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Some local dialects add phrases or words that add no meaning to the sentence or question.

  • Minnesota speakers add 'now'. 'Who was that guy died in Duluth, now ?'

  • Irish speakers add 'so I am/was/etc'. 'I'm going to be on telly, so I am.'

  • Jewish speakers add 'already'. 'I'm single; so get over it, already.'

  • Scots add 'd'ye ken (know)'. 'He died yesterday, d'ye ken.'

What do I call these little snippets of language that are added, locally ?

I don't accept that they can be called 'catch phrases', which are individual, not a part of a local dialect.

Nigel J
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  • This site has a several answers relating to filler words (a useful search term). See, e.g., https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/257527/what-do-you-call-superfluous-filler-words-like-so-anyhow-anyway – Xanne Nov 12 '17 at 21:57

1 Answers1

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They are not unique to English. They are called 'crutches,' or "crutch words."

This question is a duplicate of this one: What are "crutch words"?

Michael Kane
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  • See @JohnLawler’s comment in that post. He said that, in linguistics, these are called filler words or phrases, not crutch words. Also, I think the d’ye’ken example could be considered a tag question. – JLG Nov 12 '17 at 20:56
  • I don't think you can say, in "linguistics" because in other languages, in the field of linguistics, these are called "crutch words." For example, in Spanish, "muletillas." Linguistics as a field of course comprehends different languages. This Google search shows that the term "crutch words" is in wide use: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=%22crutch+words%22&btnG= – Michael Kane Nov 23 '17 at 08:26