“The uh deconstructed pumpkin pie”: The use of uh and um in Los Angeles restaurant server talk

Recent work on the elements uh and um has focused both their functional profile sociodemographic patterns of use. They have been shown to be more than just a signal some trouble in speech production process; they also perform text structuring functions that are usually ascribed discourse markers. And use stratify according gender, age level education (e.g. Tottie 2011, 2014). However, such not always sufficiently controlled for context. Differences were identified specific speaker groups may ultimately caused by different roles or differences formality privacy communicative situation. For this reason, we focus one single situation, service encounters selected socially stratified Los Angeles restaurants. role, role server. This allows us test hypotheses about gender socio-economic stratification much environment. In addition, provide carefully delimited context, show only used often-described as planners, hesitators repair managers but with highlighting face-mitigating function. The function turns out particularly prominent emphasize food terminology when servers present menu items guests.