Redundancies in conversation: a study on the process of producing and understanding

This article considers the function of redundancies at the discourse level of language. It examines the reason(s) why people use informationally redundant utterances. Semantic redundancies identify unnecessary or predictable information in some stretch of language usage. From the theoretical point of view, the application of them is plausible by virtue of the principle of least effort (Martinet, 1962), and maxim of quantity (Grice, 1975). However, at the discourse level of communication, speakers use a considerable amount of redundant utterances in their daily conversation. This article is an attempt to explain the paradox.