Abstract
AbstractThis article describes the interactional patterns and linguistic structures associated with otherinitiated repair, as observed in a corpus of video-recorded conversation in the Lao language (a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia). The article reports findings specific to the Lao language from the comparative project that is the topic of this special issue. While the scope is general to the overall pattern of other-initiated repair as a set of practices and a system of semiotic resources, special attention is given to (1) the range of repair operations that are elicited by open other-initiators of repair in Lao, especially the subtle changes made when problem turns are repeated, and (2) the use of phrase-final particles—a characteristic feature of Lao grammar—in the marking of both other-initiations of repair and repair solution turns.
Highlights
The Lao languageDialects of Lao are spoken by approximately 20 million people in Laos, Northeast and Central Thailand, and Ratanakiri Province of northeast Cambodia
This article describes the interactional patterns and linguistic structures associated with otherinitiated repair, as observed in a corpus of video-recorded conversation in the Lao language
The corpus on which this work is based was constructed in accordance with a set of guidelines developed by and for the members of the comparative project being reported in this special issue
Summary
Dialects of Lao are spoken by approximately 20 million people in Laos, Northeast and Central Thailand, and Ratanakiri Province of northeast Cambodia. For a comprehensive description of the language, and an overview of past literature, see Enfield (2007). Serial verb constructions are a productive resource for the expression of argument structure distinctions. Sentencefinal and phrase-final particles play an important role in distinguishing between different kinds of speech act, marking subtle sub-distinctions within basic sentence types including interrogative, declarative, and imperative. Various reduced forms of demonstratives signal distinctions in information structure of arguments and other clausal constituents. Little research has been done previously on social interaction in Lao, apart from a line of work carried out by the author, much of it summarized in Enfield (2013); of special relevance to this paper, see the overview of questions and responses in Lao conversation in Enfield (2010)
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