A Resource for Repair in Japanese Talk-in-Interaction: The Phrase TTE YUU KA

Abstract

The phrase tte yuu ka is recognized as a resource for repair in Japanese talk-in-interaction, but it has not been analyzed as such from the perspective of conversation analysis. In this article, I examine the positioning of tte yuu ka with respect to the repairable in repair operations. I found that tte yuu ka is used mainly for self-initiation of repair in two places: within the same turn as the repairable and after the next turn. Same-turn repair initiations include those that occur before a transition relevant place (TRP) and those that occur after a TRP has been reached. The latter type is more vulnerable to the possibility of a coparticipant starting a new turn before repair can be initiated, but there are ways in which that possibility can be reduced. After-next-turn repair initiations, which entail that a coparticipant has started a new turn before repair was initiated, include those that claim that a coparticipant has misunderstood the repairable and those that make no such claim. However, tte yuu ka is also deployed in response to other-initiation of repair.