A phonetic description of some repair sequences in Akan conversation.

Abstract

Natural human conversations are hardly 'error-free', due to the properties of interaction. Repair is therefor a concomitant part of any natural conversation. Phonetic (and sometimes Morpho-syntactic) cues are deployed to signal repair in conversation. Evidence is provided from natural interactions to show that such phonetic cues as pauses; prolongation of phonic or syllabic elements; loudness and pitch may be deployed singly or conjointly to signal repair. The paper also demonstrates that a detailed knowledge about repair provides a considerable insight into turn-regulation.