I used to think that excessive use of filler words was a reflection of the speaker's intellect, but I know this person who is highly educated and apparently intelligent who uses a lot of filler words, usually more than one and in quick succession, at the beginning of almost every sentence and occasionally mid-sentence.

For example, this person begins a sentence using all filler these words, one after the other: "yeah. so. I guess. um. I mean. I guess that..." and then finishes the sentence coherently. Another thing I noticed which might not necessarily be related is the fact that this person often starts a sentence one way, says a word or two, stops, and then starts the sentence again in a different manner, with different words. This can sometimes happen two or three times while attempting to begin a sentence. And yet another thing I noticed is that this person sometimes makes observations using a soft and quiet voice and then, almost without pause, makes a fast and well pitched sentence unrelated to the previous observation.

These quirks, by the way, are not awkward, they are somewhat graceful, but they are persistent patterns that I've observed and wonder if they reveal anything about that person's emotional state and mental health. Does anyone have any ideas?