Flemming G. Andersen

A cross-cultural view of repetitions and formulaic diction in spoken discourse

Taking its empirical point of departure in videorecordings of negociation simulations conducted in Danish and English, this pilot study examines the ways in which verbal repetition and formulaic diction are employed in the two linguistic contexts. It is argued that intertextual repetitions function as explicit evasion of potentially threatening acts, as a vehicle for non-commitment by evocation of common linguistic ground, whereas the instances of intra-textual repetition serve as implicit evasion and as argument support.