On page 217, Erard states that when children are three or four they have grammatical abilities like that of adults. However, most interestingly, he also states that "Even so, children by that age will not yet have learned to say "uh" and "um" like adults - they introduce sentences with pause fillers but place them inside sentences rarely." I stopped, re-read the sentence, and paragraph a few times. Did Erard really mean to say learn? Do children learn to say "uh" and "um" in different ways? And, what does this imply about starting your sentences with um?
On another (and somewhat personally annoying note), one of my professors said "ummm mooo". And then she explained that her elementary school teacher would make her reverse her "ums" by saying "moo". The elementary school teacher said that if you begin a sentence with "um" you obviously have nothing intelligent to say. Of course, this upset me because of this class and the book we are reading. I explained to the class about our class, and how pause fillers actually do have important uses, cognitively and for the listeners. Then, one of the girls in the class said "that's just someone's opinion." It was strange to me how someone could not believe that "um" and "uh" can truly be useful. Of course there are societal implications of saying "um" and "uh" every other word (as my classmate pointed out) but since we subconsciously ignore most of them, is it really such an issue to try to eliminate them from our vocabulary?
Basically, what are the implications of the research on "um" and "uh" (including what researchers have found with children's pause fillers), especially in regards for teachers and speech classes?
Comments (2)
I agree with what we said in class about how if we made people listen to themselves and see how many times they said 'um' or 'uh' or any other fillers such as 'like' they wouldn't think that these words were a result of a person lacking something intelligent to say. They would realize that they are learned responses that everyone takes part in. As for my own personal opinion with teachers and speech class I don't think that they should teach kids to say these words per se, but should let them know that it's ok if they do (as long as itâ??s not in excess). I know personally that I get nervous whenever I feel myself saying 'um' or 'uh' a few times which further makes me lose my train of thought. I wish that I would have been told that it was ok to use these words when I needed to so I would not get so unnerved when I do. Hopefully the opinions on â??umâ?? and â??umâ?? will continue to change for the better and we will continue to realize that these words arenâ??t a sign of unintelligence but in fact words that we all use.
Posted by Amy Graham | February 15, 2008 8:44 PM
Posted on February 15, 2008 20:44
In response to your blog, I also found it fascinating that children learn to say uh and um in different ways than adults. I think that children learn that in common speech, it is acceptable to use uh and um. These words, in my opinion, often show that someone is thinking or can not find the right words quick enough to respond to something. So in regard to your classmates comment, I completely disagree with her, as you do. I can not believe that someone could think that those words are entirely useless. If in fact uh and um are useless words, then why do we use them so often and if they are so terrible why canâ??t we stop using them? And lastly, why canâ??t people like your classmate see how often people use those words? Shouldnâ??t that be an indicator to her that there must be a meaning to those words?
Posted by Kate Walsh | February 15, 2008 11:53 PM
Posted on February 15, 2008 23:53