Cover not available

Article published In: Pragmatics
Vol. 29:1 (2019) ► pp.57–82

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Managing relationships through repetition

How repetition creates ever-shifting relationships in Japanese conversation

 | Japan Women’s University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 7 March 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17021.mac
Abstract
This study examines cross-speaker repetition in triadic conversations in the Japanese language. For the analysis, three sets of triadic conversations between close friends taken from a TV talk show are used. The results reveal that repetition in triadic conversations performs distinctive functions that are not observed in dyadic conversations: repetition often takes place between only two participants of the triad and allows the two to team up and strengthen their bond exclusively (teaming repetition), or even playfully tease the third participant (teasing repetition). Repetition is also shared between the three participants. In such cases, it allows the participants to create an instant bond by joking or referring to shared circumstances (immediate threefold repetition), or to gradually establish rapport by connecting their utterances and co-constructing a story (repetition relay). All these types of repetition express the participants’ points of view and contribute efficiently to their relationships that shift from moment to moment. The study further demonstrates cases in which one participant makes good use of various repetition types in a short period of time and efficiently allocates thoughts and feelings to the other two participants. The study concludes that repetition plays a significant role in Japanese conversation, helping speakers to converse smoothly and manage the dynamic relationships efficiently.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Repetition between two participants in a triadic conversation
      • 4.1.1Repetition as a device for teaming
      • 4.1.2Repetition as a device for teasing
      • 4.1.3The difference between teaming and teasing repetitions
    • 4.2Repetition between three participants
      • 4.2.1Immediate threefold repetition
      • 4.2.2Repetition relay
    • 4.3The co-occurrence of various types of repetition and how the participants manage their relationships
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
References
Bakhtin, Michael M. 1986. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, ed. by Caryl Emerson, and Michael Holquist, and trans. by Vern W. McGee. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauman, Richard. 2004. A World of Others’ Words. Oxford: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope. 1999. “Repetition.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9 (1–2): 223–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coates, Jennifer. 2007. “Talk in a Play Frame: More on Laughter and Intimacy.” Journal of Pragmatics 391: 29–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, Susan M., and Martin D. Lampert. 2009. “The Occasioning of Self-Disclosure Humor.” In Humor in Interaction, ed. by Neal R. Norrick, and Delia Chiaro 3–27. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drew, Paul. 1987. “Po-faced Receipts of Teases.” Linguistics 251: 219–253. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferrara, Kathleen Warden. 1994. Therapeutic Ways with Words. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fujii, Yoko. 2012. “Differences of Situating Self in the Place/Ba of Interaction between the Japanese and American English Speakers.” Journal of Pragmatics 44 (5): 636–662. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geyer, Naomi. 2010. “Teasing and Ambivalent Face in Japanese Multi-party Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 42 (8): 2120–2130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1981. Forms of Talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodwin, Marjorie H. 1990. He-Said-She-Said: Talk as Social Organization among Black Children. Indiana: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haugh, Michael. 2010. “Jocular Mockery, (Dis)affiliation, and Face.” Journal of Pragmatics 42 (8): 2106–2119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayashi, Makoto, and Junko Mori. 1998. “Co-construction in Japanese Revisited: We Do “Finish Each Other’s Sentences.”” Japanese/Korean Linguistics 71: 77–93. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ishikawa, Minako. 1991. “Iconicity in Discourse: The Case of Repetition.” Text 11 (4): 553–580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara. 1987. “An Introduction.” Text 7 (3): 205–214. (Special issue on “Perspectives on Repetition”) Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Machi, Saeko. 2007. “My/your Story” vs. “Our Story”: Repetition in English and Japanese Conversation. Master’s Thesis presented to the English Department of The Graduate School of Japan Women’s University.
. 2012. “How Repetition Works in Japanese and English Conversation: Introducing Different Cultural Orientations towards Conversation.” The English Linguistic Society of Japan JELS 291: 260–266.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “Repetition as a Device for Teaming and Teasing in Triadic Conversation in Japanese.” Studies in English and American Literature 491: 61–79. Japan Women’s University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maynard, Senko K. 1997. Japanese Communication: Language and Though in Context. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norrick, Neal R. 1987. “Functions of repetition in conversation.” Text 7 (3): 245–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita. 1984. “Agreeing and Disagreeing with Assessments: Some Features of Preferred/Dispreferred Turn Shapes.” In Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 57–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1996. “Confirming Allusions: Toward an Empirical Account of Action.” American Journal of Sociology 102 (1): 161–216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1993. ““Speaking for Another” in Sociolinguistic Interviews: Alignments, Identities, and Frames.” In Framing in Discourse, ed. by Deborah Tannen, 231–263. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, Ron, and Suzanne Wong Scollon. 1995. Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strauss, Susan, and Yumiko Kawanishi. 1996. “Assessment Strategies in Japanese, Korean, and American English.” Japanese/Korean Linguistics 51: 149–165. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah. 1987. “Repetition in Conversation: Towards a Poetic of Talk.” Language 63 (3): 574–605. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1989. Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue, and Imagery in Conversational Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

CARPENTER, James & Sawako MATSUGU
2023. Validating a Performance Assessment of Intercultural Understanding. JLTA Journal 26:0 ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Kawamoto, Toshiki
2022. Generating Repetitions with Appropriate Repeated Words. Journal of Natural Language Processing 29:4 ► pp. 1302 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue