ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the neglected phenomenon of non-repetition as a determinant on lexical choice in the flow of discourse. What gets addressed as parallelism in other approaches tends in studies of ordinary talk to end up described as repetition, often as a broad heuristic category with more concern for functions like ‘repair’. Research on parallelism has centred in the study of oral poetries and given attention to differences between members of parallel groups from numerous perspectives without bringing non-repetition itself into focus. Here, a variety of features of ordinary talk that commonly fall under the aegis of repetition are briefly introduced. Parallelism is then introduced in a variety of oral poetries, both where it is systematic and where it is handled as an added feature. The extensive research on parallelism in such poetries offers a solid empirical basis for considering how non-repetition operates, and how it may operate differently in different languages and registers of discourse. Variation is explored in the sequential ordering of parallel units and also in non-ideal formulations, which can be related to off-target and delayed triggering or interference from different factors. Things commonly classed as repetition in ordinary talk are first surveyed, followed by an introduction to the perspectives offered from oral poetry, including aspects of how parallelism relates to working memory. These perspectives are then returned to what is observed in ordinary talk, where parallelism is not a systematic principle of discourse. Consideration is given to parallelism as a principle especially across turns of conversation, looking variously at its formal dimensions, social conventions, ways it is used, implications for language processing, and relationships between parallelism and grammar.
