ARMINEN, ILKKA - On The Moral and Interactional Relevancy of Self-Repairs

On the moral and interactional relevancy of
self-repairs for life stories of members of

Alcoholics Anonymous*
ILKKA ARMINEN
Abstract
Repairs are an elaborate form of activity that serves s a resource for

members to display their sensitivity to a context, recipient design, and their
situationally occasioned identities. In the context of Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) meetings, Speakers also Orient themsehes in relation to the moral
Standards of A A when they design their talk. Occasionally they recognize
that something they have said, or implied, is 'wrong' or 'inappropriate', and
thereby seek to repair it. Thispaper studies moral work performed by three
types of self-repair which occur in the oral life stories of members of
Alcoholics Anonymous and in turns of talk at their meetings. It is shown
that each of these types has specific uses in the context of AA. 'Corrective
formulations are used t o repair the problematic implications of an earlier
Stretch oftalk. They are pari ofimpression management through which A A
members avoid imposing their own moral Standards upon others. Secondly,
ordinary word replacement repairs display, in some cases, a moral orienta-
tion. A A members hearably design their talk in ways which makc the A A's
program of recovery relevant to themsehes. Finally, a previously unde-
scribed type of repair is analyzed. In this case, members substitute 'more
factual descriptions for 'more subjective' ones. Through thispractice, mem-
bers invoke emotional states that recipients can 'share' and identify with. As
a whole, self-repairs are an essential resource for members to display their
orientation to the AA context, and thereby to mutualhelp.
Keywords: self-repair; storytelling; Alcoholics Anonymous; mutual help;

moral work; ethnomethodological conversation analysis of
monological talk.
This study analyzes three types of self-repair which occur in the oral life
stories of members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and in turns of talk
0165-4888/96/0016-0449 Text 16(4) (1996), pp. 449-480

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450 Ilkka Arminen
at their meetings. In all these self-repairs, the trouble source is in some

way related to either the set of beliefs of AA or its practices. In other
words, occasionally AA members recognize that something they have
said, or implied, is 'wrong' or 'inappropriate' in terms of the moral
Standards relevant to AA, and thereby seek to repair it. As a contextually
sensitive machinery, repair allows members to reformulate the infelicitous
Stretch of talk, or its implications. Correspondingly, the AA members'
identities become reformulated with the help of repairs and of other
members' methods. The aim of this study, then, is to explicate the
interactional and moral work towards which members are oriented when
they repair their expressions so s to be more in line with what is in their
opinion appropriate for these occasions.
The original impetus for this study was given by Gail Jefferson's (1974)
study of error correction s an interactional resource. In her article she
proposed
that the error correction format (and other formats for events other than error)
can be used to invoke alternatives to some current formulation of seif and
other (s), Situation and relationship, and thereby serve s a resource for negotiating
and perhaps reformulating a current set of identities. (Jefferson, 1974: 181)
She suggests that repair, among other interactional practices, may be an

elaborate activity, serving s a resource for members to display their
sensitivity to a context, recipient design, and their attunement to situation-
ally occasioned identities. In that respect, repairs are a window of order
that makes perspicuous members' fine-grained work in designing their
talk, in selecting lexical items and activities in the face of recipients,
events and their expectations.
The role of repair in storytelling has been noted s early s 1977, in
the study by Schegloff, Jefferson and Sacks (1977: 380), who stated that
a co-participant 'may use other-correction of the teller s a bid, or
subsequently s a vehicle, for being a co-teller of the storymaking, with
the initial teller, a "team"'. In this fashion, they acknowledged the
salience of repair for storytelling s a device for negotiating the role of
the teller, or more generally the authorship (see also Lerner, 1992). In
the AA context, there is generally no negotiation about the role of the
tellership of each autobiographical story, but self-repair may be used to
invoke versions of life that are 'authorizable', legitimate versions for an
AA member. Thus, AA members invoke and make relevant AA's beliefs
in the telling of their own story; a processs that is analyzable using
Goffman's notion of 'footing' or 'production format', i.e., how the
Speaker relates him- or herseif to the principal and to the author (source)
of the story (Goffman, 1981; Levinson, 1988; Clayman, 1992). In AA

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Self-repairs in life stories 451
stories, the Storytellers may use devices like self-repairs to mark the AA
Community s being the source of ideas and sentiments. In all, repair can
be seen s a sensitive machinery via which members not only render their
sense of AA's beliefs but may also reconstruct their identities.
Generally, the social and moral relevancy of repairs is related to their
reflexive, context-renewing nature. Repairs are a type of activity whereby
the interactants Orient themselves to, and correct all sort of troubles and
difficulties in uttering, hearing and understanding talk (Jefferson, 1974,
1987, 1995; Schegloff et al., 1977; Schegloff, 1979, 1987, 1992; Levinson,
1983). 'Repair' covers a broader rnge of activities than mere correction
of errors. A repairable item of talk does not necessarily include any sort
of an error; it is the repair itself that characterizes some earlier Stretch
of talk s being repairable. Repairs thus embody the reflexive nature of
talk-in-interaction. They are not only done in a context, but also s the
context. That is, they both sustain and shape the context they Orient
themselves to, and are part of. Thus, repairs are used to clarify misunder-
standings (Wootton, 1994), to build sequential connections (Drew, 1995),
and to mend breakdowns of intersubjectivity (Schegloff, 1992). In all,
repairs are an essential interactional resource for members working to
maintain and manage intersubjective understandings.
Occasionally repairs mend social and moral transgressions overtly,
when the correction has been occasioned by the socially and morally
inauspicious nature of talk, or its sequential implications. As such, the
trouble sources may relate to an infinite variety of issues, like the refer-
ences of words, Intonation, syntactical well-formedness, or the activity
type or sequential placement of a turn, and so on. In many (and maybe
in all) cases, recipients and Speakers may, however, draw normative and
moral infcrcnccs from the production of the inappropriate item or action.
In these cases repairs also gain social and moral relevancy. Jefferson
(1995), for instance, has a neat collection of cases in which parties
themselves have named a word selection error a Freudian slip, thereby
suggesting something hidden has been revealed. In numerous cases the
occurrence of a repairable element is inferentially rieh.
In one respect, the materials used in this study reflect and also reflex-
ively constitute the specific nature of AA fellowship. Both sets of mater-
ials, the 37 orally recounted life stories (of on average a bit less than an
hour each) and the 11 hours of AA meeting talk, consist solely of
monological talk.1 One generally recognized feature of AA meetings is
that their turn-taking is always organized formally around a series of
personal monologues from whose collaborative production the recipients
withdraw (Arminen, 1994; Mkel et al., in press; see also earlier ethno-
graphic accountsMaxwell, 1984; Rudy, 1986; Denzin, 1987). These

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452 Ilkka Arminen
features are not discussed here, but note that the order of turn taking,
far from being simply a technical arrangement or an exterior condition,
is a social and moral fact itself, which bears on the relations between
members, the organization of experiences, and the mutuality of help s
an achievement (Arminen, in press). Naturally, the monological form of
these materials also has some relevance for this study. First of all, all the
instances of repair are self-repairs. The turn-taking arrangements that
exclude conversational close ordering preclude other-corrections.
Moreover, note that these repairs are also embedded in the situated
practices of AA, in terms of both their formal and their inferential
properties.
The article proceeds from cases in which the moral work is (more)
explicit, to implicit ones. That is, occasionally Speakers themselves explic-
itly point to the morally reprehensible nature of their activity or its
implications. In these cases members' moral work is visible on the surface
of interaction. As Drew (1993) has pointed out, one specific environment
for 'explicit' moral work is that of complaints about the behavior of
others. In the AA context, the explicit cases also concern reprovable
issues, but here the issue is a speaker's own infelicitous action, or an
action that recipients could have heard s being infelicitous. Hence, in
these cases, Speakers are involved in impression management: they pro-
duce 'corrective formulations' to repair unfortunate impressions that
could have been created by the infelicitous action. In implicit cases the
moral work is embedded in repairs. The distinction between explicit and
implicit cases also fits with a distinction between trouble sources (see
Schegloff, 1987). In the first type, what is repairable is the sequential
import of an action, a turn, or a segment s a whole (e.g., didn't mean
to criticize you'), whereas in implicit cases the trouble source is the
intended referent of some word or expression (e.g., need- want to ...').
I start the analysis of implicit cases with a general class of word replace-
ment repairs, in which the repair conveys a distinction that has moral
relevancy for the identity work in AA. In these cases members display
their orientation to 'working the AA program' through repairs. I then
move to a more specific class of repairs, in which members substitute
'more factual' descriptions for 'more subjective' ones. This seems to be
a previously undescribed type of repair, which probably is not limited to
AA stories. Through this practice Speakers invoke emotional states, but
also display an orientation to social norms concerning the actions
recounted. The invocation of emotions is by no means specific to AA
storytelling, but it can be supposed that in this context emotions are
mutually recognizable, and that they establish a common ground for

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identity work, and further convey a sense of authenticity to the

narrated stories.
Impression management with the help of corrective formulations
In talk-in-interation, adjacent turns provide a major resource for the

building and display of an intersubjective understanding of the state of
talk and action. Every following turn provides and makes publicly avail-
able, at least to some degree, the (second) Speaker's analysis and apprecia-
tion of the preceding turn. This adjacent positioning also provides a
correction mechanism for dealing with misunderstandings. The third turn
Option allows the (first) Speaker to initiate a correction if the second turn
has displayed a misunderstanding (from the first speaker's point of view).
These are called 'repairs after next turn'. In extract l, Dan (the therapist)
offers a characterization of a member of the group therapy session (AI),
which another member (Roger) hears s a critique.2
Extract l (Schegloff 1992: 1307)

Dan: ... See AI tends, it seems, to pull in one or two individuals on
his side (there). This is pari of bis power drive, see. He's gotta
pull in, he can't quite do it on his own. Yet.
AI: W'l-
Roger: Well so do I.
Dan: Yeah. ' not criticizing, I mean we'll just uh =
Roger: [_Oh you wanna talk about him.
Dan: = look, let's just talk.
Roger: Alright.
After the acceptance component in which Dan agrees with Roger's

expressed solidarity with AI, Dan produces a corrective formulation
saying that he was not criticizing, rather he just meant to open the
discussion. The following corrective formulations from the turns of talk
at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings differ from the case above in that
they are not occasioned by previous turn (s) but by a self-monitoring of
talk. In extract 2, after the conventional turn opening of the monological
turn, Kalervo links his talk to the theme of the meeting, 'membership in
AA', by answering the chairperson's question: 'What are AA members
like?' with his own version of the issue. Subsequently he makes a
corrective formulation.

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454 Ilkka Arminen
Extract 23
1 K: .hhh I am Kalervo and an alcoholic ((knock)) (.) and er:m,
u:h (.)
2 I am a member of Vuori-group and (.) so I am an AA member.
3 .h If .hhh |Saku asked that what an AA-AA member is like
4 so it's like thirs just here and fnow. Suffered a lot of experienced a
5 bit of u:h life in skidrow .hh been a while in jail, =
6-* > well they say it isn't < ne:cessary, but in my case it was
7-> userful, .hh and everything eise in between (.) and then I
8 also avow to being an alcoholic. .hhh
1 K: .hhh Min len Kalervo ja alkoholisti ((knock)) (.) ja

I am Kalervo and an alcoholic and
mota, yhm (.)
well
2 min len (.) vuoriryhmn jsen ja (.) min len
I am member-of-Vuori-group and I am
samalla A A :n jsen.
simultaneously member-of-AA
3 .h Jos .hhh \Saku kysy ett, (.) minklainen on AA-AA:n jsen
If Saku asked that what-kind-of is AA member
4 nun se on t'.mm'.nen just tss ]nyt. Paljon krsiny vhn
so it is this-kind just here now A-lot suffered a-little
kokenu yyh
experienced
5 laitapuolen elm .hh ollu pikkusen linnassa, =
skidrow life have-been a-bit in-jail
6- >nose nyt ei kuulemma ole<vltt:mtnt, mutta minun
it now neg. have-heard is necessary but in-my
kohdalla se oli
case it was
7-> tar.peellista, .hh kaikkee muuta vhn silt vlit (.)ja
needful everything eise a-bit in between and
sitt min
thenl
8 viel tunnustaudun olevani alkoholisti. .hhh
also avow being an-alcoholic
After the third characteristic of an AA member 'been a while in jail'

(line 5), Kalervo latches a particle 'well' (no), thereby rushing to initiate
a repair 'they say it isn't necessary' (line 6), which proceeds to reject the

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implications of the trouble source, 'been a while in jail'. He then produces

the correction proper 'but in my case it was useful' (lines 6-7), which
operates s an 'explanation' (Schegloff, 1992: 1312-1313). Kalervo states
that for him (and for him only) jail was useful (needful) for getting into
AA, i.e., a prison experience taught him to realize that AA might be a
good idea. As a whole, through his repair Kalervo conveys an idea that
even if prison was a useful experience for him, he does not want to
suggest that it would be useful, let alone necessary, for all AA members.
Looking at the next extract, the organizational regularity of this type
of repair can be noted. Extract 3 Starts in the middle of Markku's turn,
in which he teils how participating in a trip with other AA members has
liberated him from his feelings of inferiority.
Extract 3
1 .mth I recall some:y- some years ago hhh when I got here,
2 to this AA-community and, (1.5) my- I was feeling very stro-
uh strongly
3 inferior and (1.0) and er:m u:h (1.0) I belittled myself and
4 (0.8) I was ashamed of my past and (l .0) my deeds and (l .0) < all
5 these things and >. (0.8) 11 was on that trip and (1.6) I noticed
that
6 (0.8) .mth these kind- (.) these kind of thoughts (.) have vanished
7 from my mind (.) quite largely and. (2.0) u::h I noticed that
maybe I
8 can = that Fve become a bit healthier in this respect. (0.5)
9 .hhh I(.hh) n(.hhh)oticed tha(.hh)t Fve <coimple:tely > in vain
belittled
10 myself, (1.0) when I was watching the group around, that Fve
-* completely> <fully> in vain, (1.0) > s o < u:h-I-I::-
12-> > this doesn't mean that I would criticize, <
13-> > but I believe that Fve like < uu:h-#t#- in some way myself
14-> e:rm (1.0) begun to change, =my wife said today that, (0.3) .mth
15 she agrees with you, (0.3) th-er:m @you don't quite trust
yourself,@
.mth M muistan muutamav-muutamia vuosia sitten hhh kun m

I recall some- some years ago when I
tulin tnne,
came here

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456 Ilkka Arminen
2 thn AA-yhteissn ja, (1.5) mul-m olin hyvin voi-yyh

this AA-community and my- I had very str-
voimakkaasti
strongly
3 alemmuudentuntoinen ja (l .0) ja tuota yhm (l .0) yhttelin
feeling-inferior and and well belittled
itsenija
myself and
4 (0.8) hpesin menneisyyttni ja (1.0) tekojani j a ( l . O )
ashamed of my-past and my-deeds and
<kaikkia
all
5 tmmsi ja>. (0.8) \Ma olin tuolla reissullaja (1.6)
this-kind and I was in-that trip and
huomasin ett
noticed that
6 (0.8) .mth mulla on ppistunu tmmset- (.) tmmset
I have disappeared these-kind these-kind
ajatukset (.)
of thoughts
7 mielest (.) aika pitkltija. (2.0) uuuh Huomasin ett m
from-mind quite largely and I-noticed that I
e'.hk saatan =
maybe can
8 ett m oon tervehtynyt hieman tll alueella. (0.5)
that I have become-healthy a-bit in-this area
9 .hhh M(.hh) h(.hhti)uomasin et(.hh)t m oon <a\i:van>
I noticed that I have completely
turhaan vheksyny
in-vain belittled
10 itseni, (1.0) kun m katselin sit joukkoa ymprill, ett
myself when I was-watching that group around that
m oon
I have
11- <aivan> <ihan> turhaan, (1.0) >siis< yhm-m-m-
completely entirely in-vain so I
12 >t ei tarkoita sit ett m arvostelisin
this does-not-mean that that I would-criticize
13- > mut m uskoisin ett m oon niinku < yyh-#t#- jollakin
but I would-believe that I have like in-some
tavalla itse
way myself

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14-> tuota (1.0) ruvennu muuttuu, mun vaimoni sanoi tn

well begun to-change my wife said today
ett, (0.3) .mth
that
15 hn yhtyy sinuun, (0.3) et-tota @s et oikein luota
she agrees with-you that-well you neg. quite trust
itsees,@
yourself
After Markku has started to state, for a second time, that he has belittled
himself in vain (lines 10-11), he leaves the utterance unfinished, pauses
and produces an explicatory particle 'so' (min), followed with 6uh' and
the repeated T that is cut off (line 11). Again the repair initiation is
followed with the rejection component 'this does not mean that I would
criticize' (line 12), and the correction proper 'but I believe that I have
... begun to change' (lines 13-14). Here again, the repair concerns the
implications of prior segment. Just prior to the unfinished utterance,
Markku says that he was watching the group around him (line 10). This
explication of the context of his realization makes bis Statement vulnera-
ble to be heard s a comparative judgement about the inferiority of his
fellow members, i.e., while he was watching others he noticed that he
had belittled himself in vain.4 Accordingly, his corrective formulation
counters exactly this line of hearing. He points out that he is not assessing
others critically but that he himself has started to develop.
In the following extract, however, the repair is somewhat differently
organized. The extract is from Marianne's life story, and in this segment
she evaluates the time when she was in a lyceum (high school). She feels
that in many respects that was a fine period in her life.
Extract 4
1 Transfer to the all-girl lyceum I got in with great, (0.5) great grad-
2 or they had entrance exams you needed very high scores
3 when I got in so.0 (1.6) so it was a goo:d pe:riod (1.8)
4 in my Hfe in many ways |wa:ys, > above all cause < (0.3) > I
understand
5 today < that it wasn't s rootless s the beginning (1.0)
6-> Uh I suppose I wasn't the only(h) (.) rootless hhh
7-> child (.) teenager (0.3) growin'-up (.) after the war, (1.5)
8-> > And these truly aren't accusations, these are Statements
9- about my course of life < (0.8)

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458 Ilkka Arminen
10- and about the points of contact it has with life today
11- and (.) uh (0.5) and what's been in-between (.)
1 Siirtyminen sitte tyttlyseoon psin hyvin, (0.5) hyvin

Transfer then to-girl-lyceum I-got very very
arvosa-
good grad-
2 tai sinnehn pyrittiin ni oli erittin korkeet
or to-there(determ) one-applied so was extremely high
pisteet,
scores
3 ku m psin sinne ni (1.6) ni se oli hy.v ai'.kaa (1.8)
when I got there so so it was good time
4 elmssni monella ]ta:valla9 >ennenkaikkeajuuri< (0.3)
in-my-life many respects foremost just >
ymmrrn
I-understand
5 sen tn pivn< ett se ei ollu nun juuretonta ku se
it this day that it was-not so rootless s the
alku(l.O)
start
6-> No enp Hene ainut(h) (.)juureton hhh
(neg) I-am(potent) only rootless
7-> sodanjlkeen (.) kasvanut (0.3) lapsi (.) ja nuori, (1.5)
war after grown-up child and young
8- >Ja n ei tosiaan o syytksi, vaan n on
And these (neg) truly are accusations but these are
ioteamuksia,
Statements
9-> ett kuinka mun elmnkaari on me:nty< (0.8)
that how my course-of-life is gone
10 ja mit sill on niinku nin yhtymkohtia tmn pivn
and what that has like this-way connections in-this day's
elms
life
11- ja (.) ymh (Q.5)ja mit tss ylill on sitten ollut (.)
and and what this in-between has then been
After having said that it (i.e., her life while she was at the lyceum) was
not s rootless s in the beginning, Marianne initiates a repair with 'uh'
(no) in line,6. In contrast to the previous extracts, Marianne proceeds to
proffer a disclaimer immediately following the initiation: suppose I

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wasn't the only rootless child and teenager growing up after the war'
(lines 6-7). Subsequently, however, she provides another qualification,
'and these truly aren't accusations' (line 8), and the correction proper,
'these are Statements about my course of life ...' (lines 8-11). The fact
that she did not treat the disclaimer in line 6 s being a sufficient
correction in itself, provides us with evidence that she was orienting her
speech toward a specific type of action that we have termed 'corrective
formulation'. By adding the qualification that rejects possible implications
and then producing the correction proper, Marianne displays that she is
not merely correcting a troublesome item in her talk, but that she is
directing the recipients to acknowledge the correct activity type of her
action. Through the corrective formulation s a whole, she expresses the
fact that she was not criticizing, but rather stating matters of fact about
her past life. In all, this case offers us good grounds to see 'corrective
formulations' s a specific type of action, one which, further, is not a
theoretical construct, but a practical accomplishment toward which
members are oriented.
Additionally, we may notice that the first correction in line 6 is linked
with the specific nature of the trouble source. Her utterance understand
today that it wasn't s rootless s the beginning' is primarily (or explicitly)
a favorable assessment of her teenage life, but on the other hand it also
provides an inferential basis for a negative judgement concerning her
childhood (i.e., the rootlessness of her childhood). Her first correction,
suppose I wasn't the only rootless child ...', then, eifectively makes
publicly available those implications of the earlier (troublesome) utter-
ance. The corrective formulation then repairs the implications made
public by the first correction. Extract 4 shows that the speaker's fine-
grained monitoring process does not only tackle the surface of talk but
also controls its inferential properties.5
All the extracts above display the Speakers' on-going monitoring of
their talk for any impressions arising from it that may be unwanted and
potentially troublesome, and hence repairable. The corrective formula-
tions, further, demonstrate Speakers' sensitivity to context and recipient
design. As will be seen, all the repairs discussed this far (extracts 2 to 4)
are also connected in some way to the set of beliefs or norms that AA
proffers. In this manner, the corrective formulations are also a way in
which the Speaker makes AA and its expectancies locally relevant in situ.
The corrective moral work is perhaps most overt in extract 4, in which
Marianne states that she is not accusing anybody about the conditions
of her childhood, which can be interpreted s her saying that she is not
blaming anybody for what she has become, i.e., an alcoholic. Hence, the
corrective formulation here invokes AA's 'voluntaristic ethos', according

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460 Ilkka Arminen
to which each member has to admit their personal problems and to take
responsibility for recovery. Indeed, the final part of Marianne's corrective
formulation, 'these are Statements about my course of life and about the
points of contact it has with life today and what has been in between',
is an allusion to the definition of AA life stories: Our stories disclose in
a general way what we used to be, what happened, and what we are
now' (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1976: 6l).6 Through this allusion,
Marianne frames her story s an AA life story, and thereby displays the
relevancy of AA's beliefs and norms for her talk. This, naturally, includes
some moral work, in this case when Marianne refrains from accusing
others and thereby takes the brden of responsibility on her own
shoulders.
The moral work in extracts 2 and 3 is parallel to that in the case above.
In extract 2, Kalervo corrects the implication that he would see a prison
experience s necessary for AA membership. In this way, he conveys his
respect for the integrity of other members by not imposing his own
Standards on them. In a similar mode, Markku corrects the deprecatory
and critical implications of his saying that he has, in vain, belittled himself
(in comparison to others). Here the wording of ethis doesn't mean that
I would criticize' indicates the speaker's adherence to the Standard of
preserving the moral integrity of others, and the final part of his formula-
tion believe that I have ... begun to change' points the finger of moral
responsibility at himself. To summarize, these extracts exhibit moral work
in which AA members assign moral liability to themselves, and avoid
imposing normative Standards on others. Of course, we cannot conclude
that these moral imperatives are unique to AA; traces of them can
obviously be found in many arenas of interaction, and in ordinary conver-
sation. But the pervasiveness of these concerns secms to be at least
characteristic if not distinctive of AA. For example, in the AA context
unlike in ordinary conversation, it is very uncommon to find explicit,
accountable moral condemnations of others' behavior (cf. Drew, 1993).
Secondly, the format of these corrective formulations is reflexively tied
to the distinct formal turn-taking organization of AA meetings, which,
for its part, is both a methodical solution aimed at maintaining the
specific moral ethos of AA, and also a part of that ethos (Arminen,
1994). The corrective formulations shown above are produced s part
of, and for, lengthy 'monologicaF turns in which each Speaker is, in turn,
the solely responsible narrator of her or his experiences, s the conversa-
tional close ordering is suspended. These corrective formulations, which
are not occasioned by others' explicit verbal responses, also demonstrate
their producers' orientation to this organization of turn-taking in AA.
That.is, these corrective formulations solve 'embedded misunderstand-

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ings', since the Suspension of close ordering makes it practically impos-

sible for recipients to indicate these misunderstandings. In this sense,
corrective formulations are anticipatory devices that allow AA members
to maintain international arrangements that, for their part, occasion
these devices.
Finally, the production of corrective formulations seems to be a distinct
and relatively clearly bounded practice. We can find related, but distinct,
practices through which Speakers correct unfavorable implications of
their talk. One possible practice is the production of 'rejective formula-
tions', without any 'exposed' repairs (cf. Jefferson, 1987). For example,
in the next extract, Tapsa is speaking about the conditions of his child-
hood family. After his account he rejects a possible implication of his
account.
Extract 5
1 I was born into a: (0.3) working- hh class family (1.2) in which
my father
2 was .kch a factory worker (3.0) and (0.5) that of course was
3 (.) how we lived (0.5) There wasn't much money at all(h) (0.6)
4-> but of course that .kch has nothing to do (0.8) with |my: disease
5 (.) And, of course, I was growing up in the middle of all that, u:h
6 up to age of ten, of which I recall very little. My mother ...
1 M len syntynyt sellases (0.3) tylis- hh perheess (1.2)

I am born in-such-a working-class-family
jossa isni
in-which my-father
2 oli .kch tehtaantylinen (3.0) ja (0.5) sen mukaan sitten tietysti
was factory-worker and according to that of-course
oli
was
3 (.) olosuhteetkin (0.5) Toimeentulo oli hyvin niukkaa(h) (0.6)
conditions-of-living Income was very scarce
4-> mutta se nyt ei .kch tietenkn vaikuta thn (0.8) \mi\nun
but it now does-not of-course impact to-this my
sairauteeni
disease
5 (.) Ja minkasvoin siin sitten tietysti mukana, eh: tonne
And I grew-up there then naturally with to-that
kymmeneen
ten

Authenticated
462 Ilkka Arminen
6 ikvuoteen asti, jolta ajalta m muistan hyvin vhn.

-years up to from-which time I recall very little
Mun iti...
My mother
In line 4, Tapsa denies or disclaims that the conditions of his childhood

and his family's way of life would have caused or had an impact on his
disease, i.e., alcoholism. This formulation suggests that he did not mean
the account to be an explanation. Hence, here again the Speaker displays
that he does not want to avoid his own moral responsibility for his
disease. On the face of it, this extract seems to exhibit a practice similar
to the previous ones, but one should also notice that here the 'rejective
formulation' is neither preceded by a repair initiation, nor followed by a
correction proper. In extract 5, the Speaker denies an infelicitous implica-
tion of his talk, but does not mark any specifiable aspect or utterance of
his talk s repairable. Consequently, the Speaker is concerned with the
implications of his talk, not with its repairability. In this case, Tapsa
Orients himself to the possibility that some unintended inferences can be
drawn from his talk, but he does not indicate any aspect or item of his
talk s faulty. The Speaker Stands wholly behind his talk, but he begs
recipients to understand him the way he means himself to be understood.
This practice is related to, but distinct from, corrective formulations.
Both these techniques concern problematic implications of talk, but
corrective formulations also mark some segment of talk s being an
inappropriate transgression in need of corrective work.
To conclude, the production of corrective formulations is a discernible
technique whereby members Orient themselves toward, and amend some
troublesome implications of, a segment of talk. They and associated
techniques may have moral relevance s they can be used to invoke
alternative formulations sensitive to the context, the recipients, and to
ongoing activity. In the context of AA, corrective formulations also
display AA's ethos, both by demonstrating Speakers' relentless orientation
to the production format, where they are the solely responsible authors
of their experiences, and to the normative framework of voluntaristic
admission of individual moral liability and the normative integrity of
others.
Invoking the moral of AA with repairs
In the previous section we looked at cases in which members were

involved in explicit moral work when they corrected implications and

Authenticated
impressions created by some segment of their turn of talk. Besides these

explicitly addressed moral concerns we can find plenty of instances of
implicit moral work in the context of AA (just s we could probably
find elsewhere). We begin with a common type of word-replacement
repair (see, for instance, Schegloff et al., 1977: 370), which in these cases,
however, conveys distinctions that are morally relevant to AA members.
Unlike the earlier extracts, these cases are implicit; that is, the Speakers
themselves do not explicitly address the moral nature of their activity. In
extract 6, Marja gives an account of a phase of her life where she was
living with a partner who had had alcohol problems but at the time
abstained from alcohol.
Extract 6
1 And then on the side I was like (.) I was also (0.4)
2 also abstaining, = in a way this peirson kept me sober
3- cause he just couldn't- (1.0) didn't want to drink himself,
4 and didn't approve of me drinkin either. (.)
5 And I myself, I was so hr- horribly dependent on him,
6 I considered him s some sort of father-figure and .hhh
1 Ja m sitte siin niinku sivussa olin (.) olin sitte kans (0.4)
And I then there like on-side I-was I-was then also
2 kans selvin pin, == tavallaan t i:hminen piti mua raittiina
also with-sober-head in-a-way this person kept me sober
3-> koska se ei niinku voinu- (1.0) halunnu itse juoda,
because it (neg) like could-not want-not seif drink
4 eik myskn hyvksyny sit, ett minjuon. (.)
and (neg) either approve it that I drink
5 Ja m sitte, m olin hir- hirvittvn riippuvainen siit
And I then I was horribly dependent on-it
6 m pidin sit jonain ishahmona ja .hhh
I considered it some father-figure and
In line 3, Marja produces a self-repair 'he just couldn't- (1.0) didn't want
to drink himself, which is clearly marked with a cut-off and a pause
after the repairable, after which its replacement follows. The repair con-
veys a distinction between 'being unable to drink', and 'being unwilling
to drink'. We can note that 'inability' and 'unwillingness' characterize
different reasons for abstaining. 'Unwillingness' points towards a deliber-
ate decision to not do something, whereas 'inability' indicates that a

Authenticated
464 Ilkka Arminen
person is not capable of some act, irrespective of that person's own

deliberation. Thus, the repair replaces necessity with optionality, which
specifically displays that the abstention was deliberate. At this point, we
can start to see the moral relevance of this repair. It specifies the action
in question s voluntary, in contrast to non-volitional acts that do not
involve personal choice. Through this repair, Marja has made relevant a
distinction between being abstinent because of an exterior compulsion,
and through voluntary choice. This portrayal of abstinence s potentially
arising from free choice has strong moral and ethical implications. By
invoking a dimension of 'deliberateness', the Speaker is engaged in moral
work that constructs the action in question in moral terms that include
an element of personal choice. We can thus conclude here that the Speaker
effectively uses a repair to build a description of abstinence that consti-
tutes it s a moral object.
As far fetched s this may sound, in all its simplicity, this extract
touches upon some of the deepest and most intriguing aspects of the AA
set of beliefs. The extract invokes two alternative, and partly exclusive,
views on abstinence. The troublesome view displays it s an externally
imposed necessity: 'Due to his addiction he can't drink'; the alternative
s a voluntary choice and an achievement: 'He doesn't want to drink
because of his addiction'. Through this repair the Speaker constructs the
latter view s the 'right' or 'preferred' one, thus displaying an orientation
toward abstinence s a moral object, thereby showing that, for AA
members, abstinence is not an externally imposed necessity, but a matter
of personal choice and an achievement.7 When we think about this social
construction of the meaning of abstinence, I think we can see its pragmatic
significance. Tf abstinence were to be presented s a necessity, it would
provoke a challenge; but s a personal, moral choice it is a matter of an
individual deliberation, and there is no exterior authority to be debated.
Finally, it should be noted that this 'voluntaristic ethos' is not Marja's
idiosyncratic Statement, but rather it echoes the central tenets of AA,
starting from the third tradition of AA: 'the only requirement of AA
membership is a desire to stop drinking' (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1952),
which sets up the basis for AA's voluntaristic ethos. Through its volunta-
rism, AA succeeds in presenting sobriety s a free choice, which is much
more tempting than compulsion. As straightforward s the repair in (6)
is, it recapitulates an essential AA idea of the 'wilful' and 'voluntary'
nature of recovery in the AA program.
In the next extract, some parallel moral work is again accomplished
with a repair, which is here slightly more complicated. In (7), Marianne
accounts for what she has gained from AA.

Authenticated
Extracl 7
1 That for me just these (.) sober experiences have been so classy,
2 that I've certainly stuck to my group or (.)
3 or searched for my power from where, you're supposed to get it,
4 cause (.) cause erm (1.0) case erm 1-like,
5 *Fve been given this-this great (.) great life and (0.3) in that
6 sense great, that-tha' erm, (0.3) I've really begun to find the-
1 the me myself in there and the tgood jme,* the ok adult me. (0.8)
8-> And escaped all, (0.5) of course the avoidance of drink-
9-+ drinking is a vital necessity for me (1.0) but I've also
10- escaped all these (0.3) guilt-uh-grown out of this
11- unnecessary load of guilt, the sort of bitterness,
12 that I can see in my own mother today (0.4) and (.)
1 Ett muH on nimenomaan n (.) rait tut kokemukset ollu sit

That I have particularly these sober experiences had that
luokkaa,
class
2 ett m oon taatusti pysyny omassa porukassa eil (.)
that I have certainly stayed in-my-own group so
3 eli hakenu sen voimani sielt, mist se kuuluu hakee,
so searched that my-power there where it is-supposed to-get
4 koska (.) koska tota (1.0) koska tota ni-niin,
cause cause erm cause 1-like
5 *oon thn-thn hienoon (.) hienoon elmn pssy ja (0.3)
I-ve-been this-this great great life got and
sill
in-that
6 lailla hienoon, ett-ett tota, (0.3) on todella alkanu lytyy se-
way great that erm it-is really begun to-find the
7 se min itse sielt ja se \hyva mi\n* ihan ok aikuinen
the me seif in-there and it good me fully ok adult
min. (0.8)
me
8> Ja vlttyny kaikelta, (0.5) tietyst juoming-
And escaped everything of-course drink-
9- juomisen vlttminen on muH elinehto (1.0) mutta myskin
drinking avoidance is for-me condition-of-life but also
10- vlttyny kaikilta nilt (0.3) syylli-ymh-kasvanu ulos nist
escaped all these guilt grown out of-these

Authenticated
466 Ilkka Arminen
11 - turhien syyllisyyksien kantamisista, katkeruuksista.

unnecessary guilt burdens bitterness
12 joita m nen omassa idissni tn pivn (0.4) 70 (.)
which I see in-my-own mother this day and
Altogether, the repair is composed of four successive tries; the trouble

source and the three successive attempts at repair (lines 8 to II). 8 The
last two tries, in lines 9 to 11, are regressive in that they reach back to
the trouble source, whereas the first repair attempts to progress away
from the repairable (lines 8 and 9). The regressivity of the third try 'but
Fve also escaped all these guilt' (lines 10 and 11) makes it possible for
us to concentrate on the analysis of the relation between the third and
the final try (the repair proper) that eventually accomplishes the repair.9
Both the first and the third try include the expression 'escaped all (guilt)',
which the fourth try replaces with 'grown out of unnecessary (guilt)'.
(The second try is a defensive, explicatory digression that we bracket
from the analysis.) In this fashion the repair provides two alternative
versions of the way in which AA has changed the speaker's relation to
guilt. The former characterization describes one's relation to guilt in
exclusive terms; something one has escaped is something one has never
met.10 In contrast, the figurative expression 'growing' implies an inclusive,
temporal relation to something a person has been (or has had) but only
later has been able to get away from through an improvement.11 Secondly,
the replacement of the 'all these (guilt)' with 'this unnecessary (guilt)'
further underlines this inclusiveness of the latter Version. Consequently,
the repair proposes two different ways to deal with guilt. The former one
annihilates and undoes the guilt; the latter one affirms and constitutes it
s an object of self-improvement, of which one can never become com-
pletely free. In this respect, the moral work embedded in this repair is
parallel to the previous case. In both cases, the Speakers render the object
of discourse ('abstinence', 'guilt') s a moral object, and deny the con-
struction of these objects in 'amoral' terms of 'necessity' or 'chance'.
Further, s in the previous case, the moral work is not a speaker's
idiosyncratic invention, rather it invokes and makes locally relevant the
program of AA. AA's program of recovery, with its twelve Steps, asks
members to engage in a fearless moral inventory, make amends to persons
harmed, and seek improvement of consciousness, among other things
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 1952). Again in this case, the repair is a device
to make an aspect of AA's program of recovery, in this case the constitu-
tion of guilt s a moral object of self-improvement work, locally relevant.
The moral work in the last extract of this section seems to hint at a
slightly different direction. The example is an extension of extract 2, in

Authenticated
which Kalervo is listing what he thinks are the characteristics of AA

members.
Extract 8
1 .h If .hhh |Saku asked that what an AA- AA-member is like
2 so it's H:ke thi:s just here and |now. Suffered a lot experienced a
3 little uuh life in skidrow .hh been a while in jail, =
4 > well they st itsn't < necessa:ry, but in my case it was
5 use:ful, .hh and everything eise in between (.) and then I
6-> also avow to be an alcoholic. .hhh or I have admitted it
7-> humbly and (.) I say that I want (.) to stay (0.2) sorber < a day
8 at a time >. and to join the AA and to follow the principles
present
9 here. .hhh this is for me the definition. .hhh
1 .h Jos .hhh }Saku kysy ett, (.) minklainen on AA-AA'.n

If Saku asked that what-kind-of is AA-
jsen
member
2 nun se on t:mm\nen just tss ]nyL Paljon krsiny vhn
so it is this-kind just here now A-lot suffered a-little
kokenu yyh
experienced
3 laitapuolen elm .hh ollu pikkusen Hnnassa, =
skidrow life have-been a-bit in-jail
4 > no.se nyt ei kuulemma ole< yltt:mtnt, mutta minun
it now neg. have-heard is necessary but in-my
kohdalla se oli
case it was
5 tar.peellista, .hh kaikkee muuta vhn silt vlilt (.) ja sin
needful everything eise a-bit in between and then
min
I
6> viel tunnustaudun olevani alkoholisti. .hhh iai len sen
also avow being an-alcoholic or I-have it
myntnyt
admitted
7 nyrsti ja (.) sanon ett min haluan (.) pysy (0.2) raittiina
humbly and I-say that I want stay sober
<pivn
a-day

Authenticated
468 Ilkka Arminen
8 kerrallaan>. ja liitty thn AA'.hanja noudattaa ill olevia

at a time and join this AA and follow here being
9 periaatteita. .hhh tss on mun kohdalla se mritelm. .hhh
principles here is in-my case the definition
Here the repair, in line 6, replaces the verb 'avow to be' with a verb
construction 'have admitted humbly'. Again, two alternative construc-
tions of the person's relation to alcoholism are revealed. The former
presents this s a current avowal; the latter s an admission that has
taken place in the past. The difference between these two alternatives
may not be absolutely clear cut, but the first one ties 'the fact' more
closely to its utterer (to the person who makes the avowal) and to the
event of uttering; whereas the second presents it more s an external fact.
Here I am tempted to use Austin's (1962) famous (but partly self-
deconstructive) distinction between performatives and constatives. The
former construction is more openly a 'performative' that makes the
pronounced 'fact' dependent on the very fact of its pronunciation,
whereas the latter is a 'constative' that presents it more s an established
fact. The change of tense from the present to the past further Supports
this view; the correction presents the fact of being an alcoholic s having
been already admitted, and consequently having an independent existence
since then.12 Finally, we may note that the correction also refers to the
program of AA. The first step of the AA program reads, 'We admitted
we were powerless over alcohol.. Also the adverb 'humbly' is recogniz-
ably a lexical choice deriving from the AA rhetoric and its program,
where the word occurs frequently. As a whole, the repair advances from
a more performative and indexical expression to a more unconditional,
solid assertion. Unlike the previous cases, this repair does not constitute
a moral fact, but an unconditional fact. This repair is again occasioned
by the central aspects of AA program, 'the unconditionality of admissions
of alcoholism', which is recapitulated in every turn opening at AA meet-
ings: am X, and an alcoholic' (cf. extract 2; Arminen, in press). Here
the person's repair demonstrates the speaker's search for an expression
that would more unequivocally exhibit this 'unconditionality' of
admission. In this way the Speaker builds a situated account of the AA
moral code according to which one has to unconditionally admit one's
alcoholism and its consequences in order to Start recovery.
In this section, we have studied moral work that is carried out implicitly
with the help of quite ordinary 'word replacement' repairs. It goes without
saying that the claim has not been to assert that all (word replacement)
repairs convey morally relevant distinctions. On the contrary, the above
cases are a part of subset of repairs, in which the Speakers display an

Authenticated
orientaton to a moral dimension of the social world generally, and to

the moral program of AA particularly. More specifically, these repairs
made relevant the Other side' of AA in comparison to the 'corrective
formulations', where persons oriented themselves to the 'normative integ-
rity of others'. In these cases Speakers were involved in showing their
personal attachment to the moral code of AA. They professed their
concern with 'abstinence' or 'guilt', and the 'unconditionality of their
alcoholism'. In this fashion, repairs were vehicles for members to display
their particular, institutional concerns attached to mutual help, and to
identity work s a practical task. On these occasions self-repairs were
methods to make AA and its program locally relevant to the identity
work of a recovering alcoholic.
Emotions and the social construction of reality

Thus far we have analyzed moral work that is involved in corrective
formulations and word replacement repairs. In this section we analyze a
somewhat more specific practice that has not yet been reported in the
literature. The following repairs are organized in a specific manner that
allows the Speaker to Orient him- or herseif to both personal, intimate
feelings and to more intersubjective norms which concern the same refer-
ent. In extract 9, Hans recalls how he had decided, after a severe drinking
bout, to escape from Finland by taking a plane to the south. During the
flight he was feeling desperate.
Extract 9
l So this guy pissed off to Athens yeah (.) I recall plane was flyin'
2-> and l was crying my EY:es out, (I-dr-)-or-erm =
3-> cried secretly bloody hell (.) Finns aren't allowed to show their
4 feelings, .mth .hhh that's .phiuuh like, u:h they taught us
5 at-fuckin'-school (.) from day one hhh that a ma:n doesn't cry.
l Nun tm kundi lhti Ateenaan joo (.) M muistan kone lensi

So this guy left to-Athens yes I recall plane was-flying
2-> ja m itkin ni PER'.keleesti lentokoneessa, (m-jo-)-tai-tot =
and I cried so damn-lot in-plane, (I- ())-or-well
3-> salaa itkin (s)aatana (.) Tll ei suomalainen ei voi tunteita
secretly cried God-damn Here neg Finn may-not feelings
4 nytt, .mth .hhh se on .phiuuh niinku meillhn
show that it is like we(+determ.)
koulussa
at-school

Authenticated
470 Ilkka Arminen
5 opetetaanjo (.) saatana lapsena ett hhh mieshn ei itke.

is-taught already God-damn as-child that man neg. cry
After having said was crying my eyes out', the Speaker makes a
stumbling attempt to initiate a new utterance '(I-dr-)', followed with a
repair Initiation Or-erm', and the correction 'cried secretly bloody hell'.
The repair is organized into three components: an emotional, subjective
description an event or an object, a clearly marked repair initiation, and
a correction, which in some respects is a more factual or conventional
account than the repairable. In extract 9, Hans gives a description of his
behavior during the flight was crying my eyes out', followed with a
correction 'cried secretly bloody hell'. The repairable version seems to
provide a more subjective account, and the correction a more objective
version of the event. Here, the Speaker gives also an explanation for why
he did not behave the way he first reported that he had behaved: Tinns
aren't allowed to show their feelings ... they taught us at school ... that
a man doesn't cry'. In this way, the repairable version has offered us
access to a world s Hans would have wanted it to be, but which, he
indicates, is not like that, i.e., he would have wanted to cry openly but
he knew he could not. This type of a repair presents for us the Speakers'
private feelings and fantasies, whose imaginary character is displayed
through the correction.
The next two repairs are also organized around this regulr organiza-
tional pattern. In these extracts the Speakers first invoke an emotional
state or description, and then correct it with a more factual, realistic
version of the same referent. In extract 10, Marianne describes the (feel-
ings of) progress the onset of recovery in a treatment center brings her.
In (11), Marja accounts for her partner's violent behavior, and its
consequences.
Extract 10
1 Of course I aimed at absolute sobriety, when I went there (.) to
2 Jvenp and (2.0) ta:nd (1.5) I trembled for a week there and
3-* then I started to get myself physically fit, = I've never been so-
4- erm at time of the best (0.4) gym jcompetitions while young
5- of course I was s fit. I went jogging for five kilometers at
6 morning and ten at evening and, (1.8) I was like a roedeer. (1.4)
l Pyrin tietysti tysraittiuteen, ku menin

I-aimed naturally full-sobriety when I-went
sinne (.) Jrvenphn
there to Jrvenp

Authenticated
2 ja (2.0) | ja: (1.5) viikon siell vapisin ja sitte rupesin

and and weck there I-trembled and then I-started
3-> laittaa itteeni fyysisesti kuntoon, = M en oo ikin ollu nun-
to-set myself physically fit I have-not ever been so
4-> parhaimpana (OA)jumppakilpailulaikana olin
well at-the-best gym- competition-time I-was
tietyst nuorena
of-course at-young
5- nun hyvss kunnoss. Kvin viis kilometrii aamulla lenkillja
s good fit I-went five kilometer at-morning round and
6 kymmenen kilometrii illalla ja, (1.8) olin ku
ten kilometer at-evening and I-was like
metskauris. (1.4)
a roedeer
Extract 11
1 .h Then he went off on a tour in the south and, (0.3) when back he
2 was completely beserk and he starte: :d started erm (0.8) slappin me
3-> over the head, so I chucked that guy o:ut at once
4-+ or called the police in and (0.3) they took him away and
5 (.) I told them not to let'm come back,
6 cos it wasn't the first time (.)
1 .h Sit se lhti etelnmatkalle ja, (0.3) tuli sielt tysin

Then it left to-trip-to-south and came there completely
2 sekopisen ja rupes:: rupes tota (0.8) mtkii vhn meiklist
lunatic and started started well slapping a-bit this-guy
3-> phn, ni sit m heitin sen jtkn u\los samantien
to-head so then I throw that guy out at-once
4-> tai soitin poliisit sinne ja (0.3) ne veivt pois sitte ja0
or called the-police there and they took away then and
5 (.) sanoin viel ett lk pstk takasin.
I-said further that do-not let back
6 ku = se. ei ollu ensimminen kerta (.)
cause it neg. was first time
In both these instances there is first an exaggerated version of an event,

hyperbole, which is then followed with a less overstated, more 'realistic'
version. In (10), Marianne states: have never been so (fit)' (line 3,
[5]); and corrects the Statement 'erm at time of the best gym-competitions
while young of course I was s fit'. In (11), Marja teils: 'so I chucked

Authenticated
472 Ilkka Arminen
that guy out at once' (line 3); and provides a correction: Or I called the
police and they took him away' (line 4). The former case offers us access
to Marianne's feeling that, after she had started to get fit, she was in
better shape than ever. The latters instance recounts for us how Marja,
after her partner's violent attack, feit that she wanted to throw that
person out immediately. Notably, in both cases these 'subjective' accounts
are built with the help of extreme case formulations'never', 'at once'
that convey a sense of the intensity of these feelings (Pomerantz, 1986).
These repairs invoke, through a contrast structure, a distinction between
an immediately feit reality and a more solid and objective intersubjective
reality. As a whole, they offer both a situationally grounded and adequate
feeling, and its correction through a socially construpted, normative
account of the same referent. They display the speaker's orientation to
a 'multiplicity of realities', evoking both the 'internal' realities of imagi-
nary feelings, and the intersubjective normativity of social 'external'
realities.
This contrast between 'internal' and 'external' realities gains probably
its strongest expression in the last example of this set. In extract (12),
Tapsa recalls how he was banned from hostels in Helsinki, because of
his habit of yelling during the night.
Extract 12 (Tapsa 47/8)
1 But (0.3) howeve::r then (.) I had to like (.) Start drinkin'
2 (0.2) after they released me from a mental hospital (0.8) a couple of
3 times fand I was in such a bad shape tha: :t, (l .0) nobody jaccepted
4 me anywhere, (.) first of all at night time I got (0.6) these
5- (.) bursts of rage so that I was shoutin' in the middle of the night
6- like (0.3) some indian an-and, #uuh# or such a lunatic
7-> ye:lling (.) at night time. (.) So I wasn't aware of it (.)
8 of the yelling not at all, (0.8) a:ll the hostels in Helsinki
9 city (0.4) I was, so I was (0.2) banned just for the sake
10 of this yelling (0.3) .mth at nights so I-I didn't even know myself
Mutta (0.3) kuitenkii: sitte (.) mjouduin niinkun (.)juomaan

But however then I had-to like drink
(0.2) mielisairaalasta pstyni (0.8) ' > otteeseen \ja sit
mentalhospital left couple times and then
m
I

Authenticated
3 olin nun huonossa kunnossa ett::, (1.0) kukaan ei en

was so bad shape that nobody neg. anymore
mua
me
4 mihinkn \huolinut, (.) ensinnkin ett m sain yll (0.6)
anywhere accepted first-of-all that I got at-night
5-> tllsia (.) raivokohtauksia ett m huusin keskell yt kun
this-kind-of bursts-of-rage that I shouted in-middle night like
6-* (0.3) joku intiaani ja-ja, ## tai semmosta mielipuolista
some indian and-and or such-a lunatic
7-> ka:rjuntaa (.) isin. (.) Ss m en itse tajunnu siit (.)
yelling at-night So I neg. myself realize about-it
8 karjumiesta yhtn mitja, (0.8) kaikki matkustajakodit mulla
yelling nothing at-all and all hostels I
9 oli (0.4) Helsingin kaupungista, ni oli (0.2) pprttikielto just
had in-Helsinki city so was banned just
10 tmn karjumisen takia (0.3) .mth isin ett m-m en ite
this yelling sake at-nights that I-I neg. myself
tieny ees
know even
Here Tapsa profFers a contrast by characterizing his nightly activities,

firstly s was shouting in the middle of the night like some indian',
and secondly s Or such a lunatic yelling at nighttime'. The former is
figurative, whereas the latter is 'literally' true, purely factual description.
The former one may also be considered slightly more sympathetic, since
the image of an 'Indian' provides a membership category to which the
activity in question 'shouting' could legitimately belong. On the contrary,
the characterization 'lunatic yelling' offers no sympathy: it defines the
activity using the category of mental illness and thereby presents it s
deviant and beyond reason. The repair is also followed by an account
according to which Tapsa did not himself know anything of this yelling.
Consequently, the first description can not be taken s an account of a
conscious motivation but s a retrospective account of the imaginary
drive. Further, this 'imaginary' natufe is produced through the use of
the figurative expression 'like some indian' that gives certain excess to
this account. Here the repair structure makes visible an uncontrollable
inner urge, and the social responses to it.
All these repairs share the following organization: a subjective, 'hyper-
bolic' version + a clearly marked repair initiation -f a correction with a
'more factual' version. In all of these cases the repairable version has
some property that characterizes it s excessive and hyperbolic: an

Authenticated
474 Ilkka Arminen
extreme case formulation such s 'never', 'at once' in extracts (10) and
(11), a swear word perkeleesti 'a damn lot' in extract (9), or a figurative
expression 'like some indian' in extract (12). Subsequently, the correction
then undoes this exaggeration by replacing it with a more neutral charac-
terization was crying my eyes out''cried secretly' in extract (9);
have never been so (fit)'cat the time of gym competitions while
young ...' in extract (10); chucked that guy out at once''called the
police and they took him away' in (11); and shouted like some indian'
'such a lunatic yelling' in extract (12).
Together, this whole organizationa hyperbolic version + a less over-
blown correctionmakes the first version vulnerable to being heard s
a nonrealistic, subjective, emotional account in contrast to the factual,
objective, exterior account following it. In this fashion, these repairs
make clear the speaker's dual orientation to both personal, intimate, and
imaginary feelings, and to the intersubjectively constructed, normative
social reality. Further, though we have characterized the corrective ver-
sion s 'more objective', this does not mean it is 'more value free'. On
the contrary, these corrections refer to the social construction of reality,
in all its normativity. Most notably in extract (9), Hans refers to the
normative expectations according to which he designed his behavior
in situ, 'a man doesn't cry'. Implicitly, this dimension also characterizes
the accounts in extracts (11) and (12), 'a sane person does not shout in
the middle of the night', and 'a woman may not throw a man out'. In
all, these repairs also point to the normativity of the social construction
of reality.
Finally, when we take a broader look at the sequential environments
of these repairs, we can also note a specific pattern. First of all, the
repairables are occasioned by the story line in such a way that they are
sequentially fitted together with the immediately prior instance of the
segment: in extract (9), lines 1-2, pissed off to Athens, the plane was
flyingand I was crying my eyes out'; extract (10), lines 3-5, 'he started
to slap me over the headso I chucked him out at once'; extract (11),
lines 2-3, started to get myself physically fitI have never been so
(fit)'; and extract (12), lines 3-6, 'Nobody accepted me anywhere. ... I
got these bursts of rageso that I was shouting in the middle of the
night like some indian'. We may note that the repairables are not just
sequentially appropriate extensions of an earlier segment, but they pro-
vide 'evaluative condensations' of an earlier event from a first-person
stance. In extract (9), Hans was feeling so bad that 'he was crying his
eyes out'; Marianne, after the onset of recovery, instead was feeling so
great that 'she has never been so fit' extract (10); Marja's partner for his
part had became so mad that there was nothing eise to do than 'throw

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him out' extract (11); and in extract (12), Tapsa was in such a bad shape
that 4he was shouting like some indian'.
We can also notice that these evaluative condensations are not just
sequentially fitted responses to an immediately prior segment of talk;
they are embedded in a broader narrative trajectory leading up to that
moment when some suspense is relieved. For instance, Hans's account
that he was crying his eyes out is occasioned by the fact that he had
'pissed off' to Athens, which was occasioned by his drinking bout, which
was occasioned by his other circumstances, which were ... ,13 Of course,
here these 'priors' to priors (and their priors) have been left out, and the
analysis has been focussed on the device itself, and not on its occasioning.
Nevertheless, it is relevant to note that I have not been able to find this
particular type of repair organization in any other types of material than
in these lengthy life stories told in one-to-one situations. This offers at
least some evidence that this practice occurs only on those occasions
when Speakers are immersed, in storytelling or to some other respective
practice, to the degree that they are absorbed in the (story) principaPs
point of view. Here Goffman's (1981: 144-151) observations on the
variability of the distance between the speaker's role and the different
'sources' of talk that the Speaker can animate are truly in place. On the
studied occasions, the Speaker comes closer than most to the principal
of the story, s if immersed in that role for a brief moment.
Further, when we look at the corrections, we may note that they bring
a footing shift that returns the role distance to the principal. Whereas
the repairable version chucked him out' or shouted like some indian'
displays the principal's situationally occasioned feeling, the corrective
version displays a constrained version that takes into account social
conventions or exterior conditions, i.e., a woman may or can not throw
a man out, and a sane person does not shout during nights. By returning
to the socially constructed reality the Speaker reinstates role distance
from the principal, and the narration of the story continues. Hence, these
repairs are artful constructions employed to create intensive 'evaluative
condensations' by invoking the principal's emotional states made clear
during the course of the story.
The repair sequences discussed above have many distinct properties.
First of all, they form a clear type of cnonreferential' language use. That
is, although the corrections in these cases are referentially more 'truthfuP
than the repairables, the sequential meaning of these repairs depends
exactly on the difference between the repairable and the correction. The
emotionality of these accounts is invoked through the organization of a
repair that marks the repairable s being more subjective, and more
emotional. These repairs are also embedded in, and relate to, the story-

Authenticated
476 Ilkka Arminen
telling in a special way. The repairables form an adequate extension of

an earlier segment both in content and mode of expression. Because of
these properties, these repairs are artful constructions which render emo-
tional states perspicuous through the repair structure, and thereby pro-
vide intensive evaluations from the story principaPs point of view.
Although these repairs do not display an orientation towards the moral
code of AA in a manner similar to those discussed earlier, they seem to
have some constitutive relevance for the telling of these stories s a
methodical procedure for the invocation of inner sentiments and emo-
tions. These repairs make visible emotions that refer to the inner life of
Speakers, providing an ultimate and unchallengeable base for storytelling.
Moreover, in the context of mutual help movements, emotions conveyed
for, and s part of, a storytelling offer recipients material to identify with.
We can suggest that the sharing of emotional experiences is one methodi-
cal basis for the building of commonality in mutual help movements
like AA.
Conclusions
In this article, we have studied the moral work performed by three types
of self-repairs. Each of these types of self-repairs has, or has at least
principally, specific uses within the context of AA. Corrective formula-
tions are a type of repair through which a Speaker Orients him- or herseif
toward and corrects the problematic implications of some earlier Stretch
of talk. This corrective work can be seen s impression management,
which in the context of AA tends to be focussed on the normative
integrity of others, i.e., Speakers Orient themselves toward a special moral
aspect of AA speech events, in that they avoid conveying the impression
that they wish to impose their own moral Standards upon others.
Moreover, corrective formulations are reflexively tied to specific turn-
taking arrangements that allow each person in turn to become the solely
responsible author of their own experiences. They are both a product of
and a process for the maintenance of this format. Secondly, we studied
ordinary word replacement repairs that in some cases transmit morally
relevant distinctions. AA members are notably oriented toward designing
their talk in ways of which make the AA program of recovery relevant
to themselves. These design features become perspicuous in corrective
work that is carried through the self-repairs. Finally, we analyzed specifi-
cally organized repairs, through which a contrast is constructed between
the repairable, subjective Version, and the corrective, more objective
version. These repairs are skillful technique to make visible the story-

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teller's feelings and internal states. The repairs were embedded in lengthy
narrative trajectories that led up to a dramatic moment, which then was
presented from the principal's point of view. Consequently, they invoked
emotional states with which recipients can identify, and thereby they act
s a device to share emotional experiences s, and for, mutual assistance.
This paper also raises some methodological issues. Clayman and
Maynard (1995: 4) noted that 'deviant case analysis' is a specific, method-
ological point of contact between ethnomethodology and conversation
analysis. Both these research traditions have used 'deviance' to make
observable the otherwise 'invisible' taken-for-granted regulr courses of
ordinary actions. In this article, we have used repairs s a window of
order for the moral work of AA members. These repairs have exhibited
AA members' regulr, recurrent concerns with some (broadly speaking)
moral issues that permeate a wide rnge AA activities which extend
beyond these instances, but in these cases the underlining interactional
and moral orientations of 'monological' talk have become perspicuous.
In this respect, this study has been an examination of the interactional
properties of monological talk.
Finally, this study has a methodological point of contact with ethno-
methodology at another level. First of all, we have studied the 'formal
organization' of some types of self-repairs, which amounts to respecifying
technically the properties of these activities in a relatively contentless and
formal manner. Above this, we have been interested in the moral work
that members have displayed through the way they have designed details
of their talk. This moral work is informed by AA members' particular
practical competence. AA members, like competent members of any
particular Institution, have specific knowledge that is not availableat
least not completelyoutside of that Institution and which informs their
activities and makes available a set of practices that do not exist outside.
This study has been a modest attempt to describe the formal organization
of some of those practices, but also to recover their embodied meaning,
which is fully recoverable only for those who share sufficient competence.
Notes
I wish to thank Paul Drew, Derrol Palmer, Anssi Perkyl, and the anonymous review-
ers of this Journal, and also Klaus Mkel and Marja-Leena Sorjonen for comments
on earlier drafts. Earlier versions of the paper were presented in the Departmental
seminar of the Applied Linguistics, University of Newcastle, 23.2.1995, and in the
Kettil Bruun society's annual meeting for Alcohol Epidemiologists, Porto, June 1995.
Meetings were audiorecorded by AA members themselves, and the tapes are publicly
available through the central office of AA in Finland. Life stories were audiotaped in

Authenticated
478 Ilkka Arminen
separate one-to-one, face-to-face situations, where both the AA storyteller and the
recipient were acquainted with the storytelling conventions of AA. All the Speakers are
AA members.
2. Transcription symbols and conventions of conversation analysis, see Atkinson and
Heritage (1984: ix-xvi), are used throughout the following extracts. In addition,
@-signs surrounding a Stretch of talk mark an animated voice, #-signs a creaky voice,
and *-signs a shivering voice.
3. The names, and possibly some other details, have been changed in order to secure the
anonymity of the persons involved. Most analyses can be followed with the help of the
'idiomatic' translation which is shown first. Following this, the original speech is also
presented, together with a 'glossary' or literal translation which more closely follows
the original, sequentially and syntactically.
4. As a point of general interest, Markku's selections of pronouns teil us that the members
taking part in the trip are not among the group to whom he is speaking.
5. This extract raises also a question of a diiferent order, namely, the relevance of a larger
sequential context. I have a strong sense that the speaker's sensitivity to the inferential
implications of this particular Stretch of talk is connected to its broader sequential
placement, i.e., the speaker's assessment of her teenage is positioned so that it could be
heard s an evaluative summary of her 'whole childhood narrative'. This question is
too complex, and too far away from the main argument of the paper, to be surveyed
here.
6. The 'definition' is from the beginning of the chapter titled 'How it works' from AA's
Big Book, and it is often read during the opening 'rituals' of AA meetings (Arminen,
1994; Mkel et al., in press; Denzin, 1987: 107-112).
7. An additional complication is that the Speaker here is not speaking about her own view
(at that time), but about her partner's view. EfTectively, Marja attributes the AA
membership to her partner through the repair, i.e., she characterizes him s 'a person
abstaining deliberately'. Since this complication does not affect the argument above, I
have suspended this aspect from the analysis.
8. Schegloif(1979: 277) has noted that more than three successive tries are completely
unusual in ordinary conversation, because recipients either Interrupt the lengthy repair
sequence, or the Speaker gives up (Schegloff et al., 1977: 364-365). The prevalence of
repair sequences composed of more than three successive tries in the A A context, gives
us again an indication of the interlocutors' orientation to the monological nature of
talk in these settings.
9. Schegloff (l979: 280) Claims that the complicated repairs, composed of several tries,
have to be seen s a series forming a whole. Here the third try repeats the central
elements of the first try and provides some additions, after which the fourth try can
complete the repair. This organization of repair allows us to concentrte on the relation
between the third and fourth try.
10. The Finnish verb vltty can be translated s 'to escape' in the sense of 'escape an
infection'. It does not convey the active sense of the verb 'escape', s in 'escape prison'.
11. Ethnographie background knowledge also informs us of certain distinct connotations
of the verb 'to grow' in this context. Within AA, and other twelve-steps movements,
there is a relatively well-known branch that is especially devoted to 'personal growth'
(see, Room, 1992). Whether Marianne knows of this branch cannot be judged on the
basis of the extract alone. But the analysis above does not trade on this knowjedge
(even if it would support our analysis).
12. Further, the change of tense might also be occasioned by the larger sequential context;
we may note that Kalervo's turn was opened with the conventional AA identification,

Authenticated
am Kalervo and an alcoholic', which already included this admission. The correction,
however, does not seem to refer to this opening. The past tense makes it prone to be
heard to refer to an even earlier period.
13. The question, whether this observation points towards a specific organizational feature
of developed narratives, or whether it would apply to other materials too, falls outside
the scope of this paper.
References
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Anonymous Publishing, Inc.
(1976 1939). Alcoholics AnonymousThe Story of How Many Thousands of Men and
Women have Recoveredfrom Alcoholism. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing,
Inc.
Arminen, Ilkka (1994). Interaction order of the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. Paper
presented at the Conference on Addiction and Mutual Help Movements in a
Comparative Perspective, Toronto, September.
(in press). The construction of topic in the turns of talk at the meetings of Alcoholics
Anonymous. International Journal ofSociology and Social Policy.
Atkinson, J. M. and Heritage, J. C. (1984). Structures of Social Action: Studies in
Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Austin, J. L. (1962). How Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Clayman, Steven (1992). Footing in the achievement of neutrality: The case of news-
interview discourse. In Talk at WorkInteraction in Institutional Settings, P. Drew and
J. Heritage (eds.), 163-198. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clayman, S. and Maynard, D. (1995). Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. In
Situated Order: Studies in the Social Organization of Talk and Embodied Activities,
P. ten Have and G. Psathas (eds.), 1-30. Washington DC: University Press of America.
Denzin, Norman K. (1987). The Recovering Alcoholic. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Drew, Paul (1993). On morality and conduct: Complaints about transgressions and miscon-
duct. Unpublished manuscript.
(1995). An Open' class of repair initiation in conversation: Sequential sources of troubles
in understanding. Unpublished manuscript.
Goffman, Erving (1981). Forms ofTalk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Jefferson, Gail (1974). Error correction s an interactional resource. Language in Society
2: 181-199.
(1987). On exposed and embedded correction in conversation. In Talk and Social
Organization, G. Button and J. Lee (eds.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
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matter. Qualitative Sociology 15(3): 247-271.
Levinson, Stephen C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(1988). Putting linguistics on a proper footing: Explorations in Goffman's concepts of
participation. In Erving Goffman: Exploring the interaction order, P. Drew and
A. J. Wootton (eds.), 161-227. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Maxwell, Milton A. (1984). The Alcoholics Anonymous Experience. A Close-up View for
Professionals. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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480 Ilkka Arminen
Mkel, K. et al. (in press). Alcoholics Anonymous s a Mutual Help MovementA Study in
Eight Countries. Wisconsin: Wisconsin University Press.
Pomerantz, Anita (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing Claims. Human
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a visiting doctoral Student at the University of York, UK. He participated in the interna-
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applies conversation analysis and ethnomethodology to the study of interaction and story-
telling in the context of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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ARMINEN, ILKKA - On The Moral and Interactional Relevancy of Self-Repairs

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ARMINEN, ILKKA - On The Moral and Interactional Relevancy of Self-Repairs

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On the moral and interactional relevancy of

self-repairs for life stories of members of

Repairs are an elaborate form of activity that serves s a resource for

Keywords: self-repair; storytelling; Alcoholics Anonymous; mutual help;

0165-4888/96/0016-0449 Text 16(4) (1996), pp. 449-480

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at their meetings. In all these self-repairs, the trouble source is in some

She suggests that repair, among other interactional practices, may be an

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identity work, and further convey a sense of authenticity to the

Impression management with the help of corrective formulations

In talk-in-interation, adjacent turns provide a major resource for the

Extract l (Schegloff 1992: 1307)

After the acceptance component in which Dan agrees with Roger's

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1 K: .hhh Min len Kalervo ja alkoholisti ((knock)) (.) ja

After the third characteristic of an AA member 'been a while in jail'

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implications of the trouble source, 'been a while in jail'. He then produces

.mth M muistan muutamav-muutamia vuosia sitten hhh kun m

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2 thn AA-yhteissn ja, (1.5) mul-m olin hyvin voi-yyh

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14-> tuota (1.0) ruvennu muuttuu, mun vaimoni sanoi tn

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1 Siirtyminen sitte tyttlyseoon psin hyvin, (0.5) hyvin

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ings', since the Suspension of close ordering makes it practically impos-

1 M len syntynyt sellases (0.3) tylis- hh perheess (1.2)

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6 ikvuoteen asti, jolta ajalta m muistan hyvin vhn.

In line 4, Tapsa denies or disclaims that the conditions of his childhood

Invoking the moral of AA with repairs

In the previous section we looked at cases in which members were

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impressions created by some segment of their turn of talk. Besides these

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person is not capable of some act, irrespective of that person's own

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1 Ett muH on nimenomaan n (.) rait tut kokemukset ollu sit

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11 - turhien syyllisyyksien kantamisista, katkeruuksista.

Altogether, the repair is composed of four successive tries; the trouble

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which Kalervo is listing what he thinks are the characteristics of AA

1 .h Jos .hhh }Saku kysy ett, (.) minklainen on AA-AA'.n

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8 kerrallaan>. ja liitty thn AA'.hanja noudattaa ill olevia

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orientaton to a moral dimension of the social world generally, and to

Emotions and the social construction of reality

l Nun tm kundi lhti Ateenaan joo (.) M muistan kone lensi

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5 opetetaanjo (.) saatana lapsena ett hhh mieshn ei itke.

l Pyrin tietysti tysraittiuteen, ku menin

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2 ja (2.0) | ja: (1.5) viikon siell vapisin ja sitte rupesin

1 .h Sit se lhti etelnmatkalle ja, (0.3) tuli sielt tysin

In both these instances there is first an exaggerated version of an event,