Initiating Repair and Beyond: The Use of Two Repeat-Formatted Repair Initiations in Mandarin Conversation

Abstract

As part of a growing effort to understand the organization of repair across languages, this study examines 2 repeat-formatted other-initiated repair practices in Mandarin conversation. Using the methodology of conversation analysis as a central framework, this study shows that the 2 Mandarin repair initiations under examination, like other-initiation of repair in English, serve not only to initiate repair but also as vehicles for accomplishing additional negatively valenced actions, such as displaying a stance of disbelief or nonalignment. In further explicating the common sequential and activity contexts of these practices, this study shows that the division of labor between these 2 repair initiations in accomplishing additional negative actions is sensitive to 2 intertwining axes: the epistemic stance of the speaker who initiates the repair and the sequential context and positioning of the initiation of repair. It is argued that such a division of labor is consistent with, and is in fact carried over from, the basic meanings they index when serving as straightforward repair initiations.