Fillers and placeholders in Nahavaq

This discussion describes fillers and placeholders in spoken Nahavaq (Austronesian). Nahavaq has a wide range of syntactically-specific fillers which are related to various prefixes, some of which are synchronically unproductive. There are, for example, lexicalised placeholders (from ‘this thing’), which can function as nominal or verbal heads. There are also interrogative placeholders. These fillers and placeholders are distinguished in terms of their purpose, syntax, and prosody. Key words: Nahavaq; Austronesian; prosody; hesitation; filler