Concessive Repair and negotiation of affiliation in e-mail discourse

This study is an exploration into the use of Concessive Repair in computer-mediated interaction. Drawing on research by scholars working with spoken conversations, especially Couper-Kuhlen and Thompson (2005), we analyse how participants in written conversations self-correct or modify what they have said in the interest of successful communication. The study shows that a repair strategy familiar from spoken conversation is shared by participants in computer-mediated interaction, but differences between the two communication channels also emerge. These are mostly due to differences in sequentiality; in computer-mediated interaction, Concessive Repair occurs in only one location, i.e. in the same turn as the repairable. Concessive Repair is thus self-initiated and used pre-emptively by participants of online discussions before any trouble in communication has been made evident. We suggest that immediate self-repair of claims potentially causing disagreement shows writers taking the perspective of their fellow communicators and negotiating affiliation in a dialogical manner. Although monologically produced and self-initiated, Concessive Repair in computer-mediated interaction should thus be regarded as a highly other-oriented practice (Linell, 1998:87).