SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC ROLES OF REPETITION IN EVERYDAY SPEECH: A PILOT STUDY IN FERGANA REGION

Аннотация:

This study investigates the dual roles of repetition in ordinary spoken discourse by focusing on both its semantic and pragmatic dimensions. Grounded in current linguistic theorising, it examines how speakers in natural everyday interactions deploy repetition to serve meaning-relations (semantics) as well as interactional or contextual functions (pragmatics). A small empirical investigation was conducted in the city of Kokand in the Fergana Region of Uzbekistan, during which 20 informal conversational exchanges among native Uzbek speakers were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed. The analysis identifies several recurrent patterns of repetition: lexical repetition (the same word or phrase repeated), phrasal repetition (a clause or segment reiterated), and echo-repetition (respondent repeats interlocutor’s phrase). Semantically, repetition often contributes to emphasis, clarification or lexical anchoring, while pragmatically it supports turn-taking, interactional repair, discourse cohesion and conversational alignment. For example, speakers frequently repeat a key noun phrase to signal contrast or to maintain topic continuity, and they echo partner’s utterance to confirm understanding or to invite elaboration. The findings suggest that repetition is not merely a redundant feature of informal speech, but a functional device combining semantic reinforcement and pragmatic coordination. Implications are drawn for teaching conversational skills in Uzbek and for further cross-linguistic comparison of repetition’s functional load in everyday talk.