Third position repair
| Encyclopedia of Terminology for CA and IL: Third position repair | |
|---|---|
| Author(s): | Irina Mostovaia (University of Hamburg, Germany) (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1381-050X) & Martin Pfeiffer (University of Potsdam, Germany) (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5175-3657) |
| To cite: | Mostovaia, I. & Pfeiffer, M. (2023). Third position repair. In Alexandra Gubina, Elliott M. Hoey & Chase Wesley Raymond (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA). DOI: [] |
A third position repair is a self-initiated self-repair that is initiated by the producer of the trouble source after the recipient’s talk that reveals that the producer of the trouble source has been misunderstood (cf. Schegloff 1992; Liddicoat 2007: 196-197). Thus, third position repairs deal with misunderstandings (cf. Schegloff 1987; Egbert 2009). Because of the sequential position of third position repairs, Schegloff (1997: 31-32) also refers to this type of repair – as well as to third turn repair – as 'repair after next turn'.
Third position repairs may address two kinds of trouble: problematic references and problematic sequential implicativeness (Schegloff 1992: 1306). The latter means that the action the producer of the trouble source has been doing with his or her prior turn has been treated by the recipient other than intended by the speaker (cf. Sacks & Schegloff 1973: 296-299; Schegloff 1987). In the following example taken from Schegloff (1992: 1303), Annie’s third position repair (line 03) deals with a problematic reference:
(1) [CDHQ, I, 52] (Schegloff 1992: 1303)
Third position repairs usually occur in the same position as third turn repairs, i.e., after next turn. However, Schegloff (1992: 1318) notes that third position repairs may also be initiated later than in the third turn and conceives thus of third position repairs as “the last structurally provided defense of intersubjectivity in conversation” (Schegloff 1992: 1304). The following extract taken from Schegloff (1987: 208-209) illustrates a third position repair that occurs later than the third turn. In contrast to the previous example, it deals with a problem of sequential implicativeness that occurs because A (line 05) treats B’s turn (line 01) not as an initiation of the closing of their conversation but as a reproach or complaint:
(2) [NB] (Schegloff 1987: 208-209)
Schegloff (1992: 1304-1317) identifies four components of the structure of third position repairs:
- a repair initiation (e.g., no, oh, or well),
- an agreement with or an acceptance of the recipient’s response to the trouble-source turn (especially if the recipient has mistakenly treated the trouble-source turn as a complaint and has provided an apology in the next turn) (e.g., I know),
- a rejection of the recipient’s understanding of the trouble-source turn (I don’t mean X. for dealing with problematic references; I’m not X-ing. for dealing with problematic sequential implicativeness; and I don’t mean that.),
- the repair proper (e.g., repetition of the – slightly modified – trouble-source turn or a part of it; a reformulation, specification or explanation of the trouble source; or a contrast to the recipient’s understanding of the prior turn – often prefaced by I mean).
As shown in the table, not every component – sometimes even not the repair proper – can be found in a particular third position repair, but the components that do occur tend to systematically follow the order described above (cf. Schegloff 1992: 1311).
Additional Related Entries:
- Self-initiated self-repair
- Third turn repair
- Other-initiated self-repair
- Transition-relevance place (TRP)
- Same-turn self-repair
- Turn-constructional unit (TCU)
Cited References:
Egbert, M. (2009). Der Reparatur-Mechanismus in deutschen Gesprächen. Verlag für Gesprächsforschung.
Liddicoat, A. J. (2007). An introduction to Conversation Analysis. Continuum.
Sacks, H., & Schegloff, E. A. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica, 8(4), 289–327.
Schegloff, E. A. (1987). Some sources of misunderstanding in talk-in-interaction. Linguistics, 25, 201–218.
Schegloff, E. A. (1992). Repair after next turn: The last structurally provided defense of intersubjectivity in conversation. The American Journal of Sociology, 97(5), 1295–1345.
Schegloff, E. A. (1997). Third turn repair. In G. R Guy, C. Feagin, D. Schiffrin, & J. Baugh (Eds.), Toward a social science of language. Papers in honor of William Labov, Vol. 2. Social interaction and discourse structures (pp. 31–40). John Benjamins.
Additional References:
Birkner, K., Auer, P., Bauer, A., & Kotthoff, H. (2020). Einführung in die Konversationsanalyse. De Gruyter.
Deppermann, A. (2018). Inferential Practices in Social Interaction: A Conversation-Analytic Account. Open Linguistics, 4(1), 35–55.
Kitzinger, C. (2013). Repair. In J. Sidnell, & T. Stivers (Eds.), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 229–256). Wiley-Blackwell.
Lerner, G. H., & Kitzinger, C. (2019). 'Well'-Prefacing in the Organization of Self-Initiated Repair. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 52(1), 1–19.
Schegloff, E.A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks, H. (1977). The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language, 53(2), 361–382.
Schegloff, E. A. (1991). Conversation analysis and socially shared cognition. In L.B. Resnick, J.M. Levine, & S.D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition (pp. 150–171). American Psychological Association.
Stukenbrock, A. (2013). Sprachliche Interaktion. In P. Auer (Ed.), Sprachwissenschaft. Grammatik – Interaktion – Kognition (pp. 217–260). Metzler.
