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Pragmatics: Online-First Articles

Multiple repair solutions in response to open class repair initiators (OCRIs) in next turn

The case of hospitality and tourism service encounters in English as a lingua franca (ELF)

| University of Malaya
ORCID logo | University of Malaya

The study examines repair practices of speakers following an open class repair initiator (OCRI) in next turn in hospitality and tourism (HT) service encounters mediated through English as a lingua franca (ELF). The data comprise fifteen hours of naturally occurring ELF service encounters recorded at three HT sites in Thailand. Using conversation analytic procedures, the analysis reveals that speakers may offer multiple repair solutions following an OCRI, which appear oriented to a potential problem of understanding rather than one of hearing. The participants combine repetition of the trouble-source turn with comprehension-enhancing techniques such as lexical replacement, rephrasing of prior talk and explication of potentially problematic words. As it is pertinent that messages are accurately relayed and received, speakers adopt a proactive stance and combine repair practices to raise explicitness and improve communicative clarity. In ELF HT service encounters, the principle of increased collaborative effort prevails and underlies communicative effectiveness.

Keywords: English as a lingua franca (ELF), explicitness practices, hospitality and tourism, open class repair initiator (OCRI), other-initiated self-repair, service encounters
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Service encounters and the language of hospitality
  • 3.The repair mechanism, other-initiated repair and repair solutions in third position
    • 3.1‘Open’ class repair initiators (OCRIs)
  • 4.Data and method
    • 4.1Research sites and participants
    • 4.2Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Analysis and discussion
    • 5.1Repetition and lexical replacement
    • 5.2Repetition and rephrasing
    • 5.3Repetition and explication
    • 5.4Multiple repair solutions in a multiturn repair sequence
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 29 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.22065.tho
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