🎙️ Suspended vowels when speaking: what they are, why they occur and how to overcome them.

Hello, my name is Gary Samuel Bilbao. I am a Commercial Speaker, Blogger and Lecturer on Motivational Philosophy. I also work as a Public Speaking and Human Relations Instructor and Coach.

In this post I want to tell you about a very common problem in people who communicate orally: elongated or suspended vowels Also called "filler sounds". What are they, why do they occur and how can we correct them? Read on to learn more.

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What are elongated vowels? ** What are elongated vowels?

Lengthened vowels are expressions that we use to string together ideas or phrases. They remind me of when we are lost in a place and we stop to get our bearings so we can continue on the right path. They are similar to crutches, in fact, you could say that they are crutches, but manifested in a different way. The elongated vowels are those final syllables that we extend when we pronounce them or those almost onomatopoeic words that we use to fill those silences that we usually have when we speak in public.

Why do they occur?

The elongated vowels have basically the same causes as the crutches: insecurity, doubt, nerves, little preparation, little or no mastery of the subject, reduced vocabulary, among others. However, they also appear when we are interrupted, or we have to improvise due to an unexpected question, as well as when we resume the discursive thread.

These types of filler sounds are practically unnecessary. Whoever listens to us does not need these sounds to understand our speech, they can even cause despair and annoyance when they are used too often when speaking. But, like the crutches, these sounds are very convenient for us because they are the result of our difficulty to speak fluently and we rely on them to keep talking, or rather, babbling, yes, but rather than stop talking we prefer to rely on these suspended vowels.

We must make it clear that, just like crutches, these sounds are not entirely incorrect when used in moderation. Great speakers use them, but they do it consciously, with some intention or knowing that they are using them and therefore do not fall into the abuse of the resource or unnecessary repetition.

There are many elongated vowels and filler sounds, some of them are:

• Elongated vowels

• Aaaaaand
• Becauuuse
• Noooo
• Laaaa
• It's thateeee

sounds like fillers

• Ehhh
• Uhh
• Ahmmmm
• Mmmm
• Uhmm
• Ohhh

*Examples

Elongated vowels:
"I headed to the bank in the morning aaaaaand, the lady at the teller's desk took very good care of me. Esteeee, and then meeee, I went to the store to buy what I needed for the party, because, José called me that he couldn't go.
The lady of the cake also told me that she was missing an ingredient. It because the butter that I brought her wasn't very good."

Filler sounds:

"Good afternoon. I'm glad to be here with you. *My name is Carmen Elena Gonzales, criminal attorney, specializing in child care. Mmmmm, I have been listening to all the interventions aaand, ehhmmm, I certify that the pedophilia issue is quite serious and delicate.
Ahmmmmmm, in spite of being a controversial topic, I think that we cannot stop expressing what we think and this kind of debate is very necessary. Aaaaand, uhmmm, my intervention will focus on the condemnation of the aggressors of the children, that is, the adult who commits the abuse."

In a future post, I'll give you some recommendations for overcoming or eliminating elongated or suspended vowels

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Note: [This content was written by me and previously used and delivered in PDF format in my private classes on public speaking].