Repetition in Hindi-English bilingual conversation

In bilingual repetition phenomena, a phrase in one language is repeated nearby in the other language. Although often encountered, there are few extended analyses of repetition in everyday bilingual conversation. This paper seeks to describe and analyze a range of sequences, meanings, and interpretations of bilingual repetition encountered in Hindi-English conversational data drawn from a corpus of four 30-minute conversations between bilingual speakers. Using methods derived from conversation analysis (CA), it is found that bilingual repetition contributes to coherence locally through cohesion as well as contrast, unlike monolingual repetition, which has been described as primarily cohesive in nature. One distinctive use of bilingual repetition, for example, is to represent opposed alternatives or contrasting situations. The relationship between bilingual repetition and general theoretical concerns about linguistic and social meaning making and interpretation through repetition and variation in interaction is also considered