Fillers, Pauses and Placeholders

Extracts from the speech of three women with Alzheimer's Disease are analyzed in order to highlight functions of pauses, fillers, placeholders, and formulaic phrases. Although other features of their speech decline, placeholders, fillers and formulaic sequences are still used appropriately and help cement interaction by providing appropriate cues to the conversational partner. The analysis is placed within the context of analyses of pauses in disordered conversations. Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, pauses, fillers, placeholders, formulaicity.