Abstract:
Other-repetition, an important interactional device, occurs in every discourse of all languages with various functions. Yet, their forms and functions in different languages might be different. This study aims at examining forms, parts of speech, turns, and functions of other-repetitions in Thai conversations and comparing other-repetitions in two types of discourse -- task-based conversations and daily conversations. The data elicited are from Thai Mister O Corpus task-based conversations and recorded face-to-face daily conversations. The data consist of 452 cases of the use of other-repetitions. The findings reveal that there are four forms of Thai other-repetitions -- exact repetition, expanded repetition, reduced repetition, and mixed repetition. The most preferred forms are expanded repetition. There are eleven parts of speech of other-repetitions -- four kinds of words, five kinds of phrases, a kind of incomplete sentence, and a kind of sentence. The most preferred parts of speech are verb phrases. In terms of the turn of other-repetitions, there are both repetition and overlapping repetition. Other-repetitions in Thai have seventeen functions which can be categorized into three groups -- six both-listener-and-speaker-based functions, six listener-based functions, and five speaker-based functions. The most preferred function is acknowledgement. For the analysis of other-repetitions in different discourses, the results reveal that forms, parts of speech, turns, and functions of other-repetitions in both discourses are similar but the frequency of occurrence are different. A significant difference between the use of other-repetitions in two different discourses is that in the task-based conversation, other-repetitions are mostly employed to continue the story while in the daily conversation, the most preferred function is confirmation. Overlapping repetitions occur more in the task-based conversation than in the daily conversation while repetitions occur more in the daily conversation than in the task-based conversation. The findings also indicate that other-repetitions in Thai conversations are adopted as a device to increase involvement in conversations and to show the speaker's interest in what the interlocutor says to make a smooth conversation. Furthermore, the genre of discourses and the type of tasks also affect forms, parts of speech, turns, and functions of other-repetition in Thai conversations.