Panel Title

Author's Name, Institution and E-mail Address

Abstract

Building on previous research on repetition in English (Tannen 1987, Schegloff et al. 1977) and Japanese (Makino 1980, Kumagai 1997) and gesture (McNeill 1992), the papers in this panel investigate the use of verbal and nonverbal repetition in spontaneous Japanese native-native and native-nonnative (English, Korean)/ English-Japanese bilingual conversations. Taking into account situation specific factors, the intonation, form and pronunciation of the repeating utterances, and body movements, the panelists focus on clausal self-repetition and gestural allo-repetition in narratives of the story of an animation, a bilingual child’s allo-repetition of giving verbs in a conflict over a toy, and allo-repetitive echo questions in natural conversation.

Results show that non-native and bilingual children use repetition more than native speakers and with different functions. Native speakers repeated clauses to highlight the original clause and create discourse boundaries at cause-effect points of development in narratives, used gestural allo-repetition while confirming nonnative speakers’ utterances and prompting them with more suitable Japanese versions of what they appeared to be trying to say, and used echo questions with distinctive intonation and accompanying nonverbal movements to initiate repair. The studies show that nonnative speakers may overuse repetition or use it to produce incorrect forms in contexts where the utterances of the speaker and addressee do not mirror one another. Results indicate that although repetition can be useful, one needs to consider its role in creating discourse structure, the structure of the language, and the meaning of accompanying intonation and body movements in order to use it effectively. This is particularly important in contexts in which the speaker and addressee cannot exchange the same forms.

The papers in this panel shed light on the way in which verbal and nonverbal repetition is used in spontaneous conversation, and have important implications for teaching Japanese as a second language.