In this study, we investigate cross-linguistic patterns in the alternation between UM, a hesitation marker consisting of a neutral vowel followed by a final labial nasal, and UH, a hesitation marker consisting of a neutral vowel in an open syllable. Based on a quantitative analysis of a range of spoken and written corpora, we identify clear and consistent patterns of change in the use of these forms in various Germanic languages (English, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese) and dialects (American English, British English), with the use of UM increasing over time relative to the use of UH. We also find that this pattern of change is generally led by women and more educated speakers and holds when functional differences between UM and UH are controlled. Finally, we propose a series of possible explanations for this surprising change in hesitation marker usage that is currently taking place across Germanic languages.

中文翻译：

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日耳曼语语言中犹豫标记的使用方式的变化和变化

在这项研究中，我们研究了在开放音节中的UM（由中性元音跟着最后的唇鼻音组成的犹豫标记）和UH（由中性元音组成的犹豫标记）之间的交替语言模式。在对一系列口语和书面语料库进行定量分析的基础上，我们确定了各种日耳曼语（英语，荷兰语，德语，挪威语，丹麦语，法罗语）和方言（美国英语）中这些形式使用方式的清晰一致的变化模式（英式英语），并且相对于UH而言，UM的使用随着时间的推移而增加。我们还发现，这种变化模式通常由女性和受过良好教育的演讲者主导，并且在控制UM和UH之间的功能差异时有效。最后，