Trying the easiest solution first in other-initiation of repair

This article is an empirical investigation of how other-initiations of repair present a diagnosis of the trouble source and how addressees respond to this diagnosis. It is claimed that there is a preference for trying the least serious (complicated, sensitive) solution first, that is, for addressing problems as hearing problems over addressing them as problems of understanding or acceptability. One realization of this preference is that understanding and acceptability problems are often initially addressed as hearing problems, and only subsequently taken up as problems of understanding or acceptance. Another is that addressees of hearing repair initiations occasionally react by anticipating problems of understanding and acceptability and proceeding to repair these problems, for instance by offering explanations or modifications of their original utterance. The preference hierarchy can also explain how interactants deal with what has been up until now considered an especially vague or ambiguous type of repair initiation, namely open class repair initiators (such as “huh?”).