Benjamin2012

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Benjamin2012
BibType ARTICLE
Key Benjamin2012
Author(s) Trevor Benjamin
Title When problems pass us by: Using “you mean” to help locate the source of trouble
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Repair, Trouble Source
Publisher
Year 2012
Language
City
Month
Journal Research on Language and Social Interaction
Volume 45
Number 1
Pages 82–109
URL Link
DOI 10.1080/08351813.2012.646742
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Sometimes a person may require the previous speaker to repeat, explain, confirm, etc., what they have just said. Such “other-initiations of repair,” as they are called, usually come sharply. On occasion, however, they are issued some time after the offending talk has passed. This might pose a puzzle to the previous speaker who would normally expect problems to be identified immediately. This article argues that recipients can help them by signaling that their other-initiation has, for whatever reason, become separated from the source of the trouble. This is first shown for the particular practice of using “you mean … ” to check one's understanding. A variety of similar practices are then collected together to suggest that the need for managing this puzzle is quite generic and widespread. Finally, it is shown that such practices can have consequences for our understanding of repair more broadly. Examining their use allows us to refine our characterization of where other-initiations normally occur and provides evidence that this contiguous positioning is preferred over noncontiguous positioning.

Notes