Extracted from

Liddicoat, A. J. (2007). An Introduction to converstation analysis. London: Continuum

REPAIR 173

Types and positions of repair

Schegloff et al. (1977) have proposed a model of the mechanism for
repair in conversation which makes a central distinction between who
initiates repair and who makes the repair. Repair can be initiated by
the speaker of the repairable (self-initiated repair) or it may be initiated
by its recipient (other-initiated repair). In addition, a repair can be made
by the speaker of the repairable item (self-repair) or it may be made by
the recipient of the item (other-repair). In combination, these possibi-
lities allow for four types of repair:

1. Self-initiated self-repair, in which the speaker of the repairable item

both indicates a problem in the talk and resolves the problem.
2. Self-initiated other-repair, in which the speaker of the repairable item
indicates a problem in the talk, but the recipient resolves the
problem.
3. Other-initiated self-repair, in which the recipient of the repairable
item indicates a problem in the talk and the speaker resolves the
problem.
4. Other-initiated other-repair, in which the recipient of the repairable
item both indicates a problem in the talk and resolves the
problem.

The distinction between self- and other-initiation is important

interactionally. Obviously, it is important that either party to talk be
able to initiate repair, as certain problems in talk are problems for the
speaker, while others are problems for the recipient. However, they do
not seem to be two independent repair initiation processes, but rather
they are related to each other in an organized way (Schegloff, et al.,
1977). The two types of repair initiation deal with the same sorts of
trouble sources in talk and this remains true even though some types of
repairable items are usually associated with self-initiation (for example,
grammatical errors) while others are typically associated with other-
initiated repair (for example, problems of hearing). These associations
are a result of the distribution of the types of repairs, not of a rule in
the conversational system. It is possible for repairs of grammatical
errors to be initiated by the recipient and problems of hearing to be
initiated by the speaker. An example of self-initiation and other-
initiation working on the same trouble source can be seen in the fol-
lowing extracts.
174 AN I N T R O D U C T I O N TO CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

(3) [SBL:3:1:2 (Schegloff et al, 1977)]

B: -then more people will show up. Cuz they
—> won' t feel obligated to sell, tub buy.

(4) [GTS:3:42 (Schegloff et al, 1977)]

—» A: Hey the first time they stopped me from
selling cigarettes was this morning.
(1.0)
—>• B: From selling cigarettes?
A: From buying cigarettes . They [ said uh

In extracts (3) and (4), the trouble source is a problem of word

selection; in both cases the use of sell instead of buy. In extract (3), the
repair is initiated by self and in extract (4) it is initiated by the other.
Self-initiation and other-initiation are specialized for which participant
in the conversation identifies a trouble in prior talk. They are not
specialized for the type of trouble to be repaired.
These types of repair interact with sequential locations for repair, so
that some types of repair are typically found in the same position or the
same sequence type in conversation. Locations for repair are locations
relative to the trouble source and repair is designed to resolve the
trouble as quickly as possible. It is possible to identify the following
positions for repair:

1. within the same turn as the trouble source (same turn repair);
2. in the transition space following the turn containing the trouble
source (transition space repair);
3. in the turn immediately following the trouble source (second posi-
tion repair);
4. in a third positioned turn (thirdposition repair);
5. in a fourth positioned turn (fourth position repair).

These positions for repair interact with repair initiation in such a way
that each position is specialized to provide for a particular participant
to initiate the repair. This means that self-initiation and other-initiation
are also organized in terms of their sequential position. The two types
of initiation are ordered so that possibilities for self-initiation precede
possibilities for other initiation (Schegloff et al., 1977), as in