Listen carefully with a conversation talking and speakers that almost use many small words – mm-hmm, one, Huh? And the like – this does not support information on the subject of the interview. For many decades, linguists are no more important noise, the speakers who accumulate in the margins of the language did not articulate as articulated.
But these little words can be much more important than that. Few linguists think that far from being detritus, they can be Decisive traffic signs to regulate dialogue flow as well as the tools for negotiating each other. This puts them in the heart of the language itself, and may be the hardest part of the language for artificial intelligence.
“Here is this phenomenon that lives under our nose, that we barely noticed,” he says Mark DingemaseIt is a linguist from the University of Radboud in the Netherlands, “the ideas of what allows complex language in the first place.”
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Most of the history of linguistics, the wise focuses on the written language, largely the records. But after the interview recordings were available, it could begin to study Oral language in the same way of writing.
“If you want to facilitate conversations, these are the tools you need.” “Mark Dingemase, linguist
When they did, they were interjections, that is, the words or two short words that are not part of a larger phrase is not talking about some ubiquitous talking. “Every seven words is one of those things,” says Dingemes, who Analyzes the use of interjections In 2024 Linguistics Annual review. “You will find one of those little boys who fly for 12 seconds. It looks like we need them.”
Many of these interjections serve to regulate dialog flow. “Think of the interaction as a tool kit,” says Dingemes. “If you want to facilitate conversations, these are the tools you need.” – one or uh Speakers, such as signs on the verge of pausing, but they are not finished talking. Resourceful Huh? or What? From the listener, on the other hand, the speaker can sign the communication failure that needs to be fixed.
It looks universal: 31 Language survey around the world, Dingemase and his colleagues found that All of them used similar syllables and a neutral Huh? as a signal signalprobably because it produces quickly. “Difficulty at the moment, you need the easiest word of question and that’s Huh? It is, “says Dingemes.” We believe that all societies will stumble in it, for the same reason. “
Other interjections Some languages call them “followers” mm-hmm – The signs and speakers of the listener that are paying attention should continue. Again, the form of the word fits well with his function: because mm-hmm It is made with a closed mouth, it is clear that the sign is not intended to talk.
Sign languages often manage continuously different ways, but again, two people signing at the same time can be less than two people talking to two people, Carl BörstellNorwegian Bergen University Languard. In the Swedish sign language, such as listeners sign yes For continuous lengths, but this monitoring is not permanent, the sender Hands are smaller than usual.
Different interjections can send different signals. Consider, for example, a person describing how to build a piece of IKEA furniture, says Allison NguyenPsycholinguist of Illinois State University. In such an interview, mm-hmm The speaker may continue to explain the current step ye you or Jaizos It means that the listener is doing it with that step and is the time to move on next time.
Wow! There is more
The following is not only for kindness, they are really important in conversations, Dingemans says. In a classic experiment over two decades ago, another volunteer to hear 34 degrees of degrees told them a story. Some listeners gave the signs of “listening”, while others were ordered to count the number of words that start with the letter t – They were too worried about that. Led to the lack of normal signs of the audience The stories that were less worked outResearchers found. “This shows that these little words are quite conclusion,” says Dingemes.
Nguyen agrees that such words are not meaning. “They really do a lot to understand each other and for mutual conversation,” he explains. Now he is working to see that Emojis fills similar functions in text conversations.
The role of interjections is deeper than regulating dialogue flow. Interjections also help negotiate the land rules of a conversation. Each time two people interview, they need to understand where each: Each participant knows what they think about other people and how many details they want to hear. A large part of this work – the ones that linguists call “landing” – interjections.
“We are building common lands, and we are taking turns.” -Martina Wilttschko, Theoretical Linguist
“If I tell a story and say something” Wow! “It may encourage and add more details,” says Nguyen. “But, if you do something,” Uh-huh “, you’re not interested in more detail.”
A key part of the soil is working on what each participant thinks about the knowledge of others, says Martina WilttschkoTheoretical Linguist in Barcelona, Spain in the Catalan Institution for Advanced Research and Studies. Some languages, like a tangerine, explicitly distinguishes “I tell you something you didn’t know” and “I think you already know something.” In English, this task is largely based on interjections.
It is one of the favorite examples of Wilttschko Canada Eh? “If I say you have a new dog, I usually say that you don’t say things saying, so it’s weird to say with me,” he explains. But ‘do you have a new dog, eh?’ The statement eliminates the statement as the speaker report, not the listener.
Other interviews know the speaker does not know that they do not seek another participant. “If you ask me the weather like Barcelona, I can say” well, I’m not out there, “says Wilttschkok. -A well It is a statement that does not answer the question.
Wilttschko and his students have now studied more than 20 languages, each of which uses few words for such negotiations. “I didn’t find a language that doesn’t make these three general things: I know, I know what I know and take turns,” he explains. Interviews are key to regulating: “We are building common land, and we are taking turns.”
Details like these are not only obsessed with Arcana. Using interjections properly is key Speaking second languageNotes Wilttschko, but language teachers often discard. “With regard to language teaching, you get points deducted for using ones and uhS, “You’re not capitalized,” he said. “But they use local speakers, because it helps!” Artificial intelligence can also be struggling to use interjections well, making it the best way to separate a computer and real man (see below).
And interjections also offer a window in relations between people. “They say so much about what you think these little markers,” he said – and they are more difficult than the real content. Couple therapists, for example, would notify interjections in an interview with how their customers behave with each other and how they negotiate. Interjection Oh Often indicates confrontation, says, “Do you want to go to dinner” as in the difference between? And “Oh, so now do you want to go out for dinner?”
In fact, these little words to the heart of the language and what they are for. “The language exists because we need to interact with each other,” Börstell says. “For me, that’s the main reason for a successful language.”
Dingemase one step further. Interjections, he says, do not facilitate our conversations. When negotiating the view and landing points, speaking language also speaks.
“With Huh? I don’t understand only “” Dingemes. “I understand that you are trying to say something, but I didn’t get it.” This reflection allows the more sophisticated lecture and thinking. In fact, he says, “I don’t think we would be a complex language for these simple words.”
Can Interjections learn to use it?
To make artificial intelligence more natural, the developers are building interjections in their answers. Google’s NotabooklmFor example, it provides the ability to summarize information – Say, one or more scientific papers – as a podcast hosted by two hosts generated by two.
First hearing, the program makes a pretty good job: hosts joke, laugh and insert Mm-hmm and Wow! in appropriate skin moments. But to the ears of a trained linguist, something is something. (Listen to an example.)
“They almost work, but it’s not quite,” said Martina Wilttsch’s theoretical theoretical theoretical language for research and analyzes. “Alas remind me of art, where there are too many fingers. You don’t see it at the beginning, but if you look carefully, you see something wrong.”
Say it is one when the listener is mm-hmmS or laughter, while the speaker is interrupted, giving a relatively notice of simulated conversation. “For me, it’s almost like an unusual valley,” says Wilttschkok. “It’s close, but not enough enough near”.
However, the greatest shortage, he knows what a strong sense knows what they know in the conversation. Ai hosts seem to know what information they know.
“It’s not what they are saying, who is what he speaks in the context, and who knows what,” says Wiltschkok. “I would really be surprised if AI could ever handle it, and manages humans with ease.”
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