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I did not know what dysfluency is before I asked this question and got an answer.

Well, now I want a term for a special phrase or words that people keep on repeating when they speak. The most common words are "...you know..."

When I was a kid...you know... I was very shy. My father...you know...was an outspoken person. He always insisted me...you know...to be brave and straightforward...

The best example is here, a Sunder Pichai video. Worth noting that there's dysfluency as well!

I lost counting the number of 'you knows' in his speech! :)

Community
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Maulik V
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    **[Filler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filler_(linguistics))**: "In linguistics, a **filler** is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but has not yet finished speaking." In Russian, we call them *[slova-parasity](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8B)*, or "parasitic words*. So it was, like, very easy: I just opened the Wikipedia page in Russian, then, you know, used the interwiki. (0: – CowperKettle Dec 18 '15 at 10:04
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    P.S. By the way, I've just read your question on disfluency, and Snailboat mentions **filler** in her answer there.. P.P.S. And others mention it too. – CowperKettle Dec 18 '15 at 10:24
  • Maybe you want to learn some more colloquial designations of this term, less formal than **filler**. Let's hear if there are any from native speakers. – CowperKettle Dec 18 '15 at 10:30

2 Answers2

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Filler: "In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but has not yet finished speaking." (Wikipedia)

In Russian, we call them slova-parasity, or parasitic words. So it was, like, very easy: I just opened the Wikipedia page in Russian, then, you know, used the interwiki. (0:

CowperKettle
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    +1 A generic term which embraces *fillers* and other sorts of extra-syntactic interpolations is [*discourse marker*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_marker). – StoneyB on hiatus Dec 18 '15 at 11:42
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Also the term "vocalized pauses" could apply here, though in my experience that has usually translated to "um, hmm, ah" kind of words/sounds.

For example in public speaking it is common for people to be giving a speech, lose their place and say something like " and to continue the point ... um ... I would like to say ... um ..."

PseudoNym01
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