From Martin Jenkins, London, UK
As a linguist, I, er, found David Robson’s article quite, uh, interesting (17 October, p 45). But, mmm, maybe starting from Justin Trudeau was, like, not a good idea.
Language has evolved with a range of expectations. We expect private conversations to be punctuated with meaningless sounds, as they are an indication that we are taking the other person seriously. They are saying: “I am processing what you said. In responding to it, I do so with some hesitation because I am still thinking about it.” On the other hand, we expect public figures standing up to speak on a major issue to have already reflected on it and to have organised their thoughts into a coherent whole. There are no uhs or ers in the Gettysburg Address.
So Trudeau wasn’t, in fact, speaking like a pro. He was treating a public occasion like a private conversation and using the wrong linguistic register.
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