108 A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse
heading for an inappropriate target state and so they change tack. Brazil’s
four types are:
Second thoughts
The speaker rethinks what needs to be told before the increment can
achieve target state. Example (47) from Brazil (1997: 147) reprinted as (50)
provides an example:
(50) // he WAITed... // he THOUGHT he’d better WAIT //
N V... N V Ø N V V'The speaker breaks off the chain, rethinks the increment and signals that
he/she has changed tack by producing new NV elements. Brazil’s coding
appears to adequately capture the speaker’s change of direction.
Repetition of an element
The speaker repeats an element in order to gain planning time: (46) from
Brazil (1997: 148) reprinted as (51), demonstrates:
(51) // \ he GAMbled // and LOST... // \ LOST a FORtune //
N V & Ø V... V d NIn this example the... coding signals the speaker’s hesitation, but fails to
capture the redundant repetition. As the repetition of the V element does
not lead to a further intermediate state it is suggested that the coding be
made more transparent by enclosing the fi rst element of the repeated pair
within brackets, e.g.
(52) // \ he GAMbled // and LOST... // \ LOST a FORtune //
N V & Ø (V) V d NBacktracking
This category refers to instances where speakers break off the chain and back-
track in order to insert material which they feel they should have previously
included. Examples (53) and (54) from Brazil (1995: 212) demonstrate:
(53) she hadn’t locked the car... presumably she hadn’t
N V V' d N... a N V Ø