The interactional function of prosody in repair initiation: Pitch height and timing of va ‘what’ in Helsinki Swedish

•Prosody is used to distinguish between different types of repair with va ‘what’.•Va-tokens initiating normal repair are prosodically integrated into their context.•Va-tokens initiating affective repair are prosodically salient in their context.•The pitch and temporal placement of the va-turn are significant features.•Sequential and situational factors override prosody under some circumstances.

This paper analyzes the relation between the prosodic form and interactional function of va ‘what’ in Helsinki Swedish interactions. The method adopted was sequential and phonetic analysis. The results show that prosodic features can display whether a va is used to initiate normal repair or affective repair. Normal repair indicates a trouble in hearing or understanding, while affective repair simultaneously initiates repair and displays an affective stance. The relevant prosodic features are the pitch span and range, as well as the temporal placement of turns. Contrary to claims by previous studies, pitch contour does not distinguish between trouble types in Helsinki Swedish. Furthermore, when participants ascribe functions to va-tokens, the other significant factors are sequential context, ongoing activity, and situation. As the results demonstrate that one form can be used for several functions and several forms can have one function, this study suggests that there is a one-to-many and many-to-one relationship between the prosodic form and interactional function of the va-turns in Helsinki Swedish.