Reference repair in German and French

• Seemingly similar repair initiators differ in interactional function.
• Lexical problems are addressed with was ist and c’est quoi (what is).
• Identifying referents in a set is done with welch- and lequel (which).
• Open class repair initiator + repeat is used for problems in understanding action.

This conversation analytic study examines the use and function of repair initiators in German and French, in particular those beginning with specific wh-words and targeting prior references to objects or phenomena (i.e., non-person entities). In both languages, the specific repair initiators vary depending upon the type of reference problem encountered. For underspecified prior referents, repairs are initiated with was/was denn. (what.) in German and le quoi (what) in French. Failures to recognize prior referents prompt the repair initiators was ist (what is) in German, and c’est quoi (what is) in French. With lexical access issues, these latter repair initiators are followed by noch mal (again) and déjà (already) in German and French, respectively. The repair initiators welch- (which) in German and lequel (which) follow failures to identify one referent from among a given set. If no set is identifiable, the repair initiator was für (what x) is used in German; there is no corresponding repair initiator in the French corpus. Non-comprehension of turns or actions prompt repair initiations with wie (what) + repeat in German, and with hein (huh) + repeat in French. Where relevant, the study also discusses translation-related issues that concern both crosslinguistic similarity and interactional accomplishment.