The term "repair" refers to strategies deployed by language users to resolve breakdowns in communication. In this study, I ask what strategies for conversational repair are deployed, and who takes responsibility for their execution, when a language is used in a small local signing ecology. I focus on signers from a single family within a…

This article discusses ways in which misunderstandings arise in Tactile Australian Sign Language (Tactile Auslan) and how they are resolved. Of particular interest are the similarities to and differences from the same processes in visually signed and spoken conversation. This article draws on detailed conversation analysis (CA) and demonstrates…

The conversations of 10 deaf children (ages 10-12) and their families at dinnertime were examined, and spoken and signed verbal exchanges were documented. Results showed that deaf children responded more loquaciously to questions than they did to statements or expressions of ideas, and the children were unsuccessful in continuing topics of…

Analysis of videotapes of the signed communication (mostly Signed Exact English) of five preschool children with deafness in a special class found their communications brief and focused on the here-and-now. Topics of conversation were similar to those of nondisabled children. Child-initiated utterances were longer and more semantically diverse…