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Abstract:
Other-initiated repair (OIR) is the fundamental back-up system that ensures the effectiveness of
human communication in its primordial niche, conversation. This article describes the interactional and
linguistic patterns involved in other-initiated repair in Yélî Dnye, the Papuan language of Rossel Island,
Papua New Guinea. The structure of the article is based on the conceptual set of distinctions described in
Chapters 1 and 2 of the special issue, and describes the major properties of the Rossel Island system, and
the ways in which OIR in this language both conforms to familiar European patterns and deviates from
those patterns. Rossel Island specialities include lack of a Wh-word open class repair initiator, and a heavy
reliance on visual signals that makes it possible both to initiate repair and confirm it non-verbally. But the
overall system conforms to universal expectations.
