What Are Verbal Fillers in Speech, and How Do They Affect Your Way of Talking

Verbal fillers are not the most meaningful words used to fill gaps in speech. You can think of these fillers as sounds made by our thoughts. Though these sounds do not affect our casual conversation, they can make our language distracting, redundant and boring in terms of public speaking.

Verbal fillers or crutch words are often used a lot in verbal communication. Around 3 to 5% of most speeches are non-content words, and a speech without a filler sound is mechanical, so eliminating them cannot be your goal. Reducing our fillers needs to be a goal, and in this guide, you will know about verbal fillers and ways to reduce them.

How Can Verbal Fillers Affect Your Speech?

Verbal fillers are used due to the following reasons and can affect you in the following ways:

● Filler words are used due to psychological reasons

We often use fillers in our everyday speech and develop a habit of using them. This becomes an everyday behaviour and a part of our speech. Increased self-consciousness is another reason why we use fillers.

It can also be due to fear of public speaking and not being familiar with the audience. If you do not know about the topic, it can be an obstacle to proper verbal communication. When we constantly use fillers in speech, it can indicate that we do not want to speak what is on our minds.

The reasons are not only due to the human psyche but also our conditioning in language and speech. In our everyday lives, we observe, hear, and learn. Children learn to pick up their basic language development in their early years by paying attention to their surroundings, parents and teachers.

● A lot of fillers may disengage the audience.

When you use too many fillers, it can reduce the quality and clarity of your speech. It will also fail to deliver your intended message to your people or the audience, and keeping the audience engaged is an important part of your speech.

But when you use repetitive words such as ‘I mean, ‘I think’ or ‘I guess’ will make you sound more unsure. Using excessive fillers in speech can cause your audience not to pay attention to your speech.

● Using fillers can disturb the flow and tone of your speech.

Your speech needs to be as smooth as butter and bread. But when you use a lot of fillers, it will take away the smoothness of your page. It might challenge the audience to understand what you want to convey from your speech.

If such happens, your new message can get lost in your flow. This is why public speakers give more importance to the flow and tone of a speech. This is why to become a credible speaker; you need to lessen the use of verbal fillers in your speech.

● The comprehension of the audience or listener will be limited.

Spontaneous speech has some negative effects as a speaker will continuously share their thoughts and concepts. All that listeners want to hear is a message that is clear and easy to follow. This is what you will learn in speaking courses online that when there is a varied number of long pauses and disfluencies can lead to limitations in understanding the speech.

How Do You Resolve These Problems and Be More Skilled at Speaking?

You can follow the points given below to resolve verbal filler problems:

● Find out the reason behind using so many fillers

You need to know if you are nervous about using them or have become a habit of using them. One of the best remedies is to take a public speaking class. You can improve your public speaking skills with the help of a trainer or a teacher.

● Identify commonly used fillers.

You need to identify some of the most common fillers that people use. You can also note those fillers down when you speak next time and can also find alternative phrases for replacing them.

● You need to pause when it is needed.

You do not require to rush down the thought process, and there can be clarity in your speech when you learn to slow down.

● Reduce the continuous use of fillers and then practice

You can start practising with your peers or in front of your mirror. You should not underestimate the importance of practising public speaking.

● You can enhance your vocabulary.

You not only have to be familiar with more words. You need to read more and add the latest terms to your vocabulary, and you also need to put effort into using them in daily conversations.

Join Kafqa Academy

If you want to be a good public speaker, you need to opt for public speaking classes and enhance your verbal communication skills. You can contact Kafqa Academy; we are one of the best institutes that can provide top-class public speaking classes under experienced instructors.

To book your online public speaking classes, click here.