From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as disfluencies.

Question: Should the word 'so', which many people use at the start of
their sentences, classify as a disfluency, or does it not qualify given
its other (multiple) meanings?


Source <https://doug.sh/posts/erm-a-local-cli-that-strips-ums-uhs-and-erms-from-speech/>


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

Le 12/06/2026 |a 11:48, occam a |-crit :

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as disfluencies.

Question: Should the word 'so', which many people use at the start of
their sentences, classify as a disfluency, or does it not qualify given
its other (multiple) meanings?

Source <https://doug.sh/posts/erm-a-local-cli-that-strips-ums-uhs-and-erms-from-speech/>

I think not. Umming and erring are pauses for thought; superfluous so's
are a bad habit, nothing to do with a lack of fluency, nothing to do
with thought - that is, when they're not a rhetorical trick, which they
may be in case of spokesmen and politicians (intended to suggest that
the answer follows from the question when it doesn't).

I've sometimes wondered whether the French '|-coutez' at the start of sentences isn't their equivalent of the superfluous 'so'. It may just be
a superfluous '|-coutez' (one doesn't hear it if one isn't already
listening).

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?
--
Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 13/06/2026 02:39, Peter Moylan wrote:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

Only if silence - the sound - can be put into letters. (Good try, no
coconut.)
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

In article <n926fjFlv8bU1@mid.individual.net>,
occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it >describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Mark Liberman has written multiple times in the past about why he does
not use that word, which includes not just full pauses, but stutters,
mid-word changes of direction, most recently just a few days ago in <https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=73677>. Liberman suggests "spontaneities" as a replacement.

-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can, wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015) --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 13/06/2026 01:39, Peter Moylan wrote:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

I assume a lecturer is not too concerned about being interrupted.

In a group conversation, people 'um' or 'err' to say "I've still got
things to say and it isn't your turn yet - so don't interrupt me."
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

Sam Plusnet scribbled something on Saturday the 6/13/2026:

On 13/06/2026 01:39, Peter Moylan wrote:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

I assume a lecturer is not too concerned about being interrupted.

In a group conversation, people 'um' or 'err' to say "I've still got things to say and it isn't your turn yet - so don't interrupt me."

No, I say 'um' and 'er' (not 'err') to indicate that the gears are
turning but the answer hasn't engaged the clutch yet. Kind of like the "whirr" of engine when you goose it in neutral[1].


[1] yes, I know that in cars, most of the gears come after the clutch.
And that there are more belts and chains than gears before the clutch.
Gimme some scope, though.

/dps
--
WerCOve learned way more than we wanted to know about the early history
of American professional basketball, like that you could have once
watched a game between teams named the Indianapolis Kautskys and the
Akron Firestone Non-Skids. -- fivethirtyeight.com
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 13/06/2026 22:39, Garrett Wollman wrote:

In article <n926fjFlv8bU1@mid.individual.net>,
occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Mark Liberman has written multiple times in the past about why he does
not use that word, which includes not just full pauses, but stutters, mid-word changes of direction, most recently just a few days ago in <https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=73677>. Liberman suggests "spontaneities" as a replacement.

I haven't read any of Liberman's stuff, but that sounds like another Americanism which is trying to excuse the reality of a handicap. (cf 'differently able' instead of 'disabled'). There is nothing
'spontaneous' about about an 'uum'. It's just the brain giving itself
time for a thought to formulate.

One of the most noticeable elements of a news report is when the speaker
'ums' and 'aahs' his way through a report. It gives a bad impression of
someone who was not ready at the time the microphone was shoved into his
face.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 6/14/2026 4:18 AM, Snidely wrote:

Sam Plusnet-a scribbled something on Saturday the 6/13/2026:

On 13/06/2026 01:39, Peter Moylan wrote:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

I assume a lecturer is not too concerned about being interrupted.

In a group conversation, people 'um' or 'err' to say "I've still got
things to say and it isn't your turn yet - so don't interrupt me."

No, I say 'um' and 'er' (not 'err') to indicate that the gears are
turning but the answer hasn't engaged the clutch yet.

Isn't that just one variant of what Sam suggested?

-a Kind of like the
"whirr" of engine when you goose it in neutral[1].

[1] yes, I know that in cars, most of the gears come after the clutch.
And that there are more belts and chains than gears before the clutch.
Gimme some scope, though.

/Anders, Denmark
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 14/06/2026 09:14, Anders D. Nygaard wrote:

On 6/14/2026 4:18 AM, Snidely wrote:

Sam Plusnet-a scribbled something on Saturday the 6/13/2026:

On 13/06/2026 01:39, Peter Moylan wrote:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it >>>>> describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering >>>> in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations >>>> with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

I assume a lecturer is not too concerned about being interrupted.

In a group conversation, people 'um' or 'err' to say "I've still got
things to say and it isn't your turn yet - so don't interrupt me."

No, I say 'um' and 'er' (not 'err') to indicate that the gears are
turning but the answer hasn't engaged the clutch yet.

Isn't that just one variant of what Sam suggested?

I should have said an "um" or "err" is a way of saying "this is not a
full stop, nor an 'end of paragraph' marker - so "No 30" as an American journalist may once have said.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> writes:

On 12/06/26 20:48, occam wrote:

'Disfluency' is a new word for me, although the speech phenomenon it
describes is ever-present in everyday spoken language.

Hence 'umm...', 'err...', 'emm...', 'uh..', all count as
disfluencies.

Early in my teaching career, a colleague told me I was umming and ering
in a lecture. I therefore trained myself to replace those ejaculations
with silence. A silent pause is acceptable to listeners.

Would the silent pause count as a disfluency?

It would count as "dead air" if transmitted on the radio. At least in
the US, this could result in a fine from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). I suspect that hemming, hawing, umming, and ering predate
radio by some years, but my personal experience does not extend that far
back.
--

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2