The Preference for Self-Correction in the Organization of Repair in Conversation

1977/06/01 by Emanuel A. Schegloff, Gail Jefferson, Harvey Sacks · 1,156 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Communication #Conversation #Economics #Language, Communication, and Linguistic Studies #Linguistics #Microeconomics #Philosophy #Preference #Psychology

paper · doi:10.2307/413107

published in Language 53(2), 361-382 (Linguistic Society of America)

openalex publication_date 1977/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

An ‘organization of repair’ operates in conversation, addressed to recurrent problems in speaking, hearing, and understanding. Several features of that organization are introduced to explicate the mechanism which produces a strong empirical skewing in which self-repair predominates over other-repair, and to show the operation of a preference for self-repair in the organization of repair. Several consequences of the preference for self-repair for conversational interaction are sketched.

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