On Sounds of Affirmation

After a long leave of absence (from writing, not from Norway), I've returned to talk about sounds. In the US, we are constantly interjecting sounds into a conversation, to let the other person know that we are paying attention. I'm more at fault at interjecting sounds (and words and stories...) into conversations than anyone else I know. This fact about myself is actually very overwhelming to a lot of Scandinavians, not just Norwegians. I don't think in my entire time here I've ever been interrupted by a Norwegian, just by many ex-pats. One of my Danish friends admitted that she was shocked by how one of her American friends would always throw in "Yeah" continually while she was talking. It took her a long time to realize it wasn't meant to be rude, but instead to signal that she was listening.

I've seen different ways of communicating this continuation of the conversation across the world, encouraging the other person with signs and language that aren't all spoken. In India and Nepal, its the head bob. In Norway, its this three and a half part sound, that goes down, up, down and then quickly up again.

In fact, it's been amazing for me to slowly figure out how musical and almost tonal Norwegian is. They usually end words and sentences going up (like a Scandinavian valley girl) and mastering these ups and downs is very important for being understood.

Another sound of affirmation is the inhaled yes. When I first read about it, I thought it was a joke. The first time you hear someone do this, you think they are choking. It's this quick little ja, pronounced ya, that they suck in. It's usually reserved for women over 45, but I've seen some men around the office inhaling their ja sportingly. And so of course, now I'm doing it too.

I've been trying to incorporate these sounds into my conversations to 1. see how people react and 2. make up for the fact that I don't actually speak Norwegian in full sentences. It made me wonder, do words like this exist in sign language? (Fun fact: I just learned today that sign language is different in different parts of Norway to account for the differences in dialect)