What do you call this? mm MM mmmm. Anything else like it? MM mm mmmm.
August 7, 2015 11:55 AM Subscribe
In American English, instead of saying "I don't know", you can just kind of.. mmm out each word. 1) Does that have a specific term, or is it just generalized under nonverbal communication? 2) What other languages have similar phrase > nonverbal things that are commonly used?
Best answer: It's not a pause or an interjection, but rather a sentence that's hummed rather than verbalized. My mother did this.
The OP's "mm MM mmmm" would be hummed as a continuous phrase with three pitches, approximately I-IV-II on a major scale.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:07 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
The OP's "mm MM mmmm" would be hummed as a continuous phrase with three pitches, approximately I-IV-II on a major scale.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:07 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: And just to explain further, the three-pitch legato phrase literally stood for a sung "I don't know," but without the words.
So this is how I understand the phenomenon in the OP's question. Sorry I don't know a term for it.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:18 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
So this is how I understand the phenomenon in the OP's question. Sorry I don't know a term for it.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:18 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I would characterize it as kind of an extreme contraction. Like reducing "I don't know" to "Dunno" to "Ah'unno" to "mmMMmm".
posted by bleep at 12:21 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by bleep at 12:21 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
There's this place in Sweden where they make a funny sound instead of saying 'ja'... this is a "phrase > nonverbal thing" but I don't know if this is similar enough for you to place under the same umbrella.
posted by blue t-shirt at 12:22 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by blue t-shirt at 12:22 PM on August 7, 2015 [3 favorites]
I am a poor french speaker but I've heard native french speakers "Ooo" their way through "Je ne sais pas" that's more half pronouncing/mumbling though, rather than the "mmm" example.
posted by French Fry at 12:25 PM on August 7, 2015
posted by French Fry at 12:25 PM on August 7, 2015
It's totally a thing. Spoken language includes a TON of redundant information, including syntax, morphology, the words themselves, noun/verb agreement, and in this case, cadence. This is by design: if you're talking to me and it's in a loud room or something so I don't hear you with 100% fidelity, I can still understand what you're saying. So around the world we see a lot of examples where people deliberately omit some of that information and language is still understandable.
posted by capricorn at 12:38 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by capricorn at 12:38 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
In linguistics this is called prosody.
posted by little eiffel at 12:44 PM on August 7, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by little eiffel at 12:44 PM on August 7, 2015 [7 favorites]
B'oh is the (primarily, I believe) Roman dialect version of this. It can be as short and clipped or as long and drawn out as needed for effect. Rhymes with Homer Simpson's infamous "D'oh!" exclamation and even more fun to say as it rolls around your mouth sort of echoing off your cheeks before its exit.
posted by romakimmy at 1:33 PM on August 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by romakimmy at 1:33 PM on August 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
It kind of goes along with humming yes "mm HMM" or no "MM mm", doesn't it?
posted by Rock Steady at 1:39 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 1:39 PM on August 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
In Mandarin, there's "aiya" and "la." "Aiya" is like "Oh, my" or "Oh, my god." and "la" is used to give emphasis to the preceding statement.
posted by madonna of the unloved at 1:48 PM on August 7, 2015
posted by madonna of the unloved at 1:48 PM on August 7, 2015
Aren't they words though? "Hmm?" means "what?" and "mmhmm" means "yes" as I understand it.
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:43 PM on August 7, 2015
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:43 PM on August 7, 2015
>> There's this place in Sweden where they make a funny sound instead of saying 'ja'
It's all of Sweden. They make a sharp intake of air, with regional variations. One is similar to a gasp, one is like sucking on a straw, etc. You can even say "ja" while breathing in, for variety.
The more noise made with the breath, the more emphatic the "ja".
posted by trinity8-director at 3:04 PM on August 7, 2015
It's all of Sweden. They make a sharp intake of air, with regional variations. One is similar to a gasp, one is like sucking on a straw, etc. You can even say "ja" while breathing in, for variety.
The more noise made with the breath, the more emphatic the "ja".
posted by trinity8-director at 3:04 PM on August 7, 2015
Best answer: I would characterize it as kind of an extreme contraction.
Basically this -- the technical term is "phonetic reduction".
posted by redfoxtail at 7:25 PM on August 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Basically this -- the technical term is "phonetic reduction".
posted by redfoxtail at 7:25 PM on August 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
You can even say "ja" while breathing in, for variety.
I noticed this when I was watching the Swedish Dragon Tattoo movies and was curious about it. This type of sound is known as a pulmonic ingressive sound. It's common in many languages, including the Scandanavian languages.
posted by i feel possessed at 9:26 PM on August 7, 2015
I noticed this when I was watching the Swedish Dragon Tattoo movies and was curious about it. This type of sound is known as a pulmonic ingressive sound. It's common in many languages, including the Scandanavian languages.
posted by i feel possessed at 9:26 PM on August 7, 2015
Read the Wikipedia article on whistled languages for lots of technical linguistic terms on a fundamentally very similar phenomenon. I'm crossing my fingers for someone like languagehat to drop by this thread with maybe a clear answer for what we can call this sort of thing.
Some of the English examples of non-word vocalizations like the patterned three-tone "mm" or "uh" described above that mean "I dunno" have a direct link to a verbal expression with the same tune. Some don't, like the playground taunt "nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh" that goes to the three-note tune of, oh,"it's raining it's pouring"/"rain rain go away"/"I'm the king of the castle". There's a bit in one of the Iona Opie books on how this vocalization, like a lot of children's language and games, is surprisingly widely understood and used.
Also we (not sure about the cultural specificity of this) understand a sharp high "ah" made with glottal stops at beginning and end to mean "stop/danger/don't/naughty" - often repeated, ah ah ah. Dogs understand too. I've heard people use it with their cats though I'm not sure how much they really get human vocalizations.
I had a very funny period learning French one-on-one with a native speaker - she would use a glottal-stopped "mm mm" as a conversation-lubricating noise (I forget any of the more technical terms for these). To my English ears that sounds like an admonishment, similar to the above, very like "nuh uh". But she was nodding and smiling! After a while I realised not just that it was a French vocalization of encouragement, but that it meant d'accord (OK, yes, sure, indeed etc). The glottal onsets are there because the /d/ and /cc/ are stops. So mm-mm. It's possible that a glottal onset "mm" means "d'acc" ('kay) too but I haven't spoken French for a while and can't remember.
posted by lokta at 1:49 AM on August 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Some of the English examples of non-word vocalizations like the patterned three-tone "mm" or "uh" described above that mean "I dunno" have a direct link to a verbal expression with the same tune. Some don't, like the playground taunt "nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh" that goes to the three-note tune of, oh,"it's raining it's pouring"/"rain rain go away"/"I'm the king of the castle". There's a bit in one of the Iona Opie books on how this vocalization, like a lot of children's language and games, is surprisingly widely understood and used.
Also we (not sure about the cultural specificity of this) understand a sharp high "ah" made with glottal stops at beginning and end to mean "stop/danger/don't/naughty" - often repeated, ah ah ah. Dogs understand too. I've heard people use it with their cats though I'm not sure how much they really get human vocalizations.
I had a very funny period learning French one-on-one with a native speaker - she would use a glottal-stopped "mm mm" as a conversation-lubricating noise (I forget any of the more technical terms for these). To my English ears that sounds like an admonishment, similar to the above, very like "nuh uh". But she was nodding and smiling! After a while I realised not just that it was a French vocalization of encouragement, but that it meant d'accord (OK, yes, sure, indeed etc). The glottal onsets are there because the /d/ and /cc/ are stops. So mm-mm. It's possible that a glottal onset "mm" means "d'acc" ('kay) too but I haven't spoken French for a while and can't remember.
posted by lokta at 1:49 AM on August 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
The French have bof for this.
Nope — "bof" means "I don't care", or just "blah". Reply to someone with "bof" and they'll drop the subject, and most likely think you're pretty rude into the bargain.
posted by Wolof at 4:08 AM on August 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Nope — "bof" means "I don't care", or just "blah". Reply to someone with "bof" and they'll drop the subject, and most likely think you're pretty rude into the bargain.
posted by Wolof at 4:08 AM on August 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Would you put "meh" and "ehn" in this category as expressions of apathy?
posted by Rock Steady at 4:35 AM on August 8, 2015
posted by Rock Steady at 4:35 AM on August 8, 2015
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posted by French Fry at 12:02 PM on August 7, 2015