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

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.