Home Repair in Ghanaian judicial discourse
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Repair in Ghanaian judicial discourse

  • Samuel Gyasi Obeng EMAIL logo and Akua Asantewaa Campbell
Published/Copyright: April 10, 2024

Abstract

Repair is an integral part of every natural human discursive practice due to cognitive anxiety, stress, emotional valence, inability to recover words from one’s mental lexicon, slip of the tongue, among others. This study examined repair in Ghanaian judicial interactions using authentic judicial discourse data and working within the theoretical frameworks of conversational analysis and language and power. Results indicate that repairables include word search, correction proper and misstatements. Repair types included self-initiated self-repair, other-initiated other-repair, other-initiated self-repair, and other-initiated other-repair and self-repair. Linguistic and discourse-pragmatic strategies employed in initiating and carrying out repair include, pauses, sound prolongation, word/expression repetition, and morpho-syntactic and discourse-pragmatic features like yes-no questions, wh-questions, quantifiers, adjectives denoting exactness, pronouns, laughter, supportives, scolding via pejorative utterances, politeness/address forms, and calling on actors to abide by the courts’ moral code. In sum, repair is important on issues relating to understandability and interpretability of what judicial participants say, acceptable modes communication and their impact on facts needed to make cases judicable. Stakeholders in Ghanaian judicial practice and Ghanaian jurisprudence must take note of repair’s un-expendable nature in Ghanaian judicial discourse.


Corresponding author: Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Indiana University, Ballantine Hall 519, Bloomington, USA, E-mail:

Appendix: Transcription conventions

AUD audience
DEF defendant
INT interpreter
JUD judge
LAWR lawyer
MAG magistrate
PET petitioner
PLT plaintiff
PLT-LAW plaintiff’s lawyer
WIT witness
( ) duration of pause in second
: long vowel
:: longer than long vowel
# unintelligible syllables

References

Aitchison, Jean. 2008. The articulate mammal: An introduction to psycholinguistics, 5th edn. Oxon: Routledge.10.4324/9780203934715Search in Google Scholar

Amissah, Austin. 1985. Criminal procedure in Ghana. Accra: Sedco.Search in Google Scholar

Amuzu, Evershed, Akua Campbell & Seth Ofori. 2020. “That’s not my understanding”: Interpretation in the Ghanaian multilingual court. Language and Dialogue 10(3). 389–421. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00076.amu.Search in Google Scholar

Benoit, William L. 2016. Effects of image repair strategies. In Joseph R. Blaney (ed.), Putting image repair to the test: Quantative applications to image restoration strategies, 7–28. Lanham (MD): Lexington Books.10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0103Search in Google Scholar

Burford-Rice, Rose & Martha Augoustinos. 2018. I didn’t mean that: It was just a slip of the tongue’: Racial slips and gaffes in the public arena. British Journal of Social Psychology 57. 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12211.Search in Google Scholar

Butterworth, Brian. 1975. Hesitation and semantic planning in speech. Journal of Psychological Research 1. 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01066991.Search in Google Scholar

Campbell, Akua & Samuel G. Obeng. 2023. Language and power: Discursive strategies employed by court interpreters in Ghanaian district courts. Interpreting: International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 26(1). 55–79. https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00099.cam.Search in Google Scholar

Cheng, Le, Winnie Cheng & Jian Li. 2015. Jury instructions in Hong Kong: A Gricean perspective. International Journal of Speech Language and Law 22(1). 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v22i1.15400.Search in Google Scholar

Clark, Herbert & Eve V. Clark. 1977. Psychology and language: An introduction to psycholinguistics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Available at: https://www.biblio.com/book/psychology-language-introduction-psycholinguistics-clark-hh/d/1530664879.Search in Google Scholar

Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth & Margret Selting. 1996. Prosody in conversation. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511597862Search in Google Scholar

de Garcia, Jule G. 1995. Repair strategies in conversational Kickapoo. Colorado Research in Linguistics 14. 6–24.Search in Google Scholar

Dingemanse, Mark, Francisco Torreira & Nick J. Enfield. 2013. Is “huh?” a universal word? Conversational infrastructure and the convergent evolution of linguistic items. Public Library of Science (PLOS) ONE 8(11). e78273. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078273.Search in Google Scholar

Du Bois, John E. 1974. Syntax in mid-sentence. In Berkeley studies in syntax and semantics Vol. 1. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Human Learning and Department of Linguistics, University of California.Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and power. London/New York: Longman.Search in Google Scholar

Finegan, Edward. 2008. Language: Its structure and use, 5th edn. USA: Thomson Wadsworth.Search in Google Scholar

Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Search in Google Scholar

Grice, Paul. 1975. Logic and conversation. In Peter Cole & Jerry L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and semantics 3: Speech acts, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.10.1163/9789004368811_003Search in Google Scholar

Kasper, Gabriele & Johannes Wagner. 2014. Conversation analysis in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 34. 171–212. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0267190514000014.Search in Google Scholar

Kendrick, Kobin H. 2015. Other-initiated repair in English. Open Linguistics 1. 164–190. https://doi.org/10.2478/opli-2014-0009.Search in Google Scholar

Levinson, Stephen. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Local, John. 1996. Conversational phonetics: Some aspects of news receipt in everyday talk. In Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen & Margret Selting (eds.), Prosody in conversation: Interactional studies, 177–230. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511597862.007Search in Google Scholar

Manuh, Takyiwaa. 1988. The Asantehemaa’s court and its jurisdiction over women: A study in legal pluralism. Research Review 4(2). 50–66.Search in Google Scholar

Mauranen, Anna. 2006. Signaling and preventing misunderstanding in English as a lingua Franca communication. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 177. 123–150.10.1515/IJSL.2006.008Search in Google Scholar

Meredith, Joanne & Elizabeth Stoke. 2014. Repair: Comparing Facebook ‘chat’ with spoken interaction. Discourse and Communication 8(2). 181–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481313510815.Search in Google Scholar

Nakatani, Christine H. & Julia Hirschberg. 1994. A corpus-based study of repair cases in spontaneous speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 95(3). 1603–1616. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.408547.Search in Google Scholar

Obeng, Samuel G. 2018. Conflict resolution in Africa: Language, law and politeness in Ghanaian (Akan) jurisprudence. Durham (NC): Carolina Academic Press.Search in Google Scholar

Obeng, Samuel G. 1999. Conversational strategies in Akan: Prosodic features and discourse categories. Köln, Germany: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Obeng, Samuel G. 1992a. On a morphosyntactic description of repair sequences: Exemplification from Akan discourse. Papers in Ghanaian Linguistics 8. 80–90.Search in Google Scholar

Obeng, Samuel G. 1992b. A phonetic description of repair sequences in Akan conversation. Text 12(1). 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1992.12.1.59.Search in Google Scholar

Obeng, Samuel G. & Akua Campbell. 2023. Turn-taking in Ghanaian judicial discourse. Legon Journal of Humanities 34(2). 80–108. https://doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v34i2.4.Search in Google Scholar

Quashigah, Kofi. 2008. The historical development of the legal system of Ghana: An example of the coexistence of two systems of law. Studocu. https://www.studocu.com/row/document/ghana-institute-of-management-and-public-administration/law/quashigah-the-historical-development-of-ghana/20094961 (accessed 10 May 2023).Search in Google Scholar

Rasmussen, Anne S. & Dorthe Berntsen. 2009. Emotional valence and the functions of autobiographical memories: Positive and negative memories serve different functions. Memory & Cognition 37(4). 477–492. https://doi.org/10.3758/mc.37.4.477.Search in Google Scholar

Röde, Silja. 2018. English as a Lingua Franca in Political Talk The use of self-repair and repetition as clarification strategies in political interviews with Jean-Claude Juncker. Stockholm: Stockholms Universitet MA thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on conversation, Volumes I and II. In Gail Jefferson (ed.) with Introduction by Emanuel A. Schegloff. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey. 1984. Notes on methodology. In John Maxwell Atkinson & John Heritage (eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis, 21–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey. 1987. On the preferences for agreement and contiguity in sequences in conversation. In Graham Button & John R. Lee (eds.), Talk and social organisation, 54–69. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781800418226-004Search in Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel A. Schegloff & Gail Jefferson. 1974. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking in conversation. Language 50(4). 696–735. https://doi.org/10.2307/412243.Search in Google Scholar

Sato, Rintaro. 2012. Self-initiated self-repair attempts by Japanese high school learners while speaking English. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience 3(2). 17–28.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2006. Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511791208Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2000. When “others” initiate repair. Applied Linguistics 21(2). 205–243. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.2.205.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emmanuel A. 1979. The relevance of repair to syntax-for-conversation. In Talmy Givon (ed.), Syntax and semantics 12: Discourse and syntax, 261–286. New York: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368897_012.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emmanuel A. 1982. Discourse as an interactional achievement: Some uses of `uh huh’ and other things that come between sentences. In Deborah Tannen (ed.), Text and Talk. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1992. Repair after next turn: The last structurally provided defense of intersubjectivity in conversation. American Journal of Sociology 97(5). 1295–1345. https://doi.org/10.1086/229903.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A., Harvey Sacks & Gail Jefferson. 1978. The relevance of repair to syntax for conversation. In Talmy Givon (ed.), Discourse and syntax, 261–288. New York: Academic Press.10.1163/9789004368897_012Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emmanuel A. & Gail Jefferson. 1977. The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language 53. 361–382.Search in Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A., Gail Jefferson & Harvey Sacks. 1977. The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language 53. 361–382. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1977.0041.Search in Google Scholar

Selting, Margret. 2009. Prosody as an activity-type distinctive cue in conversation: The case of so-called ‘astonished’ questions in repair initiation. In Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen & Margret Selting (eds.), Prosody in conversation: Interactional studies, 231–270. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511597862.008Search in Google Scholar

Sidnell, Jack & Tanya Stivers. 2013. The handbook of conversation analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9781118325001Search in Google Scholar

Tiara, Ari. 2018. Repair strategies in online chat: A conversation analysis. Passage 6(3). 1–19.Search in Google Scholar

Toury, Gideon. 1997. What is it that renders a spoonerism (un)translatable? London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Travers, Max. 2006. Understanding talk in legal settings: What law and society studies can learn from a conversation analyst. Law & Social Inquiry 31(2). 447–465.10.1111/j.1747-4469.2006.00017.xSearch in Google Scholar

Van Dijk, Teun, A. 2002. Ideology and discourse. A multidisciplinary introduction. Barcelona Pompeu Fabra University. Available at: https://discourses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Teun-A.-van-Dijk-2003-Ideology-and-discourse.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Watterson, Matthew. 2008. Repair of non-understanding in English in international communication. World Englishes 27(3–4). 378–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971x.2008.00574.x.Search in Google Scholar

Wen, Wei-chun, Tzu-hsiang Yu & William L. Benoit. 2009. Our hero can’t be wrong! A case study of collectivist image repair in Taiwan. Chinese Journal of Communication 2(2). 174–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750902826707.Search in Google Scholar

West, Tamera A. 2013. Women constructing identities: The discursive construction of “stressed-out” in women’s conversations. Santa Barbara, USA: Fielding Graduate University Unpublished PhD Dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Zaferanieh, Elaheh. 2012. Conversation analysis of online chat. Paper presented at the First Conference on Language Learning & Teaching. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/11527371/Conversation_Analysis_of_Online_Chat.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2023-12-12
Accepted: 2024-03-02
Published Online: 2024-04-10
Published in Print: 2024-04-25

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 8.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijld-2024-2002/html
Scroll to top button