Huh?

Huh? Appears to Be Universally Understood.

What's the most universal utterance in languages across the globe?

Huh? —Correct! —Huh? —That's right. —HUH? —Exactly.

Because a new study finds that everybody around the world does indeed say huh?

The finding is in the journal PLOS One.

The researchers were exploring linguistic tools people use to assure fluid communication.

In this case, they were looking for an interjection that signals that a listener missed something,

then prompts the speaker to repeat or rephrase the original statement.

In other words, something that works like the English word Huh?

So they eavesdropped on nearly 200 conversations in 10 different tongues, from Italian to Icelandic.

And they found that, in language after language, a word that sounds a lot like huh? gets the job done.

For example. Eh? Eh? Eh? It's short and sweet so it's likely to stop the speaker before the listener gets too lost.

And it sounds like a question so it warrants a response.

The sound appears not to be innate.

Babies don't use it before they say mama.

But most five-year-olds are masters of "huh?" No matter where they come from.

本文节选自《60-Second Science American》