Parental other-repetition in Mandarin parent-child interaction

Abstract

This study investigated the types and functions of parental other-repetition in Mandarin parent–child interaction from a discourse-pragmatic perspective. The subjects of this study were two Mandarin-speaking parent–child dyads. The data included six hours of natural conversations recorded when the children were between the ages of 2;1 and 3;1. Parental other-repetitions were classified into four repetition types: exact, reduced, modified, or expanded. The different types of repetitions were further analyzed to examine the pragmatic functions of Mandarin parental other-repetition within the framework of communicative exchanges. It was found that the parents used the different types of repetition for a variety of communicative purposes such as acknowledging the receipt of information, asking for clarification, asking for confirmation, targeting a next action, and reformulating the child`s utterances. The results also showed that the parents’ use of other-repetition reflected the particular nature of child-directed speech, and the parents’ attempts to foster interaction.