Speech interjections aren't throwaway lines

Bonus episode: Knowable Magazine Podcast co-host Adam Levy talks with linguists Mark Dingemanse and Martina Wiltschko about the importance of the little "throwaway" utterances we use during conversations — such as Mmhmm, Huh? and more. Long ignored by scholarship, these interjections, as they're termed, are key to keeping conversations flowing. But that realization was recent, because much of early linguistics research was done with written text and not actual, live conversations. You can read more about interjections in the related article authored by Bob Holmes at Knowable Magazine.

Find the transcript of this episode, plus other podcast episodes at knowablemagazine.org/podcast.