You know what I think is really cool about language (English in this case)? Itâs the way you can express âI donât knowâ without opening your mouth. All you have to do is hum a low note, a high note, then another lower note. The same goes for yes and no. Does anyone know what this is called?
These are called vocables, a form of non-lexical utterance - that is, wordlike sounds that arenât strictly words, have flexible meaning depending on context, and reflect the speakers emotional reaction to the context rather than stating something specific. They also include uh-oh! (thatâs not good!), uh-huh and mm-hmm (yes), uhn-uhn (no), huh? (what?), huh⊠(oh, I seeâŠ), hmmn⊠(I wonder⊠/ maybeâŠ), awww! (thatâs cute!), aww⊠(darn itâŠ), um? (excuse me; that doesnât seem right?), ugh and guh (expressions of alarm, disgust, or sympathy toward somebody elseâs displeasure or distress), etc.
Every natural human language has at least a few vocables in it, and filler words like âumâ and âermâ are also part of this overall class of utterances. Technically âvocableâ itself refers to a wider category of utterances, but these types of sounds are the ones most frequently being referred to, when the word is used.
Reblog if u just hummed all of these out loud as you read them
