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Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 42:3 (2021) ► pp.324–349

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Dealing with trouble in conversation in English-speaking cultures

Conversational repair in global varieties of English

 | University of Münster
Published online: 10 November 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00075.has
Abstract
This paper deals with the features of the system of other-initiated repair in different varieties of English, and thus in different cultural settings in which English is spoken. Corpus-based data are used to investigate whether and how repair practices, which are essential to the human communication system, vary across English-speaking cultures. The data show that while, on the whole, repair practices are very similar across different varieties, there are differences with respect to the frequency of the different formats deployed for removing trouble and differences as regards the preferred strategies for restoring and maintaining mutual understanding.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Database and method
    • 2.1Database
    • 2.2Method: Identifying instances of OIR
  • 3.Formats of other-initiated repair
  • 4.Empirical analysis of OIR formats and OIR-related interactional practices in six different varieties of English
    • 4.1Frequency of OIR formats
    • 4.2Principle of efficiency: Ratio of the trouble source and the repair sequence
    • 4.3Shared costs: The relative contributions of A and B
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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