Repetition with slight variation primarily through final particles in Korean-English bilingual children’s interaction

Abstract

Employing Conversation Analysis, this study examines self-repetition with slight variation, primarily made through final particles, in the playtime interaction of Korean-English bilingual children with each other and their caregiver(s). Final particles in the Korean language provide speakers with grammatical resources with which they can effectively modify their actions as well as stances while they repeat their own prior utterances only with a change in (a) final particle(s). The analysis shows how resayings are prompted by interactional contingencies, such as some perceived issue with the first saying or the ways in which participants deal with the first saying, e.g., lack of response. The article illustrates how speakers achieve footing shifts across turns, greater precision in the actions they seek to perform via the practice of slightly variant repetition. Implications of the complex phenomenon of repetition as a site of language learning and use in children’s talk are also discussed.