Forms and functions of self-repetitions in spoken discourse: A corpus linguistics analysis of L1 and L2 English

Abstract Self-repetitions as a compensation strategy potentially have a powerful influence on maintaining communication in L1 and L2 contexts. By subjecting two comparable corpora to contrastive interlanguage analysis, in the present study we explored the use of self-repetitions by L1 speakers of English and Turkish speakers of English and their structural and functional distributions. The results indicated that while L1 English speakers tended to utilize repetitions as fillers, L2 English speakers employed considerably more repetitions as self-initiated self-repairs. The results of the study suggest that, despite being used for different purposes, self-repetition occurs in L1 and L2 English speech indicating that self-repetitions cannot be associated with disfluency as long as they do not hinder the flow of speech. For this reason, raising L2 learners’ awareness might help them prevent breakdowns in L2 communication.