Problems in speaking and case marking

This study examines how the case marker ka is used in the management of speech production difficulties in Saisiyat narrative discourse. Drawing on a corpus-based analysis of Pear Story retellings and traditional narratives, the study investigates operations of self-initiated self-repair, including replacing, inserting, recycling, and aborting ( Schegloff 2013 ). While ka has traditionally been analyzed as a case marker or an NP-internal linker, the findings reveal that it also plays a pivotal role at moments of production difficulty, serving as either the trouble source or the initiator of repair during referential specification, lexical search, and narrative planning. The discussion argues that the functions of ka are best understood not as fixed grammatical categories but as emerging dynamically in real-time speech production. By situating ka within the framework of self-initiated self-repair, this study contributes to a usage-based understanding of grammar as a resource for managing problems in speaking, particularly in endangered languages.