Other-initiations Of Repair Research Articles

Depictive Hand Gestures as Candidate Understandings

ABSTRACT This article uses multimodal CA to analyze depictive hand gestures that are used to check understanding of the co-participant’s preceding action. Drawing on data from cooking and farming interactions, the analysis scrutinizes how depictive gestures come to be treated as other-initiations of repair. The analysis shows that relevant factors in this are: (a) the gesture’s design, i.e., its form and movement in relation to the material ecology of the interaction, including relevant objects; (b) the gesture’s position and timing in the unfolding sequence; (c) the embodied participation framework, including the body positions and gaze patterns of all participants; and (d) the participants’ shared knowledge and understanding of the broader activity context, including their familiarity with the ingredients and dishes in-the-making. The analysis contributes to research on gestural depiction in human meaning making and to the study of embodiment in repair organization. The data are in Finnish with English translations.

The Embodied Work of Repairing-for-Teasing in Everyday L2 Talk

This paper focuses on participants’ embodied conduct in the service of action ascription in teasing environments. The teasing activity is sequentially organized as an other-initiated repair sequence in which the other-initiations of repair (OIRs) are used as vehicles for carrying out the teasing actions (see also Schegloff, 1997, 2007; Rossi, 2018). The analysis shows that the double-barreled OIRs are designed as multimodal action packages in which the verbal part is delivered in a serious manner and combined with embodied conduct that typically characterizes repair environments, such as head turns and tilts, forward-leaning, and gestural holds, but produced in exaggerated or pretended manner. The embodied exaggeration and performed character are the key elements contributing to action ascription in teasing environments.

Cognitive and social delays in the initiation of conversational repair

The exact timing of a conversational turn conveys important information to a listener. Most turns are initiated within 250ms after the previous turn. However, interlocutors take longer to initiate certain types of turns: those that either require more cognitive processing or are socially dispreferred. Many dispreferred turns are also cognitively demanding, so it is difficult to attribute specific conversational delays to social or cognitive mechanisms. In this paper, we evaluate the relative contribution of cognitive and social variables to the timing of utterances in conversation.
 We focus on a type of turn that is socially dispreferred, cognitively demanding, and generally delayed: other-initiations of repair (OIRs). OIRs occur when a listener notices and decides to signal a comprehension problem (e.g., "What?"). We analyzed the Floor Transfer Offsets of 456 OIRs, and found that interlocutors initiated OIRs later when trouble sources had weaker discourse context or were shorter, and when the OIR was more face-threatening. Our results suggest that both cognitive and social variables contribute to the timing of delayed utterances in conversation. We discuss how attention, prediction, planning, and social preference manifest in the timing of turns.

Multiple Other-Initiations of Repair in Norwegian Sign Language

AbstractNot all other-initiations of repair (OIR) are instantly followed by a functional self-repair that restores the progress of the conversation. Despite previous observations of OIRs generally leading to restored progress after one single-repair initiation, data from a multiperson conversational corpus of Norwegian Sign Language (NTS) show that 68% of 112 individual repair initiations occur in multiple OIR sequences. This article identifies three different trajectories of multiple OIR sequences in the NTS data, which are as follows: (1) a trouble source being targeted by more than one repair initiation, (2) the self-repair becomes a new trouble source, or (3) the repair initiation becomes a new trouble source. The high frequency of multiple OIR sequences provides an opportunity to quantitatively investigate how the various formats of repair initiation are distributed in single- and multiple-OIR sequences, how they occur as first or subsequent, and whether they restore the progress of the conversation or are followed by another repair initiation.

Other-initiations of repair in Norwegian Sign Language

During the last five decades, a substantial amount of research has been conducted into conversational repair (Schegloff, Jefferson, & Sacks, 1977), and especially other-initiation of repair (OIR). A vast part of the research has been on spoken English, without considering or having access to embodied practices. Through a series of examples, this explorative paper provides a brief overview of formats and subtypes of other-initiation of self-repair employed in Norwegian Sign Language (NTS). Special attention is given to the implicit open-class repair-initiation “freeze-look”, as identified by Manrique (2016), Manrique and Enfield (2015), and Manrique, Enfield, Levinson, Crasborn, and Floyd (2017) in Argentine Sign Language, and to the subtype of restricted repair-initiations categorized as candidate offers. The data has been extracted from a corpus of informal multi-person conversations among deaf adult co-workers, recorded at their workplaces.
 The results show a high degree of overlap with formats found in spoken languages, but also highlight features that seem to be unique to signed languages and the visual mode of communication. The examples presented take the form of summaries, transcriptions, uncensored video clips, and series of stills. 
 

Other-initiations of repair by children with developmental language disorder in speech-language therapy and non-institutional play

ABSTRACT This study explores the use of other-initiations of repair by children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The data are children’s video-recorded language assessment sessions, speech-language therapy sessions and two kinds of non-institutional play sessions, parent–child and peer play. The videotapes were transcribed following CA conventions focusing on speech and relevant embodied actions. Other-initiations of repair were identified, collected and analyzed. The analysis focuses on open requests and candidate understandings which were the two most common types of other-initiation of repair in the data. The types of other-initiation of repair were similar to those found in adult interactions and by neurotypical children. Repair sequences were regularly short consisting only of three turns. Other-initiations of repair typically emerged in certain contexts: open requests were regularly used after sudden topical shifts, child’s inattention, or long and complex setting of language tasks in assessment and therapy, whereas candidate understandings were mostly used for confirming the children’s inferences of the meaning of unclear references or wider semantic content in free conversation. This indicates that the local sequential context influences the types of problems the children with DLD encounter, and the types of problems determine how the children other-initiate repair to solve these problems. Thus, the sequential context should be considered in a detailed manner when assessing children’s communication skills and studying other-initiations of repair.

Other-initiation of repair by speakers with mild to severe hearing impairment

ABSTRACT Hearing impairment is a common chronic condition in middle-aged and elderly adults. The number of individuals with hearing impairment is expected to rise because of the longer life expectancies and trends in the population growth. Acquired hearing impairment in adulthood is not just a disorder of the sense of hearing. It is primarily a social disability because its handicapping effect is experienced in interaction with other people. This paper aims to explore how the repair of problems in hearing is initiated by hearing-impaired individuals with acquired mild to severe hearing impairment. By using the method of conversation analysis (CA), this paper examines the occurrence of other-initiations of repair (OIR) and how it is typically resolved in actual mundane interaction. In addition, this paper reveals the challenges and the impact of hearing impairment as the state of hearing deteriorates. This article argues that the frequency of OIR in mild hearing impairment does not differ from normally hearing individuals. However, in a more severe grade of hearing impairment, the OIR sequences are longer, more frequent, multimodal and may require more vigilance from the normally-hearing conversation partner. Implications for counselling are suggested.

How to Disengage: Suspension, Body Torque, and Repair

ABSTRACTThis article uses conversation analysis to study other-initiated repair in multiactivity situations. The article focuses on two aspects of the repair initiator’s embodied conduct directly connected to the initiator’s involvement in multiactivity: body torque and the suspension of a parallel manual activity. The analysis reveals how the body torque and suspension of manual activity, when co-occurring with other-initiations of repair, display the OIR-speaker’s temporary disengagement from the manual activity and how this embodied conduct communicates downward prioritization of the manual activity and increased involvement in the interaction. This article shows that, to participants in a conversation and simultaneously involved in multiactivity, solving interactional trouble is prioritized over the progression of the parallel manual task and that this hierarchization of activities displays a strong preference toward restoration and maintenance of intersubjectivity. Data are in English and in French with English translation.

The intersection of turn-taking and repair: the timing of other-initiations of repair in conversation.

The transitions between turns at talk in conversation tend to occur quickly, with only a slight gap of ∼100–300 ms between them. This estimate of central tendency, however, hides a wealth of complex variation, as a number of factors, such as the type of turns involved, have been shown to influence the timing of turn transitions. This article considers one specific type of turn that does not conform to the statistical trend, namely turns that deal with troubles of speaking, hearing, and understanding, known as other-initiations of repair (OIR). The results of a quantitative analysis of 169 OIRs in face-to-face conversation reveal that the most frequent cases occur after gaps of ∼700 ms. Furthermore, OIRs that locate a source of trouble in a prior turn specifically tend to occur after shorter gaps than those that do not, and those that correct errors in a prior turn, while rare, tend to occur without delay. An analysis of the transitions before OIRs, using methods of conversation analysis, suggests that speakers use the extra time (i) to search for a late recognition of the problematic turn, (ii) to provide an opportunity for the speaker of the problematic turn to resolve the trouble independently, and (iii) to produce visual signals, such as facial gestures. In light of these results, it is argued that OIRs take priority over other turns at talk in conversation and therefore are not subject to the same rules and constraints that motivate fast turn transitions in general.

Other-initiated repair in Lao

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.

“You said that?”: Other-initiations of repair addressed to represented talk

AbstractThis paper examines a topic that has not gained much analytic attention in research on represented talk: how recipients respond, and how their responses shape the ongoing interaction. Using conversation analysis, we investigate responses to represented talk in complaint stories told in autobiographical interviews. Supportive recipient actions are the most common, but on occasion the recipient other-initiates repair on the quoted talk. These other-initiations of repair are done as candidate understandings, formatted as positive declarative questions, and regularly locate the specific trouble source in the represented talk through prosodic emphasis. In some instances, they do no more than seeking confirmation of the story recipient’s uncertain understanding, but often, the other-initiations of repair are produced or understood as questioning the acceptability of the represented talk. For the most part tellers reaffirm, defend, and reinforce their claim that the talk happened as previously portrayed. By rejecting the recipient’s challenge, the tellers show that they expect a more empathetic stance from the story recipient. Finally, we consider what the participants may accomplish with the observed practices in the autobiographic interview as an institutional activity.

Partial repetitions as other-initiations of repair in second language talk: Re-establishing understanding and doing learning

This conversation analytical paper examines other-initiated repair sequences in everyday interactions between first and second language speakers of Finnish. More specifically, it focuses on sequences that are initiated by a second language speaker by repeating a part of the trouble source turn and shows that the repetitions are recurrently treated as actions indicating specific language-related problems of understanding. The analysis suggests that the linguistic asymmetry in second language interactions is a resource that is drawn upon in situations in which other resources for action formation and recognition are not sufficient. In addition, the analysis illustrates why and how certain linguistic elements become objects of language learning in everyday interaction and informs our understanding of everyday encounters as language learning environments. It has implications for the discussion on the identities of second language users and learners and highlights the importance of keeping these concepts analytically separate.

“One gets along enough to make it work”

Few studies have been focused on the local contexts in the conversation prior to hearing-impaired (HI) individuals’ ‘What?’ and ‘Where?’ type clarification requests, other-initiations of repair (OI-actions). To address this gap, the present study utilized conversation analysis (CA) and video recordings of one married couple (a severely to profoundly HI individual and his spouse) as data. The analysis revealed that OIactions occurred in irregular frequency and that the HI recipient utilized OI-actions as any interactant, but the ability of the HI recipient to continue a conversation was susceptible to distraction. Several local contexts at risk for HI recipient as well as other reasons for the HI individual to use OI-actions were found. Furthermore, the analysis revealed what type of OI-actions were used in certain contexts. This study suggests that clinicians adopt an interaction orientation that is client-pair centred and further, that they incorporate an intervention that is oriented to conversation in their clinical work.

When Problems Pass Us By: Using “You Mean” to Help Locate the Source of Trouble

Sometimes a person may require the previous speaker to repeat, explain, confirm, etc., what they have just said. Such “other-initiations of repair,” as they are called, usually come sharply. On occasion, however, they are issued some time after the offending talk has passed. This might pose a puzzle to the previous speaker who would normally expect problems to be identified immediately. This article argues that recipients can help them by signaling that their other-initiation has, for whatever reason, become separated from the source of the trouble. This is first shown for the particular practice of using “you mean … ” to check one's understanding. A variety of similar practices are then collected together to suggest that the need for managing this puzzle is quite generic and widespread. Finally, it is shown that such practices can have consequences for our understanding of repair more broadly. Examining their use allows us to refine our characterization of where other-initiations normally occur and provides evidence that this contiguous positioning is preferred over noncontiguous positioning.