| Abstract |
| Most people who have speculated about
the causes of ums in speech (also known as filled pauses) have suggested that they are
produced when the speaker is confronted with a challenging choice. This idea, in
spite of its intuitive appeal and theoretical usefulness, has never been directly
tested. The present experiment manipulates the complexity of options facing a
speaker by having subjects describe mazes with a varying number of alternate possible
routes. The mazes with more options did produce more filled pauses. However,
in describing even the simplest maze, one of the easiest possible speech tasks, the
subjects still said um regularly. It is suggested that options are only one factor
in filled pause production, and that breaking up the rhythm of speech may also foster
filled pauses. |
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