Thursday, March 19, 1998 at 04:59:43

I am intrigued with this topic.  I prefer to write my personal thoughts rather than verbally  express them.  When I write I use FP's.  I want the reader to feel as if I am there with them speaking.  With this in mind I use "......" to indicate that I am thinking, or hesitant, or want to convey that I want the reader to concentrate about what I have just "said" (written).  I will certainly follow this website.  I am glad there are so many out there using the same techniques.  I thought I was an oddity.  I am also an ex-teacher of Spanish and found that most students used it as an Englisher speaker would and when I traveled to SA my pauses were annoying to native Spanish speakers.

- JG

I really would like to begin a study of hesitation in writing.   I've been getting a lot of interesting feedback in this area, particularly in reference to internet chat. It seems seasoned chatters also include filled pauses to communicate a variety of things.

It is interesting that you note native Spanish speakers found your FPs annoying.   It may be, as you imply, that the irritation results from the extra processing they are required to do on your English FPs.  However, I'm also getting a lot of feedback that suggests that sociolinguistically, native speakers of Spanish have a relatively low tolerance for FPs in spontaneous speech.  It may be prudent to make students of Spanish as a second/foreign language aware of this.

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