’s no problem. We’re like going out Saturday night, not Friday night.

What are the disfluencies in Spanish?
Are you aware of your disfluencies?
How can you reduce them in English? – record yourself, slow down, ask someone to listen to you and give you feedback.

*Dispones de más PODCAST en inglés publicados en los cuadernos anteriores
a los que puedes acceder directamente así como al índice de su contenido.