In the example, Trump and Anderson are talking about the US army which becomes weaker. Here, Anderson initiates a trouble while Trumps resolves the
trouble by completing his utterance in the conversation. Completion sometimes occurs after the speaker is stopping hisher sentence for a while.
3. Factors Initiating Repair in Anderson Cooper 360: Donald Trump, CNN
Milwaukee Republican Presidential Town Hall Episode
In the talk show Anderson Cooper 360: Donald Trump, CNN Milwaukee Republican Presidential Town Hall Episode
, the researcher found 3 factors initiating repair including misheard utterance, misunderstanding, as well as
unclear intention. Besides, the researcher also found seven others factors initiating repair in the talk show.
a. Misheard utterance
Trouble in hearing information that is delivered by the participants is one of the factors which causes a repair completion should be done by the participants
in the conversation. Here the researcher found the datum that occurs because of this reason.
Anderson : Do you trust Muslims in America?
Trump : Do I what?
Anderson : Trust Muslims in America? datum 46
Because of an unheard utterance, Trump initiates a repair by asking the question
which is uttered by Anderson. Here, Anderson responds Trump‟s question by completing the utterance. The type of repair in this case is called
other-initiated self-repair.
A similar situation also found in the following example:
An audience is asking to Donald Trump related to the top three functions of the US government. However, because there is a misheard utterance, Trump
asks the audience to repeat his question by saying „say it again?‟ and the audience gives Trump the information that is needed. Here, Trump initiates a trouble while
his partner is the one who solves the problem in the conversation.
b. Misunderstanding
Exchanging information in a conversation needs a good understanding among the participants involved. However, sometimes there is a misunderstanding
happened in the conversation and caused the speakers initiate repair completion in the communication. The researcher found some examples of misunderstanding
factor in the talk show Anderson Cooper 360: Donald Trump, CNN Milwaukee Republican Presidential Town Hall Episode.
Anderson : Youve suggested you might -
Trump : Excuse me, excuse me I didnt suggest. datum 6
In this case, Anderson as the other is initiating a repair by saying „you’ve
suggested ‟. In order to answer Anderson‟s questions as well as to resolve the
repair, Trumps repeats the word „excuse me‟ twice to strongly denies Anderson‟s statement about a plan to press charges against the female reporter to prevent the
Questioner : Good evening, Mr. Trump. In your opinion, what
are the top three functions of the United States government?
Trump : Say it again?
Questioner : In your opinion, what are the top three functions of
the United States government? 56
misunderstanding regarding the matter. He avoids the audience to wrongly perceive the topic by saying recurrent constituents. Another example can be seen
in the explanation below. Anderson
: So you have no problem with Japan and South Korea having nuclear weapons?
Trump : At some point we have to say, you know what, were
better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, were better off, frankly, if South
Korea is going to start to protect itself, datum 25
Anderson asks Trump a question related to his opinion about Japan and South Korea for having nuclear weapons. Here, to prevent a misunderstanding
occurring in the conversation. Trump elaborates his answer by saying that Japan and South Korea need to take care themselves from North Korea. The main
function to initiate the repair is to avoid a misunderstanding in the conversation because of Anderson‟s question which is a little bit provocative. The following
example is still discussing about nuclear weapons problem. Anderson
: So you have no security concerns
… Trump
: Were using all of the money …
Anderson : about Japan or South Korea getting nuclear
weapons?
Trump : Anderson, when you see all of the money that our
country is spending on military, were not spending it for ourselves; were protecting all of these nations all
over the world. We cant afford to do it anymore. datum 31
The topic which is discussed in the conversation is still similar with the previous example. Here, Anderson asks Trump
again about Trump‟s opinion why he seems has no security concern on Japan and South Korea for having
nuclear weapons. Here, Trump elaborates his answer in order to prevent a
misunderstanding about this issue. He says that he seems agree with the policy because it will not burden the United States anymore. He tries to convince that
this issue will give the advantages to the country.
c. Unclear intention
