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Abstract

Schegloff, et al. (1977) propose the idea that the repairs is a communication phenomenon that facilitates the collaborative construction of conversations. This idea has been succeeded by many following studies in English (Geluykens, 1989; Zahn, 1984, among others), other languages including Japanese (Ito, 1991), as well as comparative studies (Hayashi, 1994; Fox et al, 1996). However, the majority of these previous studies focuses on the syntactic aspects, but is not concerned with difference of relationships among the interlocutors. Focusing its analysis on the self-repair, this study examines differences in the use of the repairs which reflect the participants awareness for communicative needs that depends on their relationship to another interlocutor.

The data consist of 12 tape-recorded and transcribed Japanese conversations, six of which are between friends and the other six between strangers, totaling approximately 226 minutes in length. The examination reveals the following: In the interaction with a stranger, the insertion-type and replacement-type repair embody the interlocutor’s awareness about the need to elaborate and adjust slight semantic coding. Moreover, the interlocutor attempts to repair by rephrasing her/his utterance when detecting any problems, rather than abandoning. Conversely, in the interaction with friends, they utilize the insertion-type repair to add emphatic effect and the replacement-type repair to correct or cancel overt errors. This indicates that the interlocutors’ are more involved in the interaction and comfortable (or less sensitive) about making errors, or even abandoning them, when interacting with friends. These findings reveals the association of the interlocutors’ awareness on the ! relationship difference with the other and their use of the repair, which suggests the significance of the examination on the nature of the repairs in addition to their frequency. Studies like this will provide practical pedagogical implication for pragmatic aspects for L2 learners for their communication skill development.