Other-initiated repair in the phone calls of the TV series Õnne 13
Keywords: film dialogue, telephone conversation, repair organization, Estonian
This paper analyzes phone calls from the Estonian television series Õnne 13 (“Happiness Street 13”) using the methodological framework of conversation analysis. The dataset consists of 60 everyday phone calls from various seasons (1994–2024). A defining characteristic of these calls is their one-sidedness, with one participant simulating a dialogue. By applying the core analytical technique of conversation analysis – the next-turn proof procedure – it is possible to reconstruct the missing turns of the interlocutor based on how the speaker interprets the previous turn.
In film discourse, the model includes not only the ratified participants but also the television audience. Therefore, turns in film dialogue must be designed with both the fictional addressee and the audience in mind. Since the viewer cannot hear the other participant, it is the visible character’s task to convey their turns to the audience. One technique used for this purpose is the initiation of repair.
In the analyzed conversations, 41 repair initiations were identified: 14 initiated by the caller and 27 by the recipient. Most repair sequences occur at the beginning of the conversation. Repair primarily addresses problems of acceptance (17 instances) and understanding (11 instances).
The most common strategies for repair initiation are repetition of the trouble source and open-class initiators (e.g., ah? ‘what?’, misasja? ‘what?’). The relationship between problems and strategies in the analyzed telephone conversations differs somewhat from that in authentic conversations. While open-class initiators typically address hearing problems in real-life interaction, here they more often indicate acceptance problems.
Most repair initiations are prosodically marked – expressed in a louder voice, with a tone of surprise, fear, disappointment, or laughter, often stretched and/or strongly emphasized. Marked prosody is also applied to types of repair initiations that are typically unmarked in authentic conversation.
Andriela Rääbis (b. 1966), PhD, University of Tartu, Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, Researcher (Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu), andriela.raabis@ut.ee
Kirjandus
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