@article {338, title = {Modified repeats: one method for asserting primary rights from second position}, year = {2006}, publisher = {Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fonetische Wetenschappen}, address = {Nijmegen, The Netherlands}, abstract = {

This presentation examines one practice speakers have for confirming when confirmation was not otherwise relevant. The data are a collection taken from video and audio recordings of spontaneous face-to-face and telephone conversations between family members and friends. The practice I analyze here involves a speaker repeating an assertion previously made by another speaker in modified form with stress on the copula/auxiliary. It is argued that these modified repeats work to undermine the first speaker{\textquoteright}s default ownership and rights over the claim being made and instead assert the primacy of the second speaker{\textquoteright}s rights to make the statement.

Two types of modified repeats are identified: partial and full. Though both involve competing for primacy of the claim, they occur in distinct sequential environments: the former are generally positioned after a first claim was epistemically downgraded whereas the latter are positioned following initial claims that were offered straightforwardly, without downgrading.

}, author = {Tanya Stivers} }