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
•
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:
This term refers to the processes whereby two or more individuals alter or shift their speech
to resemble that of those they are interacting with. 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.
.