Chapter 2. Repetitional responses to polar questions in Russian conversation

Abstract

This chapter examines repetitional responses to polar questions that implement requests for confirmation, information, or assistance in Russian conversation, contrasting them with particle responses, such as da (‘yes’) and net (‘no’). The analysis will show that Russian repetitional responses tend to be a marked response option deployed to disalign from some dimension of the interrogative or the action it implements. For example, repetitional responses may be deployed to reassert its speaker’s epistemic authority in the service of confirming a candidate understanding, to insist on the veracity of a statement following an enactment of disbelief or doubt, to disalign from the action implemented by an information request, or – in response to requests for service – to contest the stance that the provision of assistance might be problematic. The analysis suggests that different types of repetitional responses (such as lexical vs. longer repeats) may enact more or less disaligning stances vis-à-vis the initiating action. Overall, what exactly is being accomplished via a repetitional response is sensitive to a number of considerations, including the sequential and action environment of its deployment, the design of the repetitional response, and the repertoire of available response options.