Pragmatic verbal repetition: review and application of a new method of quantification

The use of "pragmatic repetition," the iteration of one's own speech or the speech of a co-participant, while known to occur in conversation, has been overlooked in the language sciences. This study presents a method for establishing incidence, characteristics, and functions of pragmatic repetition during conversational exchanges. The method is applied to three discourse samples: a screenplay, a television reality show, and an unscripted telephone conversation. The analysis characterizes each repetition in terms of localness (immediate, delayed, or distant in the discourse); degree of preservation (identical or altered); source (self or other); the linguistic unit (word, phrase, clause, or sentence); and type of phrase (formulaic or novel). Three functional categories were identified: maintaining conversational form, enhancing content, and fostering social purposes. Results indicated that 22% of the telephone conversation and 19% of the reality show conversations constituted repeated material as compared to 9% in the screenplay. Analysis of characteristics and functions of pragmatic repetition revealed significant differences between samples. Findings from this study verify the newly developed quantification methodology, solidify the role of repetition in the pragmatics of language, and lead to better understanding of normal discourse.