Repetition, Again. Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Practices and Forms of Repeating

Abstract

We propose that repetition holds exciting new avenues for cross-disciplinary dia­logue between linguistics, literary and narrative studies, cultural studies, and media studies. ‘Repetition’ as a phenomenon is located on a scale that ranges from micro-levels of linguistic expression to the macro-level ‘grammar’ of narratives, including novels, films, and other media. Repetition is a key component of mean­ing-making in spoken and written contexts and allows for a nuanced re-configu­ration and cross-fertilization of research into linguistic practices and narrative forms and functions. In order to explore this cross-disciplinary potential, we ap­proach repetition through five conceptual frames: (1) tradition/transformation, (2) prediction, (3) seriality, (4) orality, and (5) social interaction. In exploring rep­etition through these touchpoints, we return time and again to what makes rep­etitions “meaningful re-enactments” (Brown) in dependence of context, and re­lating to questions of spatial and temporal scale.