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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filler (linguistics) | 2/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filler_(linguistics) | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:41:15.763963+00:00 | kb-cron |
== In other languages == In Afrikaans, ah, um, and 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, يعني yaʿni ("means") and وﷲ wallāh(i) ("by God") are common fillers. In Moroccan Arabic, زعمة z3ma ("like") is a common filler, as well as ewa (so). In Iraqi Arabic, shisma ("what's its name") is a filler. In Armenian, բան ban ("thing"), Միգուցե Miguts'e, ("maybe"), էլի ēli ("c'mon") and ոնց որ vonts' vor ("as if") are common fillers.* In Asturian, some common fillers are bono (well..), ¿acuéi? (right?), eh, ho (shortening of home "man"), (y) hala/hale ([and] come on), pos (thus), asina que (so that), yá (already), nada (nothing), entós (then) and pos nada (thus, nothing). In Bengali, ইয়ে (yay and thuri ("..er..that is")) are common fillers. In Bislama, ah is the common filler. In Bulgarian, common fillers are ъ (uh), амии (amii, 'well'), тъй (tui, 'so'), така (taka, 'thus'), добре (dobre, 'well'), такова (takova, 'this') and значи (znachi, 'it means'), нали (nali, 'right'). In Cantonese, speakers often say 即係 zik1 hai6 ("that is to say"; "meaning") and 噉 gam2 ("so; then") as fillers. In Catalan, eh? /ɛ/, doncs ("so"), llavors ("therefore"), o sigui ("it means"), saps? ("you know"?) and diguem-ne ("say") are common fillers. In Croatian, the words ovaj (literally "this one", but the meaning is lost) and dakle ("so"), and znači ("meaning", "it means") are frequent. In Czech, fillers are called slovní vata, meaning "word cotton/padding", or parasitické výrazy, meaning "parasitic expressions". The most frequent fillers are čili, tak or takže ("so"), prostě ("simply"), jako ("like"). In Danish, øh and øhm are among the most common fillers. In Dhivehi, aney, mee, ehkala, dhen and alhey ("aww") are some common fillers. In Dutch, ehm, and dus ("thus") are some of the more common fillers. Also eigenlijk ("actually"), zo ("so"), allez ("come on") and zeg maar ("so to say") in Netherlandic Dutch, nou ("well") or (a)wel ("well") in Belgian Dutch, weet je? ("you know?") etc. In Esperanto, nu ("well") and do ("so") are the most common fillers. In Estonian, nii ("so") is one of the most common fillers. In Filipino, ah, eh, ay, and ano ("what"), parang ("like"), diba? ("isn't it right?"), ayun ("that's") are the most common fillers. In Finnish, niinku ("like"), tuota, and 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 vittu, which is a word for female genitalia. In Metropolitan French, euh /ø/ is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi ("what"), bah, ben ("well"), tu vois ("you see"), t'vois c'que j'veux dire? ("you see what I mean?"), tu sais, t'sais ("you know"), eh bien (roughly "well", as in "Well, I'm not sure"), and du coup (roughly "suddenly"). Outside France other expressions are t'sais veux dire? ("y'know what I mean?"; Québec), or allez une fois ("go one time"; especially in Brussels, not in Wallonia). Additional filler words used by youngsters include genre ("kinda", "like"), comme ("like"), and style ("style"; "kind"). In German, traditional filler words include äh /ɛː/, hm, so /zoː/, tja, halt, and eigentlich ("actually"). So-called modal particles share some of the features of filler words, but they actually modify the sentence meaning. In Greek, ε (e), εμ (em), λοιπόν (lipon, "so") and καλά (kala, "good") are common fillers. In Hebrew, אֶה (eh) is the most common filler. אֶם (em) is also quite common. Millennials and the younger Generation X speakers commonly use כאילו (ke'ilu, the Hebrew version of "like"). Additional filler words include זתומרת (zt'omeret, short for זאת אומרת zot omeret "that means"), אז (az, "so") and בקיצור (bekitsur, "in short"). Use of fillers of Arabic origin such as יענו (yaʿanu, a mispronunciation of the Arabic يعني, yaʿani) is also common. In Hindi, मतलब (matlab, "it means"), क्या कहते हैं (kya kehte hain, "what do you say"), वो ना (woh na, "that") and ऐसा है। (aisā hai, "what it is") are some word fillers. Sound fillers include हूँ (hoon, [ɦuːm̩]), अ (a, [ə]),आ (aa, [äː]). In Hungarian, filler sound is ő, common filler words include hát, nos (well...) and asszongya (a variant of azt mondja, which means "it says here..."). Among intellectuals, ha úgy tetszik (if you like) is used as filler. In Icelandic, a common filler is hérna ("here"). Þúst, a contraction of þú veist ("you know"), is popular among younger speakers. In Indonesian, anu and apa sih are among the most common fillers. In Irish, abair /ˈabˠəɾʲ/ ("say"), bhoil /wɛlʲ/ ("well"), and era /ˈɛɾˠə/ are common fillers, along with emm as in Hiberno-English. In Italian, common fillers include ehm ("um", "uh"), allora ("well then", "so"), tipo ("like"), ecco ("there"), cioè ("actually", "that is to say", "rather"), and be' ("well", "so"; most likely a shortening of bene or ebbene, which are themselves often used as filler words). In Japanese, common fillers include ええと (ēto, or "um"), あの (ano, literally "that over there", used as "um"), ま (ma, or "well"), そう (sō, used as "hmmm"), and ええ (ē, used as "huh" as a response of surprise or confusion). In Kannada, matte for "also", enappa andre for "the matter is" are common fillers. In Korean, 응 (eung), 어 (eo), 그 (geu), and 음 (eum) are commonly used as fillers. In Kurdish, icar ("so, then") (ئینجا (inca in Sorani and Palewani, mostly pronounced as "ija"), as well as baš e ("well") (or خاس ە (xas e)) are common filler words. In Badinani, mn got ("I said") and ez d bêjm ("I say") (mostly shortened to "m'go'" and "e'd bê'm") are used similarly to "I mean". ueki ("like, such as") (وەکو (ueku) in others) is used similarly to "like". In Kyrgyz, анан (anan, "then", "so"), баягы (bayağı, "that"), жанагы (janağı, "that"), ушуреки (uşureki, "this"), эме (eme, "um"), are common fillers. In Lithuanian, nu, am, žinai ("you know"), ta prasme ("meaning"), tipo ("like") are some common fillers. In Malay, speakers often use words and phrases such as apa nama (literally, "what name") or itu ("that") as common fillers. In Malayalam, അതായതു (athayathu, "that means...") and ennu vechaal ("then...") are common. In Maltese and Maltese English, mela ("then"), or just la, is a common filler. In Mandarin Chinese, speakers often say 那個; 那个 (pronounced nàge/nèige), meaning 'that'. Other common fillers are 就; jiù; 'just' and 好像; hǎoxiàng; 'as if/kind of like'. In Mirandese, speakers often use pus (slang for puis, “right”), bá (interjection of multiple uses), bien (“well”), or for some speakers, bon, being a direct loan from Portuguese bom, meaning “well”, but only being loaned as the filler word and not its other uses, where the native buono is maintained (regional languages of Spain also suffered through this process, with the Castilian word bueno). In Mongolian, одоо (odoo, "now") and нөгөө (nögöö, "that") are common fillers. In Nepali, माने (maane, "meaning"), चैने (chaine), चैं (chai), हैन (haina, "No?") are commonly used as fillers.