Background of The Study

Background of the Study

In spoken interaction, people often produce ee..., err..., ehm..., or well, you know, I mean, kind of, and so on. According to Baalen (2001, par.7), these kinds of utterances are called fillers. He defines fillers as sounds or words or phrases that could appear anywhere in the sentence and that could be deleted from the sentence without a change in content. On the other simple words, fillers are a break in the flow of speech (Yule, 2006, p.242). A study shows that fillers make up around 6% of words in spontaneous speech (Tree, 1995; Eklund, 2004, cited in Marback, 2009, par.1). Most people, including the students in the English Department, Petra Christian University, produce fillers in their spoken interaction. Here are some examples:

A : Wanna do The Road Not Taken now? I mean the assignment for poetry, you know final exam.

B : Well, we do it at ehm... 4 o'clock.

The words I mean, you know, well, and ehm... in the utterances above are the examples of fillers. According to Rose (1998, p.7), those fillers can be classified into two categories, that is non-word fillers or unlexicalized fillers such as ee...., err..., ehm... and word/phrase fillers or lexicalized fillers such as well, kind of, you know. Moreover, Matthei and Roeper (1983, p.163) add one more classification of fillers, that is silent pauses, in addition to non-word and word/phrase fillers. These silent pauses fill the break in the flow of speech by silence for a certain period. Those three categories of fillers are produced by the students of the English Department when they are speaking. Most students do not realize the fillers they produce since basically fillers occur spontaneously in spontaneous interaction.

Those non-word, word/phrase, and silent pause fillers have several functions when they are produced in a spoken interaction, such as to help the speaker to think about what to say next, to fill the pauses, to correct mistakes when the speaker says something wrong and suddenly revises the mistakes, to 

interrupt the conversation or even to hold the conversation turn, to empathize with what is said by the speaker so that the listeners will pay attention to the utterances produced, and to mitigate (Rose, 1998, Stenstrm, 1994, Wu, 2001, and Baalen, 2001). These functions are very important since they will make the conversation run smoothly like oil if fillers are produced appropriately in the conversation (Juan, 2006, par.2).

However, not all English Department students really understand that actually fillers play a very important role in conversation. Mostly they use fillers with just two functions only, that is to fill the pauses and to think what to say next, whereas fillers have at least seven different functions that can be used appropriately as intended.

The occurrence of fillers, such as ee, err, ehm, well, kind of, you know, and even the silence, and the use of several functions of fillers, such as to fill the pauses and to think what to say next, by the English Department students in the conversation may be influenced by the length of studying time of the students themselves. It is supposed that the longer the studying time, the more the speaking skills the students have, then the more appropriate the functions of fillers used in conversation. Different length of studying time may give an impact on how the students will produce fillers for different purposes appropriately. In this research, the speaking levels that the students passed may help a lot in deciding the length of studying time for the students since, in the English Department, Petra Christian University, there are six levels of speaking class that should be taken per semester in turn. Those students should pass these speaking classes from the first until the sixth levels, which is Daily Conversation, Daily Extended Conversation, Discussion, Debate, Negotiation, and Public Speaking.

The first semester students take Daily Conversation for their speaking class, while the seventh semester students have taken Daily Conversation until Public Speaking. Based on the Petra Christian University English Department Catalog 2007-2008, the first semester students who take Daily Conversation class are expected to be able to handle a variety of simple, basic, communicative tasks and social settings. Higher than that, the second semester students or Extended Daily Conversation class students should be able to handle most complicated 

communicative tasks and social settings. The third semester students who take Discussion class are supposed to be able to lay arguments, to support opinions, and to give appropriate feedback in small social encounters. Then, the students in the fourth semester who are taking Debate class are demanded to be able to participate effectively in a formal trade of ideas on controversial issues from both sides -- the pros and cons -- and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments given. After that, the fifth semester students or Negotiation class students are supposed to be able to participate persuasively in formal negotiation in business, professional, and political meeting situations. Finally, the highest level of speaking class, which is Public speaking class, is supposed to enable the sixth semester students to present ideas convincingly in formal meetings. Based on the description above, the first semester students are supposed to have the speaking skill in handling a variety of simple, basic, communicative tasks and social settings, while the seventh semester students are supposed to have all speaking skills mentioned above.

Because of the different length of studying time and the different speaking skills that the students get, it is expected that the longer the studying time, the more appropriate the functions of fillers produced because the seventh semester students, compared to the first semester students, are expected to be able to make the conversation run smoothly and fluently by producing the fillers for an appropriate purpose. In short, it may imply that the longer the studying time, the more lexicalized fillers produced, and the more appropriate the functions of fillers produced.

In terms of the types and the functions of fillers produced, if it is compared to the first semester students, logically it is expected that the seventh semester students are able to produce more complex fillers for several appropriate functions because of the speaking skills that they get in six speaking classes for a longer studying time in the English Department. Then, I assume that the first semester students mostly produce simple non-word fillers or unlexicalized fillers, such as ee, err, ehm, etc for fewer purposes, such as filling the pauses, thinking about what will be said next, giving responses, and correcting mistakes.

On the other hand, I assume that the seventh semester students are expected to produce mostly complex fillers or lexicalized fillers, such as you know, sort of, well, and kind of for more purposes, such as filling the pauses, thinking what will be said next, holding the conversation turn, interrupting, empathizing, mitigating, and correcting mistakes. These differences may be influenced by the length of studying time between the first and the seventh semester students. To confirm the assumption above, I will do the research in the types and the functions of fillers that the first and the seventh semester students produce when they communicate.

Statement of the Problem

This research aims to find out the types and the functions of fillers used by the first and the seventh semester students of the English Department, Petra Christian University, Surabaya. Therefore, to cope with the problem, I formulate the questions as follows:

• What are the differences and/or similarities between the types of fillers used by the first semester students and those used by the seventh semester students?
• What are the differences and/or similarities between the functions of fillers used by the first semester students and those used by the seventh semester students?

Purpose of the Study

By conducting this research, I would like to find out the types and the functions of fillers used by the first and the seventh semester students in the English Department, Petra Christian University, Surabaya. Then, I would like to find out the differences and/or the similarities between those types and those functions of fillers.

Significance of the Study

By working on this study, hopefully, the findings can give some contributions for the students of speaking classes in the English Department, Petra Christian University. It is expected that the students realize how important the fillers are and how big the function roles of fillers are in the spoken interaction, especially in the interactional speech. Fillers function a lot in helping the students to have a good communication skill for appropriate purposes in interactional speeches because it cannot be denied that the students in the English Department are not accustomed to have interactional speeches in speaking classrooms due to the more transactional speeches, such as presentation, negotiation, and public speaking.

However, interactional speech is also very important in social life where the students can communicate among friends for chit-chat or gossip. Learning and understanding fillers and their functions appropriately can help the students to have a good sociolinguistic competence. Hopefully this study can encourage the English Department students to improve their communication skill in order to be well skilled speakers.

Besides, I hope this study will contribute a lot to the English Department lecturers, particularly the curriculum designers, in order to design more interactional or two-way speeches for the students in the classroom rather than transactional or one-way speeches. The curriculum designers can add more methods for pair or small group discussion (two-way speeches). By having more interactional speeches, the students will learn and understand more the use of fillers and their functions for appropriate purposes because fillers are like oil in a conversation to make it smooth, and fillers can function to hesitate, to interrupt, to give responses, to mitigate, and so forth.

In addition, to a certain extent, the findings of this study will also be expected to provide contributions for the development of the theory, especially to sociolinguistics study since this study is based on sociolinguistics. I also hope that my study would give a clear explanation on the types and the functions of fillers that are may be influenced by the different length of studying time. Finally, I also expect that this study can help the students of the English Department majoring in linguistics as a reference and a comparison for the future study.

Scope and Limitations

The scope of this study is sociolinguistics because basically sociolinguistics is the study of language (including speech/actual utterances) in relation to society (Hudson, 1982, p.1). In addition, according to Wolfson (1962, cited in Hudson, 1982, p.4), the analysis of sociolinguistic rules of speaking is the analysis of the patterns and functions of language in use, including the types and the functions of fillers. Besides, people's language (including fillers) in interacting with one another (including face-to-face interaction like conversation or chit-chat) and their background (including the length of studying time) that influences the language used, are the concerns of sociolinguistics (Hudson, 1982, p.106).

This study is also limited to the fillers that are commonly used by the first and the seventh semester students of the English Department, Petra Christian University in a spoken interaction (role-play). Specifically, I limit the topic of fillers to the types and the functions of fillers. I also limit the number of my respondents, that is 20 people from each semester based on the length of the studying time in the English Department.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

 

This second chapter deals with the explanation of the main theories concerning the types and the functions of fillers and deals with two related studies from the senior year students of Petra Christian University that have quite similar topic with my study.

Review of Related Theories

In the review of underlying theories, I use several theories that are related to my main topic, which is about the types and the functions of fillers.

Definitions of Fillers

According to the theory of spoken discourse by Brown and Yule (1983, p.129), a speaker may produce a large number of prefabricated fillers, such as err, ehm, well, I think, you know, if you see what I mean, and so on in his or her utterances. Along with that, according to Baalen (2001, par.7), those prefabricated fillers are defined as sounds or words or phrases that could appear anywhere in the sentence and that could be deleted from the sentence without a change in content. On the other simple words, Yule (2006, p.242) defines fillers as a break in the flow of speech.

Concerning about the meaning of fillers in a certain utterances, according to Hatt (1998, par.2), fillers can be also defined as words used in conversation that has no apparent semantic content. Along with that, Rudolf Verderber and Kathleen Verderber (2009, p.206) also calls fillers as "verbal garbage" because they do not serve a meaningful purpose. Similarly, Stenstrm (1994, p.69) states his thought that actually fillers are lexically empty item with uncertain discourse functions, except to fill a conversational gap.

From a brief explanation above, the best linguistic definition of fillers used in this research is sounds, words, phrases, or even breaks that occur in the flow of a certain utterance and do not have any meanings in the utterance, so thus can be deleted from that utterance without changing the content.

Examples of fillers include "well", "you know", "basically", "I think", "sort of", "kind of", "like", "I mean", "if you see what I mean", "ee", "err", "ehm", "huh", "ah", "uh" and so on (Brown and Yule, 1983, p.129, Hatt, 1998, par.5, Rose, 1998, pp.7-8).

Types of Fillers

In the spoken interaction, according to Stenstrm (1994, p.1), fillers can be categorized into two types, that is silent pauses and filled pauses.

Silent Pauses

Levin, Silverman, and Ford (1967, as cited in Foss & Hakes, 1978, p.180) state that silent pauses are unfilled pauses which occur greater than 80 msec duration. In addition, Clark (1977, p.567) states that silent pause is a hesitation in speech not filled with any speech sounds. Along with that, according to Wu (2001, p.3), silent pauses are simply called as the unfilled pauses when they occur in the middle of phrases and words. Similarly, Matthei and Roeper (1983, p.164) state that silent pauses tend to occur within phrases of the sentence. This statement is supported by Stenstrm (1994, p.7) who says that silent pauses are pauses that appear in strategic places of the sentences. In addition, Brown and Yule (1983, p.129) also mention that silent pauses are pauses which usually precede the utterance and help the speaker to plan putting the words into the utterances. They are usually called extended pauses because it usually extends between 3.2 to 16 seconds and cause the speakers to provide sufficient information to the hearers. (Brown and Yule, 1983, p.163). Chaney and Martin (2004, as cited in Matthei & Roeper, 1983, p.164) add that silent pauses can also indicate agreement or disagreement and lack of interest to other people.

In terms of the length, the standard length of silent pauses varies according to the rhythm of the speakers when they are talking. Therefore, the pause length is relative. Silent pauses are marked by brief/short/unit (.), double/longer than unit (-

-), treble/longer than double unit (---) (Stenstrm, 1994, p.7). The following is the example of silent pauses occurred in an utterance.

A: ehm (.) and ee (---) we, well, I mean, you know, I mean I do try and do something about this (Stenstrm, 1994, p.47).

Filled Pauses

Clark (1977, p.561) states that filled pause is a hesitation in spontaneous speech partly or wholly taken up by a speech sound like ah, err, uh, and so forth. Similarly, Brown and Yule (1983, p.129) state that filled pauses are pauses usually appear in the form of sounds or words and in some places of the sentence. In addition, Carter, Goddard, Reah, Sanger, and Bowring (1997, p.201) mention that filled pauses are the gap between words and forward planning and thinking about what the speakers have to say next. Moreover, Foss and Hakes (1978, p.179) also give another definition about filled pauses which is the pauses which may happen because of the complexity of the speaker's sentence. Besides, Wu (2001, p.4) also states that filled pauses actually are any utterances which do not flow within the context of the conversation. In addition, Rose (1998, p.7) categorizes filled pauses into two types, that is unlexicalized filled pauses and lexicalized filled pauses.

Unlexicalized Filled Pauses

According to Rose (1998, p.7) and Baalen (2001, par.7), unlexicalized filled pauses are non-lexemes (non-words) filled pauses that speakers use to indicate hesitation or to maintain control of a conversation while thinking of what to say next. Baalen (2001, par.7) adds more explanation that unlexicalized filled pauses consist of ehm, uh, err, ee, ah, um, and so on. Juan (2006, par.1) says that ehm, uh, err, ee, ah, um and other vocalizations that belong to unlexicalized filled pauses are the easiest sounds to make while having a spoken interaction, thus the linguists call them as "neutral vowel sounds". The following is the examples of unlexicalized filled pauses.

A: He was um sitting in the corner. B: Uh, that was weird.

C: Where is err the screw? (Wu, 2001, p.4)

Lexicalized Filled Pauses

Rose (1998, p.7-8) defines lexicalized filled pauses as fillers in the form of word or short phrases, like well, yeah, like, sort of, you know, if you see what I mean, and so on. Baalen (2001, par.7) also states a similar statement that lexicalized filled pauses consist of the phrases you know and I mean which are mostly used when a speaker is grouping for words but does not want to give up the claim to the floor. The following is the examples of lexicalized filled pauses.

A: She was sitting like on the bridge. B: She was well only a baby.

C: I wonder if yeah she thinks about me. (Wu, 2001, p.4) Here are the other examples of fillers that occur in an interaction.

A : Hey, have you seen Al and Judy? B : Well, I saw Judy.

A : Al was with her though, right?

A : They've kind of been like fighting, y'know? (Baalen, 2001, par.10) Based on the types of fillers from Rose (1998), Baalen (2001), and

Stenstrm (1994), I conclude that two types of fillers, that is silent pauses and filled pauses consisting of unlexicalized filled pauses and lexicalized filled pauses.

Functions of Fillers

Although they do not result in any changes in the content, fillers in spoken interactions actually have many functions. According to Schiffrin (1978, p.154), fillers have various functions, depending upon the situation of the speaker. In addition, Schourup (1983, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.6) says that fillers have multiple functions and allow the speaker to show his or her mental processes in an appropriate manner. There are at least seven functions of fillers that will be explained further. They are filling the pause, hesitating, holding a conversation turn, interrupting, empathizing, mitigating, and editing term (Rose, 1998, Stenstrm, 1994, Wu, 2001, and Baalen, 2001).

Filling the Pause

One function of fillers is to fill the pause in order to make the spoken interaction run smoothly. Fillers are used in the spoken interactions to fill the pause because those interactions are spontaneous and of course there are breaks and pauses. Those fillers help the speaker to break off the speech while continuing to articulate. However, the articulation is neither a word, nor part of a word (Stenstrm, 1994, p.7). Stenstrm also states that pauses and fillers help the speaker to play for time, to achieve smooth turn taking, to link a help for the speaker while manifesting the hearer's attention (1994, p.7). Besides, fillers also serve a chance to help the speaker avoiding a breakdown and taking over. The following is the examples of fillers that function to fill the pause.

and uh I went to parochial school ...

but if it was because of the negligence of somebody driving um of course that person would be responsible. (Rose, 2009, p.1)

Hesitating

Fillers can also function as hesitation devices. According to Foss and Hakes (1978, p.184), hesitations are pauses that increase in the places of a sentence when a speaker has difficult decision in using the words. Matthei and Roeper (1983, p.164) and Wu (2001, p.6) add that these fillers occur when the speaker must stop and think about what s/he will say next and when s/he is putting a sentence together. According to Hayamizu (2002, par.1), fillers are inevitable in spontaneous utterances because they are uttered when the thinking process cannot keep up with the speaking process. When the speed of speaking becomes faster than the speed of preparing its content, a speaker uses fillers until the next speech content resulting from the thinking process arrives at the speaking process.

For example:

I, em, wonder, err, I em I was, I mean I was sort of wondering if, you know, you'd, em, you'd like, I mean, you wouldn't mind coming out to the err, to the cinema with me, err, sometime, if you, err, you are not too, em, busy, you know. (Wu, 2001, p.7)

Other instances of fillers signaling the speakers have to stop to think about what to say next (as cited in Clark, 1977, p.268--270) are illustrated in the following sentences.

John would like -- ah, carrots.

John would like, well, carrots.

According to James's analysis (1972, 1973a, b; as cited in Clark, 1977, p.268-- 270), each filler above refers to the word carrots. The ah in the first sentence indicates that the speaker had forgotten and has just managed to remember what it was that John would like. The well in the second sentence indicates that the speaker thinks that carrots is only an approximate description of what John would like.

Interrupting

Besides having functions to fill the pause and to hesitate, fillers also have a function to interrupt. Fillers do not have special meanings, but they are used for interruptions, such as uh, err, ehm, ee, well, and so forth (Stenstrm, 1994, p.73). According to Jordan (2001, par.2), fillers are used to interrupt when someone in conversation wants to utter different topic or start a new topic when the other speakers talk about some topics. Maynard (1989, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.1) adds that fillers interrupt the speech cognitively or productively (language production-based fillers). The following is the example taken from Stenstrm (1994, p.73).

A : ... well his manner appealed to me . B : Mm

A : Yes. *I . I*

B : *Emm I can see that* if you didn't *ee- get on with it*

A : *Uh, yes quite some people* em Beryl Martin for instance.

To make it clearer, another example taken from Stenstrm (1994, p.5) is presented:

A : I mean (---) the British are at a loss in a sense to understand problems like this because it doesn't fit -- it doesn't fit into any of the criteria --

that (.) em -- they understand being I mean sort of *rather a ((dull lot of ...))*

B : *Well I just feel you know personally I think you all* well know my feelings about this I just (.) feel that the whole business about partition was terribly terribly unjust.

Holding a Conversation Turn

Furthermore, fillers serve an important purpose in helping a speaker to hold a conversation turn. Juan (2006, par.2) states that in a two-person conversation, people speak by taking turns. When someone thinks it is her/his turn to talk, s/he does. Otherwise, s/he listens. A two-person conversation becomes like a tennis match. Inevitably there are short periods of silence as people pause to let the other person take over the speaking. But sometimes a speaker does not want to give up her/his turn and instead wants a little extra time to think about what s/he is going to say next by using fillers to signal this.

Clark (1977, p.273) states the same theory that under the press of a conversation, speakers must make clear when they still have something to say and when they are finished. If they hesitate too long at any point, someone else may take over the conversation. This might push speakers into starting the first word of the next constituent before having the constituent all planned out. It might also push them to use more filled pauses -- uh, for example -- to fill spaces where other speakers might possibly take over. When a listener hears the fillers, s/he continues listening rather than starts talking. According to Hayamizu (2002, par.3), this function is called as communicative function.

The example below is taken from Stenstrm (1994, p.4):

A : but I don't I mean (.) because (.) because in Ireland (.) everyone insists on remembering things right back to -- ehm Henry the second -- I mean all those things are important this is where in British (.) just sort of completely can't understand them because (.) I mean all we're we're quaintly interested in -- things that happened (.) two hundred years ago here I mean they are of historical (.) interest -- but it doesn't 

really affect our day to day thinking -- but (.) I mean (.) I don't (.) I mean ...

The use of fillers I mean and just sort of in the utterances above shows that the speaker is busy to plan what to say as s/he goes along and shows how the speaker tries to hold the turn to speak.

Other examples are presented below:

(Beginning a lecture in front of an audience)

Well... today, I am going to talk about Japanese society. (Mohan, 1979, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.4)

Err... Excuse me... What time is it? (as cited in Rose, 1998, p.2)

(Explaining directions to the train station to a stranger)

The central station? Well now, let me think...It's, just a moment, yes I think it's...um...yes, I know...it's err...it's the second street on the left...yes, that's it. (Mohan, 1979, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.4)

In (1), the filler well... serves to show the lecturer's cognitive process of producing the utterance as well as to draw the listeners' attention. The filler reduces the abrupt impression of the speech to the listener (Mohan, 1979, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.5). In (2), the speaker knows how to ask the time, but first needs to get the attention of someone to ask. In (3) well, let me think, just a moment, I think, um, err have communicative functions in that they express the speaker's want to hold the floor in a conversation, even though at that time, s/he may have difficulty in finding the right words to express what s/he wants to say (Baalen, 2001, par.7). Moreover, fillers can also be used to block others who wish to take the turn.

Empathizing

In interactional terms, you know is an attention-getting device, meaning that the speaker checks whether the listener pays attention or not. So, no wonder if fillers can function as empathizers, meaning that fillers state an invitation for the listeners to get involved in what the speaker says (Stenstrm, 1994, p.64-65). For example:

A : he's not a relaxed lecturer, but he's (.) a driving lecturer (.) you know

whereas some of them here, stand up poor dears, and they haven't the first clue -- they are so nervous (.) you see painful to listen to. (as cited in Stenstrm, 1994, p.64)

You know and you see are used as the empathizers to engage the listener and make her/him feel part of the conversation. They often appear at the beginning and at the end of a turn, but also elsewhere, for instance when the speaker appeals for feedback. If you know had been left out, the facts would have been the same, but the effect of A's utterance would not have been the same. What A said would have sounded more matter of fact and probably less friendly, and the listener might have felt less involved (Stenstrm, 1994, p.65). For example:

It was-you know- really interesting. (as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.3)

Fillers are the indicators used by the listener as a response in order to tell the sender or the speaker that the message is received, understood, or unclear, so the speaker knows that the listener is giving response to what he or she says (Jordan, 2001, p.12). Corley and Hartsuiker (2003, cited in Marback, 2009, par.2) also show that fillers can increase listeners' attention and help them to interpret the following utterance segment. Fillers can affect how the listener processes spoken language and have long-term consequences for the representation of the meaning (Corley, MacGregor & Donaldson, 2007, cited in Marback, 2009, par.2).

Mitigating

Fillers can also serve as mitigating devices. Fillers may express that the speaker is not committed to what s/he is saying and that they can be used to soften or mitigate utterances in order not to hurt the addressee's feelings (Baalen, 2001, par.6). Baalen also includes that fillers like ehm and ee can be used to express a speaker's reluctance to impose. It means that fillers can show the speaker's reluctance toward what they want to utter. Fillers can also be used to show disagreement (Cook, 1993, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.1).

For example:

A : How about going to a movie Saturday?

B : Uh, I'm sorry. I already have another plan...

Most of filled pauses are used as the breathing pauses, such as pauses generally match semantic-syntactic boundaries (Stenstrm, 1994, p.7). Thus, filled pauses are used for mitigation purposes.

Another example:

A : Would you like to meet for lunch tomorrow?

B : Well, hmm, let's see... Tomorrow's Tuesday, right? I told Harry I'd have lunch with him. And I told him so long ago that I'd feel bad canceling. Maybe another time, okay? (adapted from Finegan, 1994, p. 351 as cited in Rose, 1998, p. 17)

Along with that, Hayamizu (2002, par. 4) calls this function as an affective and cognitive function because for achieving smooth dialogue by sharing mental states among interlocutors, a speaker uses fillers to express mental state such as mitigation to seek an expression appropriate for a listener. On the other hand, a listener interprets fillers as indicators for inferring speaker's mental and thinking states.

For example:

A : May I borrow your car on Saturday night? B : Err...

A: Or maybe I can ask Philip. (as cited in Rose, 1998, p.18)

In this case, B's err... is a complete act signaling objection to A's request. Thus, A offers an escape to maintain harmony (Rose, 1998, p.18).

As mitigating devices, fillers also function as a solidarity marker or politeness device. According to Baalen (2001, par.6) fillers are useful to express opinions but to soften them in the process. She also says that protecting face needs is an important function of fillers because face needs are the need to feel acknowledged and liked (positive face needs) and the need to have one's personal space respected (negative face needs). Koide (1983) and Cook (1993, as cited in Fujita, 2002, par.1) also give the same opinion about the functions of fillers which are increasing the politeness of one's speech and aligning a speaker and a listener in face-to-face interaction. In addition, Knapp and Vangelisti (2005, p.254) have 

found that fillers increase when the speaker is trying to save the relationship or terminate it. So, here fillers can function as mitigating or politeness devices.

For example:

"You have some... err... jelly on your chin..." (adapted from Rose, 1998, pp.2-3)

In that statement, it seems unlikely that the speaker is having difficulty lexicalizing such a common word as jelly. Rather, it appears that s/he is trying to avoid embarrassing her/his interlocutor.

Editing Term

Fillers can also function as an explicit editing term in an utterance. According to Baalen (2001, par.8), editing term means to correct the speech error of the speakers. Thus, the speaker is aware that s/he has made a speech error so s/he wants to correct it. For example:

(It's not) um they're not sure whether they're selling now or in a few months. (as cited in Baalen, 2001, par.7)

I mean, um, ehm, uh, huh, ee, etc can be used to indicate speaker's awareness of the speech error followed by her/his attempt to correct it. Fillers' function as editing term also indicates that the speaker does not want to give up his or her speaking turn yet and is trying to avoid interruptions from another participant by immediately correcting him or herself (Baalen, 2001, par.8).

Accroding to DuBois (1975; as cited in Clark, 1977, p.270) I mean and

well signal distinctly different errors speakers are about to correct:

I really love -- I mean, despise -- getting up in the morning.

I'll be done immediately -- well, in a few minutes.

I mean in the first sentence is used for correcting an out-and-out mistake in wording, one that would have left the utterance with a significantly wrong meaning, and well in the second sentence is used to soften a claim the speaker decides is too excessive. In each correction, speakers replace certain old words with new ones, indicating that the old words had been misplanned. Typically, this means editing one word, but sometimes it means editing more than one (DuBois, 1975; as cited in Clark, 1977, p.270).

In a nut shell, those two types and those seven functions of fillers would be identified in the spoken interaction by the first and the seventh semester students of the English Department based on the explanation described above. In short, fillers have two types that is silent pauses and filled pauses (lexicalized and unlexicalized filled pauses) and fillers have seven functions that is filling the pause, hesitating, interrupting, holding a conversation turn, empathizing, mitigating, and editing the term.

Review of Related Studies

In order to support my research, here I present two related previous studies, which are directly related to my main topic, fillers.

The Use of Fillers by Different Preachers in the Church in Surabaya (Cahyadi, 2008)

In this research, Cahyadi observed the production of fillers used by different groups of preachers in a natural setting. The objects of investigation were the preachers who were in different groups at City of Faith, one of the satellites of Mawar Sharon Church in Surabaya. In this study, group referred to the title of the preachers in the church. Specifically, Cahyadi asked about the types, the frequency of occurrences, and the functions of fillers used by each preacher of different group.

Mainly, she used the theory on the types of fillers from Rose (1998). It was added with the theories of the types of fillers from Stenstrm (1994) and Baalen (2001). Also, she used the theory on the functions of fillers from Stenstrm (1994).

She used a descriptive qualitative approach since she focused more on finding about the types and the functions of fillers. As the source of data, Cahyadi took two sermons in the cell groups, in which each sermon was done by a preacher of different groups; Fasilitator and Penilik.

In the findings and discussion, Cahyadi found that the Fasilitator produced more fillers than the Penilik. The Fasilitator produced 270 fillers in her sermon, while the Penilik produced 238 fillers in his sermon. Secondly, the data showed  

that both the Fasilitator and the Penilik produced more lexicalized than unlexicalized fillers. In terms of the functions of fillers, Cahyadi found that the types of fillers produced by both the Fasilitator and the Penilik had the functions as a holder to the turn, as a mark of hesitation, as empathizers, as time-creating device, and as an editing term. As a conclusion, Cahyadi concluded that the different group of the preachers affects the types, the frequencies, and the functions of fillers.

There are one similarity and three differences between my research and Cahyadi's. The similarity is both writers chose the same topic, which is about fillers in terms of the types and the functions in spoken interaction. Thus, the theories used in both researches were quite similar, although I used more theories than Cahyadi.

However, about the differences, first, Cahyadi's subject was the different groups of preachers; meanwhile, my subjects were the first and the seventh semester students of the English Department, Petra Christian University based on the length of studying time. Then, the second difference is Cahyadi's data were the sermons from different groups of preachers in the cell group, while my data were the spoken interaction between two students in pair from the same semester who discussed a certain topic. The last difference is Cahyadi's data were in Indonesian since in cell group, the language used was Indonesian, while my data were in English since I investigated fillers of the English Department students based on the length of studying time.

From Cahyadi's research, I learnt that the Fasilitator who has a higher level than the Penilik, produced more fillers than the Penilik. However, in terms of types of fillers produced, there is no difference since both the Fasilitator and the Penilik produced more lexicalized than unlexicalized fillers. There is also no difference in terms of the functions of the fillers because both the Fasilitator and the Penilik used fillers as a holder to the turn, as a mark of hesitation, as empathizers, as time-creating device, and as an editing term. Despite the differences in the purpose and limitation, Cahyadi's study still contributes to my study. It serves as a reliable base from which I conduct the study under the same 

field, fillers. Therefore I was encouraged more to investigate further about fillers, but with different respondents and data.

The Hesitations in William's Utterances in His Conversations with Anna in "Notting Hill" (Elizabeth, 2006)

In her thesis, Elizabeth investigated about how hesitations occur and influence a speaker's utterances when s/he communicates and interacts in a conversation by using turn-taking and exchange strategies. She took the data from the conversations between William and Anna in "Notting Hill" movie since she noticed there are a lot of hesitations in William's utterances. Elizabeth investigated how William encourages himself to keep talking and communicating in the conversation. The findings showed that the hesitations appeared as the consequences of William's conditions when he felt confused, shy, panic, and nervous when he met Anna. In turn-taking and exchange strategies, Elizabeth found that William tried to handle his difficulty, to motivate himself, and to carry out his role in order to keep talking with Anna. Thus, William could build good communication and relationship with Anna. Finally, Elizabeth concluded that hesitations may help the speaker to build a good conversation, especially through managing him/herself, ideas, and strategy to run the conversation.

There are one similarity and two differences between my study and Elizabeth's research. The similarity is both writers used the same theories from Rose (1998), Wu (2001), Matthei and Roeper (1983), Foss and Hakes (1978), and Brown and Yule (1983) since hesitations and fillers are connected each other. Hesitations are the big umbrella of fillers, while fillers have one function as a marker of hesitations in the spoken interaction. That is why the theories used are quite similar. However, my research is different from Elizabeth's in terms of the subject of the research. Elizabeth's subject was William in "Notting Hill" movie, while my subjects were the students of the English Department, Petra Christian University from two different semesters. The second difference is that Elizabeth focused more on the turn-taking and exchange strategies in the conversation, while I concentrated more on the types and the functions of fillers in spoken 

interaction, although I also explained about turn-taking as one of several functions of fillers.

From Elizabeth's research, I learnt that turn-taking and exchange strategies which contain hesitations are useful to keep the conversation run smoothly, especially in handling the difficulties to find the right word and to keep the conversation run. By noticing the finding of this research, therefore I was encouraged more to investigate further about fillers which are narrower than hesitations, with different respondents and data.