Forms and Functions of Conversational Repair in Mandarin Corpus from the Perspective of Interactional Linguistics

Abstract

Repair frequently appears in our daily conversations as a vital mechanism sustaining effective communication. The purpose of this study is twofold: one is to investigate the specific forms and functions of self-initiated repair and other-initiated repair in Mandarin corpus; the other is to examine, from the perspective of interactional linguistics, how various forms of repair can affect the ongoing dialogue between the speaker and the recipient in Mandarin conversation. Through a thorough examination of repair instances extracted from the speech corpora of naturally occurring, face-to-face Mandarin interaction, findings suggest that self-initiated repair takes the form of word searches and complement, cut-off and correction, as well as recycling and replacement, while other-initiated repair takes the form of interjection, yes-no question, and specific interrogation. Moreover, repair in Mandarin dialogue has the functions of turn maintenance, ambiguity elimination, speculation verification, information confirmation, problem location, and inquiry implementation. This study can not only help readers better understand the forms and functions of repair mechanisms in Mandarin corpus but also contribute to contemporary academic research, offering valuable insights into the dynamics of linguistic interaction.