Accommodation theory

The Founder: Howard Giles Professor of linguistics and psychology at the University of California, Santa
Barbara. Giles developed the theory in 1973

[ ] WHAT IS ACCOMMODATION? defined as the ability to adjust, modify, or regulate one’s behavior in
response to another.-

What influenced the birth of this theory?

[ ] Social psychology •The study of how society and its structures affect the individual’s language
behavior.

[ ] Social identity theory

• Proposed by Tajfel and Turner(1979)

• A theory that proposes a person’s identity and is shaped by the groups to which he or she belongs.

[ ] In group and out group

11.  In groups and are social groups to which an individual feels that he/she belongs as a member. In
groups include family as well as people of the same race, culture, gender, or religion.

12.  For out groups, an individual feels contempt, opposition, or a sense of competition.In group and
out group formation and in-group/out-groupbias may affect a number of group phenomena such
asprejudice and conflicts between groups

• communication accommodation theory

relies is social identity theory. The social identity theory points out that a person perceives oneself as
having two identities – a personal identity and a social identity. The latter one is based on in-groups'
(groups to which they belong) and out-groups' (groups to which they do not belong) comparisons
people make (Turner and West, 2010).

Social identity theory also argues that people try to keep a positive social identity. They do so by joining
groups where they feel pleasant or by getting the best out of the group to which they already belong. As

speech has always been used as a means of expressing group membership, people have also used it to
mark distinctiveness from other social groups. They did so by adopting the speech style of their own
group. As Gallois, Ogay and Giles (2005) put it, people do so in order to mark a prominent group
distinctiveness, so as to strengthen a social identity.

[ ] Assumptions

• Speech and behavioral similarities and dissimilarities exist in all conversations.

• • The manner in which we perceive the speech and behaviors of another will determine how we
evaluate a conversation.

• • Language and behaviors impart information about social status and group belonging.

• • Accommodation varies in its degree of appropriateness, and norms guide the accommodation
process.

[ ] Ways to Adapt or accommodate in conversations

[ ] The theory notes of two communication tendencies:

[ ] • Convergence:

[ ] There is a tendency for people to become more alike in terms of linguistic, prosodic or non-verbal
features, including pronunciation, utterance length, pauses, speech rates, vocal intensities, as well as
facial expressions and the "intimacy of their self-disclosures"

[ ]

[ ] 6. Convergence is a strategy of adapting yourcommunication behavior in such a way as tobecome

more similar to another person.

[ ]

[ ]

[ ] 3 types of convergence.

[ ] 7. Downward Convergence Downward convergence occurs when people in upper class (such as
people with an RP) toning down their way of speech to speak to people in a lower-class

[ ]

[ ] 8. Upward Convergence Upward convergence occurs when lower-class people trying to eliminate
some of the stronger regional feature of their speech when they speak to the upper class

[ ]

[ ] 9. Mutual Convergence Mutual convergence occurs when the speaker and the interlocutor adjust
their speech toward each other
[ ] 9.  speech DIVERGENCE

[ ] 7.  , divergence refers to the ways in which speakers accentuate their verbal and non-verbal
differences in order to distinguish themselves from others. On an interpersonal note, overdoing
divergence—as well as convergence—may offend others.

8.  a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another person. It
reflects a desire to emphasize group distinctiveness in a positive manner and it usually takes places
when an individual perceives interaction as an intergroup process rather than an individual one.

2 types of divergence.

[ ] Ovraccommodattion

9.  Where one attempts to over do efforts in regulating, modifying or responding to others while trying
to accommodate their communication style.

[ ] Maintenance

10.  Persisting in your original communication style regardless of the communication behavior of the
other.

Communication accommodation theory

Communication accommodation theory (CAT) is a theory of communication developed by Howard Giles.

It argues that “when people interact they adjust their speech, their vocal patterns and their gestures, to
accommodate to others”. It explores the various reasons why individuals emphasize or minimize the
social differences between themselves and theirinterlocutors through verbal
and nonverbal communication. This theory is concerned with the links between “language, context and
identity”. It focuses on both the intergroup and interpersonal factors that lead to accommodation as
well as the ways in which power, macro and micro-context concerns affect communication behaviors.

Background

Speech accommodation theory

The communication accommodation theory was developed by Howard Giles, professor of

Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It evolved from the speech
accommodation theory (SAT), but can be traced back to Giles’ accent mobility model of 1973. The
speech accommodation theory was developed in order to demonstrate the value of social psychological
concepts to understanding the dynamics of speech. It sought to explain “the motivations underlying
certain shifts in people’s speech styles during social encounters and some of the social consequences
arising from them”.Particularly, it focused on the cognitive and affective processes underlying
individuals’ convergence and divergence through speech. The communication accommodation theory
has broadened this theory to include not only speech but also the “non-verbal and discursive
dimensions of social interaction”. Thus, it now encompasses other aspects of communication. In
addition CAT has moved in a more interdisciplinary direction than the previous speech accommodation
theory. It now also covers a wider range of phenomena.

Social psychology and social identity theory

Like speech accommodation theory, communication accommodation theory continues to draw

from social psychology, particularly from four main socio-psychology theories: similarity-
attraction, social exchange, causal distribution and intergroup distinctiveness. These theories help to
explain why speakers seek to converge or diverge from the language, dialect, accent and behavior of
their interlocutors. CAT also relies heavily in social identity theory. This later theory argues that a
person’s self-concept comprises a personal identity and a social identity, and that this social identity is
based in comparisons people make between in-groups (groups to which they belong) and out-groups
(groups to which they don’t belong). According to social identity theory, people strive to maintain a
positive social identity by either joining groups where they feel more comfortable or making a more
positive experience of belonging to the groups to which they already belong. Since speech is a way to
express group membership, people adopt convergence or divergence in communication in order to
“signal a salient group distinctiveness, so as to reinforce a social identity”. Communication
accommodation thus, becomes a tool to emphasize group distinctiveness in a positive way, and
strengthen the individual’s social identity.

Assumptions

Many of the principles and concepts from social identity theory are also applicable to communication
accommodation theory. Under the influence of social psychology, especially social identity theory,
communication accommodation theory are guided by mainly four assumptions.

There are speech and behavioral similarities and dissimilarities in all conversations.

The way in which we perceive the speech and behaviors of another will determine our evaluation of the
conversation.

Language and behaviors have the ability to communicate social status and group belonging between
people in a conversation.

Norms guide the accommodation process which varies in its degree of appropriateness.

The first assumption indicates that people bring their past experience to conversations. Therefore,
communication is not only influenced by situational conditions and initial reactions but the "social-
historical context in which the interaction is embedded". People's attitudes and beliefs, derived from
those factors, determine the extent to which they are willing to accommodate in a conversation.The
more similarities they share with each other, the more likely for them to accommodate.

The second assumption is concerned with how people perceive and evaluate a conversation. Perception
is "the process of attending to and interpreting a message" and evaluation is the "process of judging a
conversation". When someone enters a conversation, usually he first observes what takes place and
then decides whether he should make adjustment to fit in. However, the decision about accommodation
is not always necessary.Imagine the encounter of two strangers, they may have a random small talk and
simply say goodbye. In this case, neither of them is likely to evaluate the conversation since they have
little possibility to meet again.

The importance of language and behaviours is illustrated in the third assumption since they are
indicators of social status and group belongings. When two people who speak different languages try to
have a conversation, the language they agree to communicate with is more likely to be the one used by
the higher status person. This idea of “salient social membership" negotiation is well illustrated in the
situation of an interview as the interviewee usually makes all efforts to identify with the interviewer by
accommodating the way he speaks and behaves so that he can have more chance to secure the job.

The last assumption puts emphasis on social appropriateness and norms. Here norms are defined as
“expectations of behaviors that individuals feel should or should not occur in a conversation”. Those
expectations give guidance to people’s behaviors, helping them to figure out the appropriate way to
accommodate. Most of the time, the accommodation made according to those norms are perceived
socially appropriate. For instance, when a young person talks to the seniors in his family, he should
avoid using jargons among his generation to show respect and communicate more smoothly.

[ ]  There are two main accommodation processes described by this theory.

Convergence, over-accommodation, and divergence

Convergence

Convergence refers to the process through which an individual shifts his or her speech patterns in
interaction so that they more closely resemble the speech patterns of his interlocutor(s). People can
converge through many features of communication such as their use of language, their “pronunciation,
pause and utterance lengths, vocal intensities, non verbal behaviors, and intimacy of self
disclosures”(Giles and Smith, 1979, 46), but they do not necessarily have to converge simultaneously at
all of these levels. In fact people can both converge at some levels and diverge through others at the
same time . People use convergence based on their perceptions of others, as well as what they are able
to infer about them and their backgrounds. Attraction (likability, charisma, credibility), also triggers
convergence. As Turner and West note, “when communicators are attracted to others they will
converge in their conversations”. On the other hand, as the similarity attraction theory highlights, when
people have similar beliefs, personality and behaviors they tend to be more attracted towards each
other. Thus when an individual shifts his speech and non-verbal behaviors in order to assimilate to the
other it can result in a more favorable appraisal of him, that is: when convergence is perceived positively
it is likely to enhance both the conversation and the attraction between the listener and the speaker. For
this reason it could be said that convergence reflects “an individual’s desire for social approval from his
interlocutor, and that the greater the individual’s need for social approval, the more likely he or she is to
converge. Besides attraction, other factors which “influence the intensity of this”need of approval and
hence the level of convergence “include the probability of future interactions, the social status of the
addressee, and interpersonal variability for need of social approval”. Other factors that determine
whether and to what extent individuals converge in interaction are their relational history, social norms
and power variables. Because individuals are more likely to converge to the individual with the higher
status it is likely that the speech in a conversation will reflect the speech of the individual with the
higher status. Converging also increases the effectiveness of communication, which in turn lowers
uncertainty, interpersonal anxiety, and increases mutual understanding. This is another factor that
motivates people to converge.

Overaccommodation

However, although people usually have good intentions when they attempt to use convergence in
conversation, some interlocutors can perceive convergence as patronizing and demeaning and hence
just as it can enhance conversation it can also detract from the processes of communication. They can
also end up over-accommodating, and despite their good intentions their convergence can be seen as
condescending.

Divergence

Divergence is a linguistic strategy whereby a member of a speech community accentuates the linguistic
differences between his or herself and his interlocutor. In the most part it reflects a desire to emphasize
group distinctiveness in a positive manner and it usually takes places when an individual perceives
interaction as an intergroup process rather than an individual one."Given that communication features
are often core dimensions of what it is to be a member of a group, divergence can be regarded as a very
important tactic of displaying a valued distinctiveness from the other.", This helps to sustain a positive
image of one’s in-group and hence to strengthen one’s social identity. Divergence can thus be a way for
members of different groups to maintain their cultural identity, a mean to contrast self images when the
other person is considered a member of an undesirable group, and a way to indicate power or status
differences, as when one individual wishes to render another one less powerful