Pragmatic functions of self-Repair in conversations from vietnamese television films

PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF SELF-REPAIR IN CONVERSATIONS 
FROM VIETNAMESE TELEVISION FILMS 
Nguyen Thi Minh Hanh* 
Quang Nam University 
Received: 01/08/2018; Revised: 05/09/2018; Accepted: 20/08/2019 
Abstract: Self-repair in conversations is necessary for the speakers to make clearer what they are 
speaking to the listeners. Simultaneously, self-repair helps talks be kept on and makes conversations 
smoother and more effective. There are many reasons why speakers in conversations want to repair their 
trouble source. Based on the theory of self-repair from Schegloff, Jefferson & Sacks, data from 
conversations in Vietnamese television films with everyday familiar topics which have been issued from 
the 1980s up to now and based on the theory of the pragmatics of illocutionary forces, the paper presents 
and analyzes the pragmatic functions of self-repair in conversations in Vietnamese television films so 
that learners of Vietnamese can have more effective conversations in their daily life. 
Key words: Conversations, pragmatic functions, self-repair, Vietnamese television films 
1. Introduction 
Conversation - the verbal communication between people is indispensable in daily life. However, 
interlocutors cannot always understand all the utterances from the speaker. Sometimes the speakers cannot 
clearly express their thoughts in their utterances due to some reasons. For example, the speakers are 
searching for suitable words to talk or are looking for a correct word in a specific situation. As a result, they 
make the hearers misunderstand or not understand their sayings. All of those problems are factors that 
disrupt the conversations and lead to the lack of communication efficiency. To overcome the factors causing 
communication breakdowns, the speakers must use some strategies. However, the speakers sometimes 
repair their utterances not only because of the listeners’ hearing or understanding but also due to some other 
communicative purposes. Therefore, self-repair needs considering on the view of pragmatics so that the 
pragmatic functions of self-repair will be identified. This article presents the results of the research in the 
hope of making a small contribution to helping the interlocutors improve effectiveness in their 
communication. 
1.1. Literature review 
Shegloff et al. (1977) investigated repairs because of their roles as a “self-righting mechanism for 
the organization of language in social interaction”. They focused on, for the first time, self-repair and other-
repair with the positions and strategies. Since then, many studies have applied the theory of self-repair from 
Schegloff et al. to carry out their conversational analyses, for example, Rieger (2003), Rogers (1978), Trần 
Thùy An (2016) and so on. 
Regarding the pragmatic features of repair, Rabab’Ah and Abuseileek (2012) carried out a study on 
the pragmatic functions of Repetition in TV discourse. The research revealed that the authors employed 
self-repetition because they wanted to emphasize a particular word or phrase or sometimes highlight the 
obvious. Self-repetition was used for emphasis to reassure a fact to the listener and focus his/her attention 
to that fact. They used self-repetition which aimed to raise the emotions of people who sympathized with 
the speakers. Repetition was used to express annoyance and not feeling good regarding an action. It was 
* Email: hanhtky@gmail.com 
used to persuade, express surprise, give instructions with an emphatic function to plan in order to take time, 
fill in the silence. This is the first paper mentioning the pragmatic features of repetition – one of the 
strategies for self-repair. 
1.2. Research questions 
 1. What is a self-repair in conversations? 
 2. What are the illocutionary acts and their functions? 
 3. What are the pragmatic functions of self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese 
 television films? 
1.3. Research objectives 
 The research was carried out to investigate and analyze the pragmatic functions of self-repair in 
conversations from Vietnamese television films; therefore, it is essential to achieve these following goals: 
(1) providing linguistic evidences and settings collected from television films to illustrate the existence of 
the pragmatic features of self-repair in Vietnamese television films. (2) analyzing and clarifying how the 
pragmatic functions are shown in conversations from Vietnamese television films. 
2. Theoretical framework 
2.1. Repair in conversations 
According to Schegloff et al. (1977, p. 361), “repair” is the treatment of trouble occurring in 
interactive language use or “a mechanism that operates in conversation to deal with problems in speaking, 
hearing, and understanding the talk in conversation”. 
It includes processes for mutual comprehension such as word search as well as a replacement or 
correction on hearable errors or mistakes. 
Schegloff et al. (1977) introduced two types of repair: self-initiated repair and other-initiated repair. 
Each type consists of three components, namely trouble - source, repair initiator and repair completion. 
- Trouble source refers to any elements in a conversation which cause communication breakdown. It 
could be found anywhere during conversational interactions and any element could be repaired by 
participants in conversations, even it is grammatically correct form or pragmatically appropriate expression. 
- Repair initiation: A trouble-source can be identified by the speaker in his / her own talk (i.e., self-
initiated) or by the recipient in someone else’s talk (i.e., other-initiated), and then the speaker (self-initiator) 
or the listener (other-initiator) initiates to use the repair strategies to repair it or to ask for repairing. 
- Self: Self is the party who produces the trouble source in his/her talk. 
- Repair strategies include the interlocutor’s verbal responses to another interlocutor’s wrong, 
incomplete, or silent responses. They also include interlocutors’ responses that either repair the trouble 
directly in the same turn or initiate repair that another interlocutor will complete the repair. 
- Repair completion: After a trouble source is identified, it can be repaired by the self-initiator or by 
the other-initiators. 
2.2. Self-repair 
According to Sack, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974), “self-repair” consists of two types: self-initiated 
repair and other-initiated repair. Self-initiated repair ordinarily involves the speaker of the trouble source 
initiating repair and prosecuting it to conclusion in the same turn; Other-initiated repair generally involves 
a recipient of the problematic talk initiating the repair, but leaving it for the speaker of the trouble-source 
to deal with the trouble himself/herself in the following turn. So, self-repair ordinarily involves the speaker 
of the trouble-source initiating repair and prosecuting it to conclusion in the same turn or the listener will 
help him/her to repair. 
In example (1), the trouble source is caused by the speaker: 
 (1) Ken: Sure enough ten minutes later the bell r – the doorbell rang (Schegloff et al., 1977, p. 363). 
In this example, the speaker (S) produces the trouble source when he says bell r. He himself 
recognizes that the listener (H) will not know what kind of the bell which he wants to mention. Therefore, 
in the same turn, S initiates repair by using the word doorbell. 
2.3. Illocutionary acts 
 Austin (1962) firstly introduced the concept of illocutionary acts into linguistics in his investigation 
of the various aspects of speech acts. His illocutionary acts show that by saying something, 
we do something, but we use language, not physical tools. Austin divided illocutionary acts into five 
categories: Verdictives, Exercitives, Commissives, Expositives, Behabitives. After approaching Austin’s 
theory of illocutionary acts, Searle (1969) agreed on Austin’s division of three types of speech acts: 
Locutionary act, Illocutionary act and Perlocutionary act; however, Searle (1969) classified illocutionary 
acts into five different categories such as Representatives, Directives, Commissives, Expressives and 
Declarations. Each category of the illocutionary acts consists of different functions. This research was 
carried out on the base of Searle’s theory of illocutionary act. 
2.3.1. Representatives 
 The purpose of the members of the representative class is to commit the speaker to something’s being 
the case. The different kinds are: suggesting, putting forward, swearing, boasting, concluding, etc. 
 (2) S: “No one makes a better cake than me.” (Searle, 1969) 
In this example (2), the speaker is boasting of himself/herself. 
2.3.2. Directives 
They try to make the addressee perform an action. The different kinds are: asking, ordering, 
requesting, inviting, advising, and begging. 
 (3) S: “Could you close the window?” (Searle, 1969) 
In this example (3), S performs an action of requesting when S wants the hearer to close the window 
for her/him. 
2.3.3. Commissives 
They commit the speaker to doing something in the future. The different kinds are: promising, 
planning, vowing, betting, and opposing. 
 (4) S: “I'm going to Paris tomorrow.'' (Searle, 1969) 
In this example, S talks about her/his future plan. 
2.3.4. Expressives 
They express how the speaker feels about the situation. The different kinds are: thanking, 
apologizing, welcoming, and deploring. 
 (5) S: “I am sorry that I lied to you.'' (Searle, 1969) 
In this example (5), S feels sorry and makes an apology. 
2.3.5. Declarations 
The purpose of the members of the declarative class is to bring into existence the state of affairs to 
which it refers. The different kinds are blessing, firing, baptizing, bidding, passing sentence, and 
excommunicating. 
 (6) S: “You are fired, I swear, I beg you.” (Searle, 1969) 
This example (6) shows that the speaker makes a declaration to the hearer. 
3. Methods 
This study adopted descriptive and analytic methods. Two criteria to select data from Vietnamese 
films were established: (1) the samples have to be conversational utterances that contain self-repair, (2) the 
samples are taken from Vietnamese films. The episodes of forty-seven films were randomly chosen. The 
years of the films’ release are from 1990s to 2010s; hence, the utterances in conversations are up-to-date 
and similar to what people say in everyday life conversations. 
With the above set criteria, 518 English conversations from forty-seven Vietnamese films were 
collected to build up the data. Such a number of conversations can be reliable enough to represent various 
pragmatic functions of self-repair. 
4. Findings 
The results of investigating 518 conversations from 47 Vietnamese television films show that 2 of 5 
categories of illocutionary acts classified by Searle (1969) appear in utterances of self-repair: 
Representatives and Expressives. These two kinds of illocutionary acts show a lot of pragmatic functions 
of self-repair in conversations. Their results are presented in the following sub-sections. 
4.1. Representatives 
 The data shows the functions of representatives of self-repair in conversations are assertiveness, 
information and explanation. 
4.1.1. Assertiveness 
 (7) S: Anh là...là anh Tú vịt...đúng rồi...anh là Tú vịt đúng không? 
 (S: Are you...are you Mr Tu “duck”...ah...yes...Mr Tu “duck”?) 
 (Ngày hè sôi động, Tập 3, 01:03:00) 
 (The active summer, Episode 3, 01:03:00) 
In (7), S recognizes that the boy standing in front of her is her brother’s friend and he has got a 
nickname Tú vịt (Tu “duck”), but she is not sure because they have not met for a long time. However, the 
way that she recalls him Tú vịt (Tu”duck”) after her hesitation makes sure that she knows him clearly and 
exactly. 
4.1.2. Information 
 (8) S: Thưa Thầy, Thầy có nhớ cô gái ngày xưa hay đi với con ở trường Hàng Cót, cô gái ấy là hoa khôi của 
trường ta thời ấy ạ. 
 (S: Dear Madame (the nun), do you remember the girl who used to go to Hàng Cót school in the old days, the 
girl who was the beauty Queen of our school at that time? 
 H: Vâng, tôi nhớ rồi. Cô Thơ hay còn gọi là cô Lụa. 
 (H: Yes, I do. Ms Thơ or the other name is Ms Lụa.) 
(Nếp nhà, tập 1, 00:04:54) 
(Family’s Habits, Episode 1, 00:04:54) 
In this setting (8), two women visit the old pagoda where they used to come when they were young. 
One woman asks the superior monk to try to remember the name of the other woman. Her explanation in 
the same turn reminds the superior monk of the woman’s name. 
4.1.3. Explanation 
 (9) S: À má, con nghĩ mình nên về quê coi mấy bác ra sao nghe má. Ý con nói là ngó qua cho biết thôi chứ con 
đâu có ưa mấy bác đâu. 
 (Nước chảy xuôi dòng, 02:27:48) 
 (S: Mum, I think we should return to our hometown to visit our uncles. I mean we only drop over them because 
I do not like them) 
 (Smooth water, 02:27:48) 
 In the above example, the mother does not want to return to her husband’s hometown because she 
does not like the relatives there. She left the hometown and stayed all her life with her children on the boat 
when her husband died. However, her daughter wants to return to the hometown and visit her uncles. She 
tries to explain her thoughts in the most persuasive way so that her mother can accept her suggestion. 
Table 1. Pragmatic functions of representatives of self-repair in Vietnamese television films 
Order Functions Occurrences 
1 Assertiveness 13 
2 Information 21 
3 Explanation 19 
Figure 1. Pragmatic functions of representatives of self-repair in Vietnamese television films 
 Figure 1 shows that the functions of representatives of self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese 
television films consist of assertiveness, information and explanation. Of these three functions, information 
has the highest occurrences. 
4.2. Expressives 
 The survey shows the functions of expressives of self-repair in conversations are feelings of surprise, 
embarrassment, anger, panic and worry. 
4.2.1. Surprise 
(10) S: Sao? Cậu định đằng sau quay, đào ngũ? Tớ hiểu rồi, bây giờ cậu muốn đi. 
 (S: What? Are you going to about-turn, desert from the army? I know, you want to leave now.) 
(Đường lên Điện Biên, Tập 9, 00:25:11) 
 (Ways to Dien Bien, Episode 9, 00:25:11) In this 
conversation (10), the captain says to the young soldier in his battalion. The captain feels surprised by the 
soldier’s negative attitude because this soldier has always been active and optimistic. Self-repairing his 
utterance by using the word đào ngũ not only helps the soldier understand what he is saying clearly but also 
shows the captain’s surprising attitude to the active soldier. 
4.2.2. Embarrassment 
(11) S: Cháu muốn, cháu muốn mượn lương của cô tháng nay được không ạ? 
(S: I want, Could I borrow your salary this month, please?) 
(Ngày hè sôi động, Tập 4, 00:16:32) 
(The active summer, Episode 4, 01:03:00) 
In this setting, the girl repairs her utterance by expressing her wish to borrow money from her aunt; 
however, her self-repair shows her embarrassment in her saying. She knows that her aunt is not rich and 
her borrowing may cause some difficulties for her aunt. 
4.2.3. Anger 
(12) S: Cậu phải như tôi đây này, có ai động vào đâu. Ý tôi nói là mình phải khéo léo, nhẫn nhịn. 
 (S: You must behave as the same way as I do so that no one dare say anything. I mean you must be clever and 
patient) 
 (Khi đàn chim trở về, tập 36, phần 3, 00:41:06) 
(When the birds return, Episode 36, Part 3, 00:41:06) 
In (12), this is the conversation between the manager and the employee. The manager repairs his 
utterance for his employee to understand his meaning, but he also wants to show his anger because the 
employee has not got his advice before. 
4.2.4. Panic 
(13) S: Cái gì? Con cá sấu chúa, vợ em tới công ty hả? 
(S: What? Is the Queen crocodile, my wife coming to the company?) 
 (Thuê chồng, 00:43:02) 
(Husbands for rent, 00:43:02) 
In this conversation, when one of three men who work for a company named “Husband for rent” 
hears the nickname “cá sấu chúa” (the Queen crocodile), he repairs his utterance in his turn by explaining 
that cá sấu chúa (the Queen crocodile) is his wife. His explanation also shows that he feels so panic when 
his wife is coming to the company. 
4.2.5. Worry 
(14) S: Cô ơi, cô làm ơn cho tôi hỏi con trai tôi chờ ở đâu ạ? Hành khách chuyến bay hoãn sẽ chờ ở đâu ạ? 
(S: Excuse me, madame, do you know where my son is waiting? Where will passengers whose flights are 
delayed wait? 
 (Tết không chỉ có hoa đào, tập 6, 46:30) 
(Tet not only has peach blossom, Episode 6, 46:30) 
In this film, the father always thinks that the boy is not his son. After many years of studying and 
living abroad, the son returns home, but the father always keeps his distance from him. When knowing that 
his father needs to transplant the liver, the son is willing to do that. Being refused from the father, the son 
decides to go abroad again. However, the farther goes to the airport and tries to find his son. He feels so 
worried because the flight nearly departs. When he asks “Cô làm ơn cho tôi hỏi con trai tôi chờ ở đâu ạ”, 
he recognizes his trouble source and starts repair in the same turn. His worry is expressed via his ways of 
saying and repairing. 
Table 2. Pragmatic functions of expressives of self-repair in Vietnamese television films 
Order Functions Occurrences 
1 Surprise 21 
2 Embarrassament 7 
3 Anger 6 
4 Panic 3 
5 Worry 5 
 Figure 2. Pragmatic functions of expressives of self-repair in Vietnamese television films 
 Figure 2 shows that the functions of expressives of self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese 
television films consist of surprise, embarrassment, anger, panic and worry. Of these five functions, 
surprise has the highest occurrences. 
5. Discussion and implications 
 The results show that the categories of illocutionary acts classified by Searle (1969) such as 
representatives and expressives appear in self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese television films. 
The functions of representatives consist of assertiveness, information and explanation. Of these three 
functions, information has the highest occurrences. Learners of Vietnamese need to pay attention to the 
functions of representatives so that they can overcome the possible breakdowns during their conversations. 
Especially, learners should give clear utterances which contain enough information for the listeners. Beside 
that, the functions of expressives of self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese television films consist 
of surprise, embarrassment, anger, panic and worry. Of these five functions, surprise has the highest 
occurrences. These results help learners of Vietnamese know that speakers can use self-repair with a lot of 
pragmatic functions. The best way for learners to understand the interlocutors’ underlying meanings is that 
they should observe the attitudes of the speakers during their conversations. When the interlocutors know 
how to self-repair to correct their trouble sources and know how to use self-repair to convey their feelings, 
they will gain effective conversations. 
6. Conclusion 
 The research reveals the results that two of five categories of illocutionary acts namely 
Representatives and Expressives classified by Searle (1969) appear in utterances of self-repair. The 
functions of representatives consist of assertiveness, information and explanation. The functions of 
expressives of self-repair in conversations from Vietnamese television films consist of surprise, 
embarrassment, anger, panic and worry. The results show that more speakers use self-repair with the aim 
of providing information for their trouble s