Dingemanseetal2014

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Dingemanseetal2014
BibType ARTICLE
Key Dingemanseetal2014
Author(s) Mark Dingemanse, Joe Blythe, Tyko Dirksmeyer
Title Formats for other-initiation of repair across languages: An exercise in pragmatic typology
Editor(s)
Tag(s) Repair, Interactional Linguistics
Publisher
Year 2014
Language
City
Month
Journal Studies in Language
Volume 38
Number 1
Pages 5–43
URL Link
DOI 10.1075/sl.38.1.01din
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

In conversation, people have to deal with problems of speaking, hearing, and understanding. We report on a cross-linguistic investigation of the conversational structure of other-initiated repair (also known as collaborative repair, feedback, requests for clarification, or grounding sequences). We take stock of formats for initiating repair across languages (comparable to English huh?, who?, y’mean X?, etc.) and find that different languages make available a wide but remarkably similar range of linguistic resources for this function. We exploit the patterned variation as evidence for several underlying concerns addressed by repair initiation: characterising trouble, managing responsibility, and handling knowledge. The concerns do not always point in the same direction and thus provide participants in interaction with alternative principles for selecting one format over possible others. By comparing conversational structures across languages, this paper contributes to pragmatic typology: the typology of systems of language use and the principles that shape them.

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