The intersection of turn-taking and repair: the timing of other-initiations of repair in conversation

Repair initiations break the fast-transition rule, cluster around 700 ms, and part of what the delay is for is giving the other person room to fix it themselves.

Kendrick, K. H. (2015). The intersection of turn-taking and repair: the timing of other-initiations of repair in conversation. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 250.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00250

Checked

Against the abstract, 16 September 2026

Why it is on the list

Turn transitions usually happen inside a gap of about 100–300 ms — and Kendrick says plainly that this central tendency “hides a wealth of complex variation”, which is the caveat week 4 needs beside its own timeout model. His quantitative analysis of 169 other-initiations of repair finds the most frequent occur after gaps of around 700 ms, so the move that flags trouble is one of the turns that does not obey the fast rule. Within that, initiations which locate the trouble specifically come after shorter gaps than those that don’t, and the rare ones that correct an error arrive without delay — evidence beside week 5’s rule that the most specific initiator is the cheapest. The part week 4 uses most is what the extra time is for: among other things, to give the speaker of the problematic turn a chance to resolve it independently. A long gap is not only something a listener reads. It can be something a listener is deliberately giving you.