Repair
A conversational mechanism for addressing misunderstandings, errors, or unclear utterances. Repair can be self-initiated by the speaker or other-initiated by the listener, and can be self-repaired or other-repaired.
Real World
In Donald Trump's press conferences, linguists documented frequent self-repair mid-sentence ('She's — the woman, the very powerful woman, said...'), revealing how real-time speech production under pressure generates more visible repair sequences than scripted communication.
Exam Focus
Distinguish self-initiated from other-initiated repair and note who completes it — this reveals power dynamics and face-saving strategies within the conversation.
How well did you know this?