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Center of Language Innovation

Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

Fillers Used By Male And Female Students Of English Education Study Program in
Argumentative Talks

LERRY NAVRATILOVA
Bengkulu University
[email protected]

Abstract
This research aimed at find outtypes and function of fillers used by male and female students
of the English Education Study Program in argumentative talks. This research was descriptive
research. The subjects consisted of two students groups: male and female students each
consisting of four students. The data were fillers used by the students from the transcript of 2
10- minute argumentative talks. The data were analyzed and classified based on the theory
proposed by Rose (1994). Then, functions of fillers based on theory by Strenstrom in Kurwanto
(2011). The results show that the male and female students produced unlexicalized fillers as
the most frequently used, followed by lexicalized fillers. Both of male and female students
produced fillers in order to fill pause, to hesitate, to hold conversation turn, to emphatize, to
mitigate, to intterupt, and to edit their speech error. All those function of fillers proposed by
Strenstrom were used by male and female students in their talks . In addition, Filling pause
was the most frequently function used by male and female students, followed by fillers as a
mark of hesitation. Thus, there were similiarities both in types and functions used by male and
female students. However, the researcher found female students produced more fillers than
men did. This maybe due to women tend to speak less certainty compared to male .
Keywords : Fillers; male and female;argumentative talks

1. Introduction
Three main objectives are set out in this project entitled “Fillers Used By Male And
Female Students In ”. First is understanding the types of fillers used by male and female
students when they deliver their opinion which is supported by arguments. The second is
categorizing frequencies fillers occurrences used by male and female students. The last
isobserving the differences of fillers produced by male and female students.
Spoken discourse is different with written discourse. Spoken discourse is always
identified with fillers, discourse marker and many others phenomenon that makes the
utterances is going natural. There were several definitions of fillers defined by some
experts. According to the theory of spoken discourse by Brown and Yule ( 1983), a speaker
may produce a large 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, Baleen ( 2001) defined those prefabricated fillers are sounds or
words or phrases that could appear anywhere in the sentences and that could be deleted
from the sentence without a change in content. On the other simple words, Yule (2006)
defines fillers as a break in the flow of speech.
Fillers could be categorized in terms such as ,um, er,uh, ah. Christenfeld, Stanles,
Frances ( 1983) states thatumas the term for such interruption in the flow of speech. It
means that filler may used to interrupt of utterances produced by the male and female
speaker. Similarly, Strenstrom in Kurwanto (2011) states his thought that actually fillers
are lexically empty item with the most common used to fill a conversation gap and mark
of hesitation. It means that filler commonly occurs to mark of hesitation or to hold control
of a conversation while the speaker thinks what to say next. Moreover ,Hatt ( 1998) defined
fillers as words used in conversation that has no apparent semantic content. In simple word,
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

it means that when a speaker produces fillers, they are not certain has the purpose meaning
in their utterances.
Furthermore, Goldman Eisler and Rochester in Marback, S., Sjoeberg( 1997) also
defined fillers as indications of time out while the speech production searches for the next
word, phrase, or idea. Most people produce fillers spontaneously because they have
pressure to produce the message of utterances in order to the listener could receive the
message of utterances well. During the utterances happen, they will use fillers to search for
the next word, phrase, or idea.
In addition, according to Bright (1992) fillers also defined as “vocal hiccups”. Those
vocal hiccup were words that exist in the utterances but do not result in any changes in the
content. Along with that, Bonano (2009) defined fillers as “verbal bridge” . They are
includeum, ah, and words such as like, so, and ok,which are used as a bridge to say what
the next one.
From a brief explanation above, the best linguistics definition of fillers used in this
project is sounds, words, phrases, or even break, that occur in the flow of a certain
utterances and do not have any meanings in the utterances, so thus can be deleted from that
utterances without changing the content. Example of fillers include well, you know,
basically, I think,sort of, kinds of, like, if you see what I mean, ee, err, ehm, uh, ah, and so
on ( Brown and Yule, 1983, Rose, 1998)

2. Method
• Participants
Eight students at the eighth semester of English Education Study Program,
Universitas Bengkulu who were studying English as second languagewere observed.
These eight students were grouped as male and female students. In other words, four
students were in male group and four students were in female group. Moreover, the
particpantsin this project are taken randomly in order to get valid data.

• Data Collection Techniques

The data of this project took from utterances of male and female students in their
argumentative talks which in contained of fillers. The data were collected by
usingrecorder divices from phone cell. There were some steps to collect data of this
reasearch .
First, the researcher permitted to four male students and four female students to
record their conversation in ten minutes. The subject of this project did not know the
particular target of study, fillers. The process of collecting recording of utterances
were done separately. In simple words, the reseacher recorded the data based on each
gender group. Additionally, the data were collected in Self Access Center (SAC) and
Reading room Dekanat building. These places were considered as conducive place to
record their conversation because there were no crowded or noisy sounds allowed in
this room. Futhermore, in this situation, the researcherwas a trigger of conversation.
The role of researcherwas only coming up a topic in the conversation. In simple words,
the talkswere running naturally. The researcher opens the conversation with the topic
“what do you think about Facebook? Does it have more advantages or disadvantage in
your life?” . Then after the utterances was running naturally, the researcher withdrew
from the group.
After recording the participants’s utterances, the researcher listened to recording
and then, transcribed the data record in transcribtion sheets. In order to easier in
transcribing , the researcher made a table which in consist of number of turn, utterances,
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

types of fillers, function of fillers. Moreover, to mark fillers in conversation the

researcher put a small superscript number before those fillers.
When transcribing, the researcher used the transcription symbols which are
commonly used for conversation analytic project. Those symbol was developed by Du
bois.
Finally, the researcher will code the data. Coding is the process of organizing the
material before bring the meaning of the items (Creswell,John W in Rossman& Rallis,
1998). The coding process used to setting themes or topics related the project for
analysis (Creswell,John W).

3. Result
This section presents the results of the project. The result section is divided into
three parts as there are three questions of the project. The first section concerns with the
types of fillers used by male students. The second with the types of fillers used by female
students. According to Rose ( 1998), there are two types of fillers, lexicalized and
unlexicalized fillers. Unlexicallized fillers is fillers with contains of lexical empty such as
ee, erm, err, ehm, and eh. Meanwhile lexicalized fillers which in contain of phrase such as
I mean, You know, actually, kind of, sort ot, etc. This theory which is purposed by Rose(
1998) will be used as the principles in indicates what types of fillers used by male and
female students. The third concern with functions of fillers used by male and female
students According to Strenstrom in Kurwanto (2011), there are seven functions of filler.
They are filling pause, mark of hesitation, holding turn, interrupting, empathizer,
mitigating, and editing term. This theory will be used to investigate the functions of fillers
used by male and female students. The last section is the differences of fillers that can be
found between fillers used by male and female.
• Types of Fillers Used by Male Students
This section answered the first project questions about types of fillers used by
male students. From the data which were taken by the researcher by recording of
utterances in male students, there were two types of fillers used by them. They were
Lexicalized and Unlexicalized fillers with total number of occurrences 159 . The details
of the types of fillers used by male students presented in the following table:

Table 1. Types of Fillers Used by Male Students

No. Types Of Fillers N ( %)
Unlexicalized Fillers 105 ( 66,04%)
Lexicalized Fillers 54 ( 33, 97 %)
Total 159 ( 100%)

The table above implies that the most frequent of fillers used by male students were
unlexicalized fillers with number of occurances 105 or 66. 04%. Then, followed by
lexicalized fillers with number of occurances54 or 33, 97%.
• Unlexicalized Fillers in Male Students
Unlexicalized fillers was the most frequent fillers used by male students in their
spontaneous conversation with number of occurrences 105 (66, 04%). They tended to
use fillers ee and ehm as the mark of lexicalized fillers. The detail of unlexicalized
fillers used by them will be presented in the following table:
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

Tabel2.Unlexicalized fillers in Male students

No. Unlexicalized Fillers N ( %)

Ee 98 ( 61.64%)

Ehm 7 ( 4. 40 %)

Total Number 105

The table 2 above shows that there are two kind of unlexicalized fillers used by
male students in their conversation with total number of occurrences was 105 . Fillers
ee was the most frequent of unlexicalized fillers used by male students with the number
of occurrences 98 or 61.64 % , followed by fillers ehm with the number of occurrences
was 7 or 4.40%.
• Lexicalized Fillers in Male Students
The male students also used lexicalized fillers in their talks. They tended to use
fillers I mean, I think, you know, kind of, like, yeah, ya, yes and Ok as the mark of
lexicalized fillers. The detail of lexicalized fillers used by male students is presented
in the following table:

Table. 3 Lexicalized fillers in Male Students

Number of Occurances and

No. Lexicalized Fillers Frequencies
N (%)

1. OK 15 9.43%
2. I think 11 6.92%
3. You Know 8 5.03%
4. Right 5 3.14%
5. What is it 3 1.89%
6. Kind of 2 1.26%
7. Apo 2 1.26 %
8. Like 2 1.26%
9. Yeah 1 0.63%
10. Ya 1 0.63%
11. Well 1 0.63%
12. I mean 1 0.63%
13. I guess 1 0.63%
14. Yes 1 0.63%
Total Number 54 33.97 %
Table 3 showsthat fillers ok, I think, and you know were fillers which in the most
frequently used by male students. Those fillers as mark of lexicalized fillers.
Additionally, the total number of occurrences produced as 54 or 33.97 %.
In detail, from the table 4 , fillers Ok with the numbers of occurrences 15 or
9.43% was the types of lexicalized fillers used the most frequent produced by male
students. Then, fillers I thinkin the second position with the number occurrences 11 or
6.92% .
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

The male students also produced fillers you know and right as the mark of
lexicalized fillers. fillers you know was in the third position with number of occurances
8 or 5.03%, followed by fillers right as in the fourth position with number of occurances
5 or 3.14 %.
Moreover, There were some fillers produced by male students that had the same
number of occurances. They were fillers Kind of and Likewith each number of
occurances 2 or 1.26 %. The utterances which in conducted with fillers Kind of, and
Like used by male students.
There were also fillers yeah, ya, well, I mean, and I guess produced by male
students. Those all fillers was less frequent used by them because the number of
frequencies for each fillers was 1 or 0.63%.
Futhermore, there was filler which in not belong to English fillers such fillers
apo. Fillers apo produced by male students in his utterances. This fillers belong to
Bengkulu language. It caused by the speaker’s mother tongue was Bengulu language.
• Types of Fillers Used by Female Students
This section answers the first project questions about types of fillers used by
female students. From the data which were taken by the researcher by recording the
utterances of female students, there were also two types of fillers used by female
students. They are Lexicalized fillers and unlexicalized fillers with the total number of
occurrences were 171.
The detail of the result about fillers used by female students will be presented
in the following table:

Table 4.fillers used by female students

No. Types of fillers N ( %)
1 Unlexicalized fillers 127 ( 74.26%)
2 Lexicalized fillers 59 ( 25.71%)
Total 171 (100%

Table 4 above shows that the female students also used two kind of fillers
proposed theory by Rose (1998). They were unlexicalized and lexicalized fillers. In
producing fillers, the most frequent fillers used by female students were unlexicalized
fillers with number of occurrences 127 or 72.26%. While, lexicalized fillers used by
them was in the second position with number occurrences 59 or 25.71%.
• Unlexicalized Fillers in Female students
The female students tend to use fillers ee, ehm, and eh as the mark of
lexicalized fillers. The detail of unlexicalized fillers used by male students will
presented in the following table:

Tabel 5. Unlexicalized Filler in Female Students

No. Unlexicalized Fillers N (%)

1. Ee 104 ( 60.81%)
2. Ehm 22 ( 12.87%)
3. Eh 1 (0.58%)
Total 127 ( 74. 26%)
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

Table 5 shows that there were three kinds of unlexicalized fillers used by female
students in their conversation with total number of occurances was 127 or 74.26% .
Fillers ee was the most frequent of unlexicalized fillers used by female students with
the number of occurrences 104 or 60.81%, followed by fillers ehm with the number of
occurrences was 22 or 12.87%. There was also fillers eh produced by female students
in talks with number occurances 1 or 0.85%.
• Lexicalized Fillers in Female Students
The female students also used lexicalized fillers in conversation. They tended to use
fillers I mean, I think, you know, kind of, actually, like, yeah, ya, well, I mean, right,
and Ok as the mark of lexicalized fillers. The detail of lexicalized fillers used by female
students will presented in the following table:

Table 6. Lexicalized Fillers in Female Students

No. Lexicalized Fillers Number & Frequency of

Occurrences
N %
I think 8 4.68%
Yeah 8 4. 68%
Actually 6 3.51%
What is it 5 2.92%
You Know 4 2.33%
Right 3 1.75%
Apanamanya 3 1.75%
I mean 3 1.75%
Kind of 2 1.17%
10. Ya 1 0.58%
11. Well 1 0.58%

Total Number of 44 ( 25.71%)

Lexicalized Fillers

Table 6 shows that there were eleven fillers included to lexicalized fillers used
by female students . Fillers I think was the most frequent fillers used by them with
number occurrences 8 or 4.68 %. Then , in the second position fillers yeah with number
occurrences 8 or 4.68%, followed by fillers actually with number occurrences 6 or
3.51%. After that, fillers you know was in the fifth position with number occurrences
4 or 2.33%. Then fillers Apanamanya, I mean, and Right in the sixth position with
number of occurrences 3 or 1.75%. However, there were fillers the less frequent used
by the female students. They were fillers ya and well with number occurrences 1 or
0.85%.
• Functions of Fillers Used by Male Students
This part answers the second project question which is the function fillers used
by male students. According Strenstrom inKurwanto (2011) , there are seven function
of fillers. They are filling pause, mark of hesitating, holding turn, emphatizing,
interrupting, mitigating and editing term. These all function of fillers used by male
students in their spontaneous conversation. The details of result presented in the table
below:
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

Tabel 7. Function Of Fillers in Male Students

No. Function of Fillers N ( %)

1 Filling Pause 69 (43.39%)
2 Mark of Hesitation 40( 25.15 %
3 Holding turn 22 ( 13.83%)
4 Empathizing 13 ( 8.17%)
5 Mitigating 6 (3.77%)
6 Editing term 6 ( 3.77%)
7 Interrupting 3 (1.88%)

Table 7 shows that in production of fillers, male student used all the function of
fillers which is proposed the theory byStrenstom in Kurwanto (2011) . Fillers as filling
pause was the most frequent function used by male students with number of occurrences
69 or 43.39%. Then fillers as mark of hesitation was in the second position with number
of occurrences 40 or 25.15% followed by fillers as holding turn in the third position
with number occurrences 22 or 13.83%. After that, fillers as mitigating and fillers as
editing term was in the fourth position with number of occurrences 6 or 3.77%. The
last functions of fillers used by male students was as interrupting with number of
occurrences 3 or 1.88%.

• Functions of Fillers Used by Female Students

This part answers the second project question which is the function fillers used
by female students. According Strenstrom in Kurwanto (2011) , there are seven
functions of fillers. They are filling pause, mark of hesitating, holding turn,
empathizing, interrupting, mitigating and editing term. These all function of fillers were
also used by female students in their talks. The details of result presented in the table
below:
Table 8. Function Of Fillers in female Students

No. Function of Fillers N (%)

1 Filling Pause 59 ( 34.50%)
2 Mark of Hesitation 54 ( 31.57%)
3 Holding turn 25( 14.61%)
4 Editing term 16 ( 9.35%)
5 Empathizing 8 ( 4.67%)
6 Interrupting 5 ( 2.92%)
7 Mitigating 3 ( 1.75%)

Based on the table above, in production of fillers the female student used all the
function of fillers which is proposed theory of Strenstom The table presented that fillers
function as filling was the most frequent function of fillers with number occurrences 59
or 34.50% followed by mark of hesitation with number occurrences 54 or 31.57%.
Then, holding was in third position with number of occurrences 25 (14.61%) followed
by editing term with number occurrences 16 or 9.35%. Fillers function as empathizing
was in the fifth position with number occurrences 8 or 4. 67%, followed by interrupting
with number occurrences 5 or 2.92%. The less frequent functions used by male students
was fillers as empathizing with number occurrences 3 or 1.75%.
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

• The Differences between Fillers Used by Male and Female Students

This fourth section will be answered the third project questions about the
differences exist in fillers used by male and female student. The following table will be
presented to see the differences that will be found:

Table 9. The differences between fillers used by male and female students
N Function Of Male N Female N
O Fillers
LF UF LF UF
1 Filling Pause 12 57 69 11 48 59
2 Hesitation 16 24 40 17 37 54
3 Holding turn 9 13 22 7 19 26
4 Empathizing 13 0 13 8 0 8
5 Mitigating 4 2 6 0 3 3
6 Interrupting 0 3 3 0 5 5
7 Editing term 1 5 6 12 4 16
Grand Total 159 171

From the table above, the result presented that there weresimiliarities types of
fillers used by male and female students. Male and female students used lexicalized and
unlexicalized fillers. The most frequent types of fillers used by male and female
students were lexicalized fillers. However, there was the differences with the number
of types of fillers used by male and female students. Female tended to used fillers in
their talks than male did. The number occurance of types of fillers used by male students
was 159. Meanwhile, the female students produced lexicalized and unlexicalized fillers
with number occurrences 171.
Moreover, there were similiarities of the function used by male and female
students. Male and female students used all the seventh function of fillers based on the
theory proposed by Strenstrom. They were filling pause, mark of hesitating, holding
turn, empathizing, mitigating, and interrupting. The most frequent fillers used by male
and female students were filler as filling pause and fillers as mark of hesitation. The
differences could be found was the less frequent used of function fillers production as
interrupting in male conversation. Meanwhile, the female students were less frequent
used fillers as mitigating in their conversation.

4. Discussion

• Types and Function of Fillers Used by Male and Female Students

As already presented in the previous section, male and female students produced
fillers in different functions . Both male and female students produced unlexicalized and
lexicalized fillers based on theory proposed by Rose (1994). Male and female students
tended to use more unlexicalized fillers such as ee and ehm than lexicalized fillers or phrase
fillers.
Moreover, the number of occurances of unlexicalized fillers produced by male
students were less than seventy percent. Meanwhile unlexicalized fillers produced by
female students were more than seventy percent. This probably happen because both of
male and female students did not have various types of unlexicalized fillers. They may not
realized that fillers ee and ehm were the simplest and the easiest fillers to produced than
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

others. As stated by Juan in Kurwanto (2011) , unlexicalized fillers are the easiest fillers
produced by speaker in their spoken interaction because it was suggested that occured
unconsiously. Additionally, it may be due to topic of discussing in their conversation. The
topic refered to argumentative talks, which was about advantages and disadvantages of
facebook in their life. Thus, the male and female students probably more focus on how to
persuade their hearer and state their argument logicaly with supported arguments rather
than the variety in producing of fillers.
In addition, there were additional unlexicalized fillers used by female students.
Filler eh produced by them when they uttered their information about facebook. However,
this fillers was only coming up once in her utterances, it might assume that the speaker
maybe unconscious with what she uttered. Thus she produced fillers eh in.
Moreover, the male and female students also produced lexicalized fillers in their
talks. The male students produced lexicalized fillers with number occurrences more than
fourty percent, meanwhile female students produced lexicalized fillers less than fourty
percent. Filler Ok was the most frequently used in male groups. Then, fillers I think was
the most frequently used in female groups. This probably caused by one of speaker in each
group was taken part in the talks dominantly. In simple words, the dominant speakers
produced their each favorite fillers, such as Ok and I think .

5. Conclusion
This study that attempted to find out the used of fillers by male and female students
English Education Study Program in argumentative talks shows that the students produced
fillers for different functions. The research findings could be concluded types and function
of filler as follows: Male and female students used lexicalized and unlexicalized fillers.
The most frequent types of fillers used by male and female students were unlecixalized
fillers. Male and female students used all function of fillers based on the theory of
Strenstrom. They are filling pause, mark of hesitating, holding turn, empathizing,
mitigating, and interrupting. The most frequent fillers used by male and female students
were filler as filling pause and fillers as mark of hesitation. There were no differences
existed in the usage of fillers in each gender groups. Both male and female students used
lexicalized and unlexicalized fillers. Male and female students also used fillers as filling
pause, mark of hesitation, holding turn, interrupting, mitigating, emphatizing, and editing
term. However, femalestudents tended to use more filler in argumentative talks than male
did.
Center of Language Innovation
Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching Vol.2 No 1; July 2015

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