language accommodation

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Language accommodation refers to the adjustments individuals make in their speech patterns, vocabulary, or communication style to align with their conversational partners. This phenomenon occurs in various social contexts and is influenced by factors such as social identity, group dynamics, and the desire for mutual understanding.

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Key research themes

1. How do language accommodation strategies function in multilingual and multi-dialectal Arabic contexts?

This theme investigates the dynamics of accommodation among Arabic speakers who navigate multiple dialects within both informal and formal communicative settings. It explores how speakers negotiate linguistic variation, whether through convergence, maintenance, divergence, or code-switching, particularly focusing on inter-dialectal communication and the role of standard or alternative varieties like Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) or 'White Arabic'. Understanding these strategies is vital due to Arabic’s complex sociolinguistic landscape with overlapping dialects, high variability, and evolving sociopolitical factors influencing language use.

Speech Accommodation in Inter-Dialectal Conversations: Exploiting Linguistic Repertoire and Weighing Sociolinguistic Options

by Mujdey Abudalbuh

2022

Key finding: The study shows that contrary to the assumption that Arabic speakers extensively accommodate across dialects by switching to their interlocutors’ dialects or Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA), participants predominantly maintained... Read more

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Negotiating Arabic language accommodation in a multi dialect setting

by Rana Siblini

2022

Key finding: This empirical research documents various language strategies that multi-dialectal Arabic speakers in a graduate school setting employ when discussing academic topics. The paper applies Communication Accommodation Theory... Read more

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What is White Arabic? - New labels in a changing Arab World

by Claudia Laaber

2023, Revista Española de Lingüística

Key finding: This study reveals that 'White Arabic' (WA) is a metalinguistic label increasingly used in the diverse Arab world to denote a linguistic variety perceived as distinct from both Standard Arabic and colloquial dialects. The... Read more

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2. What are the cognitive and sociolinguistic mechanisms underpinning language accommodation in multilingual and migration contexts?

This research theme centers on the cognitive processes, identity aspects, and social factors that influence how individuals accommodate language use in multilingual environments, including migration and integration settings. It examines how language accommodation strategies assist in reducing social distance, negotiating identity, and managing language shift across generations and social groups. Understanding these processes helps formulate policies to facilitate linguistic integration, support minorities, and enhance effective communication in complex multilingual societies.

The Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants / L’intégration linguistique des migrants adultes

by Hans-Jürgen Krumm

2022

Key finding: This work synthesizes research findings on the linguistic integration of adult migrants in Europe, emphasizing that while language competence is crucial for integration, it should not be considered a prerequisite. Instead,... Read more

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Language choice, identity and social distance: Ethnic minority students in Vietnam

by Trang Nguyen

2017, Applied Linguistics Review

Key finding: This paper applies CAT and ethnolinguistic vitality theory to analyze ethnic minority students’ language choices relative to identity and social distance in Vietnam. It finds that accommodation strategies are embedded within... Read more

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ETHNOLINGUISTIC IDENTITIES AND ACCOMMODATION ACROSS GENERATIONS IN TAIWAN

by Marinus VAN DEN BERG

2017

Key finding: This paper documents generational shifts in language proficiency in Taiwan linked to historical political changes, showing how language accommodation follows long-term norm-oriented convergence adapting to societal language... Read more

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Published, Language Accommodation Strategy

by Gerald CHISHIBA

2022, international journal of advanced research and studies

Key finding: This empirical study on Zambian citizens and Chinese migrants demonstrates that hosts often employ downward convergence accommodation strategies—such as accent modification, simplified vocabulary, and foreigner talk—to... Read more

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3. How do language accommodation processes relate to language planning, standardization, and policy in pluricentric and multilingual contexts?

This set of studies explores the interplay between language accommodation at the community level and top-down language planning interventions, especially in contexts involving pluricentric languages or dialect continua. It emphasizes how standardization efforts, media practices, and institutional policies affect accommodation dynamics, maintenance of dialects, and language vitality. Insights contribute to language planning theory by integrating speech community behaviors, network density, and accommodation to inform sustainable and equitable linguistic policies.

Current Issues in Language Planning

by Joan Costa

2024, Current Issues in Language Planning

Key finding: Analyzing the management of dialect diversity in Catalan-speaking media, this work identifies challenges in applying traditional pluricentricity concepts to Catalan’s multi-standard situation. It highlights how media... Read more

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Long-term Accommodation and Language Planning Strategies: Network Density, Dialect Vitality, and the Restructuring of the Shanghai Speech Community

by Marinus VAN DEN BERG

2017, 语言战略研究

Key finding: This study introduces a dialect vitality model rooted in speech community theory and network density concepts to explain how Shanghai residents accommodate local and national language norms amid sociopolitical and demographic... Read more

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Language Planning

by Andi Asrifan

2022

Key finding: This article articulates a structured framework for language planning encompassing problem identification, policy development, implementation, and ongoing adjustment stages. It emphasizes the social orientation of language... Read more

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œWhy am I Changed? The Convergent Process in a Multilingual Community: Speech Accommodation Perspective

by Slamet Setiawan

2022, New Language Dimensions

Key finding: Focusing on university students from diverse dialectal backgrounds in Indonesia, this study finds that accommodation to the dominant regional language occurs as a convergence strategy motivated by social approval,... Read more

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All papers in language accommodation

This Town

by Jim Naughton

2024

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What is White Arabic? - New labels in a changing Arab World

by Claudia Laaber

2023, Revista Española de Lingüística

Arabic has been traditionally described as a canonically diglossic language (Ferguson, 1959), with Standard Arabic (SA) as the high variety and spoken vernaculars as low varieties. Further research has proven that the actual linguistic... more

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Taalaccommodatie in online datingprofielen

by maria mos

2023, Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing

Language accommodation in online dating profiles: Effects of education level and type of dating site on language use This study investigates whether online dating profile owners accommodate their language use based on the type of dating... more

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Negotiating Arabic language accommodation in a multi dialect setting

by Rana Siblini

2022

Negotiating Arabic: language accommodation in a multi-dialect setting When discussing an academic topic, which language variation(s) do Arab speakers who have different dialects use?

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Natives, migrants and communication practices in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China

by Marinus VAN DEN BERG

2020, Journal of Asia-Pacific Communication

This paper reports the results of direct observations of language use and sociolinguistic interviews in Xi’an city, Shaanxi province, China. The data were collected in the autumn of 2018. Direct observations were done in four vegetable... more

The increase in population between 1952 and 1980 can be related to the early industrialization policy of the socialist era, which through its Great Leap Forward and Third Front policies moved certain industrial sectors to Xian. That move- ment simultaneously required the transfer of people from a variety of places to Xi'an in support of these various institutions. The policy during this period how- ever remained strongly anti-urban (Riscin 2000; Walcott 2010). ods and the procedure followed. The three sections following detail the results of direct observations and of the interviews. The result of our survey confirmed communality of communication in different dialects, maintenance of the Xian dialect as well as prominence of PTH in transactional exchanges. We further were able to identify differences in language use between speech community members and migrants as well as between customers and salespeople. The implications are discussed in a final section on discourse and community wide communication practices. Community participation was constructed via requirements for social participation and discourse community membership. The latter concept connects local Putonghua (PTH) speakers with the national koine community (cf. Miao and Li 2006; Van den Berg 2010, 2016; Xu 2006, 2010, 2016).

Table 7. Distribution of language varieties across markets, Xian market survey; BT data; 7018 The second question, the comparatively wider use of dialects by salespeople, needs a more diverse answer. It indeed was the case that salespeople in each mar- <et used a proportionally higher level of the Xian dialect than customers. For mstance, vendors in the LH market used Shaanxi dialect in fourteen percent of he exchanges versus nine percent use ised Henan dialect in fifteen percent by customers and in the BL market vendors of interactions while customers responded n nine percent of their reactions (Tab e7). Tie esse womens: lenses Plewnxn. ap needa ka thts noes] wale: alone dalek wee:

Modernization and industrialization created a migration flow toward Xian from other parts of Shaanxi province as well as from other provinces (cf. Shadian 2000). The immigration/emigration data show that Xi’an’s population increased strongly between 2000 and 2005, reaching a peak in 2005 with hundred-and- twenty thousand persons. After that time, it retreated to a lower level. In two years. 2012 and 2015, emigration exceeded immigration, suggesting a reduction in eco- nomic activities. In 2015, the emigration number was thirty thousand (Figure 2). nomic activities. In 2015, the emigration number was thirty thousand (Figure 2).

Map 1. Xi’an city districts, urban and non-urban areas” Given t he vast number of Xian inhabitants, it is unreasonable to expect a survey by a university sponsored research team to cover all districts and residential areas, especia ly so if face-to-face encounters are aspired to and the research period is limited to four months. We, therefore, concentrated on a sample of language use and with in language behavior in four markets in three city districts supplemented erviews. The four markets were located in the two inner-city districts of Beilin HEAKIX and Lianhu ¥2j4{X as well as in rural Changan KX district (Map 1 . The latter district represents the development of Xian city as it is extend- ing toward the surrounding countryside. In that process it incorporates the orig- inal vil ages and that way creates new settings known as ‘urban-villages FFA’. These villages are all listed for destruction at some future point in time for total incorporation into the expanding city (cf. Liu et al. 2010; Li & Wang, this issue).

Earlier research in Taiwan and Guangzhou had demonstrated that local vegetable and meat markets reflect the demographic composition and by implication the lan- guage behavior characteristics of the people in the corresponding residential area (Van den Berg 1986, 2010). On that basis we chose four vegetable and fruit markets, one in Beilin (BL) and Lianhu (LH) districts and two in the new Changan district. Given the enormous size of the latter district, a further specification is needed to clarify their respective locations. The first of these two markets was close to Yanta district and at a ten minute walking distance from the Fenggiyuan )X\WH4iJik subway station, the third stop before the Weiqunan +5 HH Fa endpoint of line 2. For that rea- son, we use that name Fenggiyuan JX\W4) (FQY) for that market in the report. The fourth market was located at the next stop of line 2 at the Hangtiancheng WiiK J station, almost immediately outside the exit of that subway station, so we used Hangtiancheng Ni KHX (HTC) as the name for that market. Language use data in Xian were collected in three ways: direct observations, interviews and sound recordings. The latter, sound recordings, are not part of this

Table 2. Observation schedule of the Xian city market study; 2018 Note 1: The total number of students participating in the survey in various teams of two was 26. Note 2: *Reduced observation time at the Fenggiyuan market due to freezing night temperatures.

Table 3. Language use according to interaction type; Xian city market survey; 2018 The “All” data presented in Table 3 show that the Xi ‘an dialect and PTH have equal status in Xian. Such total data, however, are misleading and do not show similarities or dissimilarities between market partici data for customers and vendors show, customers use pants, and, as the “Total” comparatively more PTH, whereas salespeople use more dialect and this difference is statistically significant (p<.oo1). The data of conversations (CC and SS) con guage use between customers and vendors (p<.ooo) transactions (BT-C and BT-S). The significance in t much lower, p<.o1, an indication that the language be firm this difference in lan- as do the data of business he latter case, however, is havior of both participants becomes more similar when they interact in a business transaction. This increasing similarity can be seen as accommodative language behavior,

Table 4. Distribution of language varieties across markets, Xian market survey; CC data; The BL market area too was constructed in support of early industrialization efforts. Those selected to participate in that struggle generally received higher forms of education being engineers and support staff of the Western Railway Company, the danwei ‘industrial unit’ for which the residential district was cre- ated. It is that company that was responsible for the maintenance of the essential Xian-Shanghai railway line, which created a link between Western China and the Pacific. It is no surprise therefore that the BL market was the champion of Putonghua use with forty-nine percent (Table 4). Conversational language behav- ior of customers in the BL market were, as noted already, statistically very differ- ent from the “urban village” HTC (p<.ooo), but also from the demographically mixed LH market (p<.o11) as well as the half-modern FQY market (p<.o29). The FQY market, located at the edge of the Aero-space district, provided a fertile environment for new migrants and the use of PTH, forty-two percent. It provided the second highest level of PTH speakers, which we associate with the second-generation migrants and jobs in the technological and service industries

Table 5. Distribution of language varieties across markets, Xian market survey; SS data; ee Table 5 further makes clear that vendors in the HTC market used the Xian dialect most extensively with seventy-five percent, confirming the “urban village” status of that market. The same table also showed that the number two market for use of the Xian dialect was the LH market with sixty-four percent, confirming the status of that area as a first-generation “urban village’, which was reconstructed into a residential district of Xian for industrial migrant workers of the Electrical Machines Company, creating a mixture of Xian locals, migrant residents and their descendants.

Table 6. Language use during business transactions; Xian city market survey; 2018 as a defense of the speech community language (Van den Berg 1986, 1992). The data first presented in Table 3 and repeated here for business transactions only, as Table 6. Supports this latter view via the larger proportion of the Xian dialect and all other local dialects (Shaanxi, Henan, Other and Bilingual use) in salespeople exchanges (BT-S). Language use by customers (BT-C) was systemat- ically lower for these language varieties. As reported already, the salespeople’s use of the Xian dialect was thirty-three percent versus a twenty-eight percent use by the customers. More details of how these various language varieties are combined in individual transactional interactions will be presented in the single channel and multichannel sections below.

Then there is the question as to why would this be, why would same languag interactions hold the majority for each of the language varieties? The first con ributing factor mos place between people who know each other either as neighbors, place or otherwise. Given that Xian dialect speakers formed the largest group i: the four markets stud ied, the reported percentages reflect the com t likely is that conversations between market visitors tak from the wor position of th population and strengthens the idea of the Xian speech community, member of which prefer to ta k to each other in the Xian dialect. Migrant province, when meeting a familiar person would use their shared S and so on (cf. Song & Zhu 2016). Continuing this line of thought, the follow-up question must be, why suc s from Shanx haanxi dialec Table 8. Multi-channel interactions between interlocutors, CC data; Xi’an market

data; 2018 Having these data, the next question is the extent to which and in what way these same language choices were compensated. Starting with the Henan dialect, we see that two-thirds of the answers by salespeople were in PTH and the Xian dialect, in that order (Table 9). The same was true for customers using a Shaanxi dialect. They too in most cases were answered in either PTH or the Xian dialect. Cus- tomers using the Xian dialect were, in addition to the Xian dialect, answered mainly in PTH in thirty percent of the exchanges. Salespeople also answered in [able 9. Multi-channel interactions between interlocutors, Xian market survey; BT-¢

Table 11. Age group of Respondents according to market; interviews; Xian market survey; 2018 Table 11. Age group of Respondents according to market; interviews; Xian market

Table 12. Respondents’ language behavior profiles; interviews; Xian market survey; 2018 The percentages suggest a special position for the acquisition of the Xian dialect. In those early days, between more than sixty years ago, the largest group were members of the Xian speech community and they still hold that position in out survey. Particularly interesting is the second position of respondents reporting the acquisition of ‘other’ dialects. These respondents must represent migrants from all over China, which are not speaking the Xian, Shanxi and Henan dialects. We assume they are first-generation migrants and their descendants. We will trace the language behavior of each of these groups below. se S| ne a ) i a OS i eS | a : , Sn, ae

interviews; Xian market survey; 2018 In the comparison of code-switching behaviour, Xian speech community mem- bers show t hey added PTH to their language practices at home more extensively than the three migrant groups we used as comparison. We see this as a reflection of the long history of the Xian urban speech community, which gave their mem- bers the opportunity to adjust to changing circumstances under both the Republic and the PRC and in the process developed accommodative behaviour toward the use of PTH , whereas at the same time maintaining their support for the Xian dialect, the speech community language. Table 13. Respondents’ language behavior at home according to first-language group;

* By breaking up the total into the five listed language groups, we incurred 4 missing cases. Limitations of space prohibit a further detailing of language behavior of the four dialect groups and the PTH group. The data made clear that we need to dis- inguish between three groups, members of the Xian dialect speech community, PTH speakers and minority dialect speakers. Speech community members can move freely throughout Xian’s social world without encountering too much prob- ems. Apart from their first-language, they all acquired additional proficiency in understanding various regional dialects. PTH speakers too, at the time of the research, could relatively freely join in Xian social life and participate in a wide variety of work environments, those requiring technical schooling in particu- lar. Members of minority groups can still use their home dialects when going to town, but those with backgrounds in more distant provinces are under pressure to acquire a language of wider communication, which in Xian first of all is PTH. The final question we will address is the nature and structure of a speech com- munity accepting large numbers of migrants, and that issue we will address in the next section.

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Language choice, identity and social distance: Ethnic minority students in Vietnam

by Trang Nguyen

2017, Applied Linguistics Review

Drawing on concepts such as convergence, divergence and maintenance associated with Communication Accommodation Theory, this article examines a group of Vietnamese ethnic minority students’ language choice in relation to their identity... more

participate in the research. This led to a compromise of the equal representation of gender and college major in the selection of interview participants. Table 1: Information about the participants. 4.2 Data collection and analysis

Table 2: Examples of open, axial and selective coding. Jata went through three main phases of coding: open coding (random themes), ixial coding (categories of themes) and selective coding (groups) (see Table 2 for xamples of the coding scheme). The three levels of analysis were interconnected, which allowed the authors to link the findings emerging from the data to macro deological explications. Selected extracts from interviews as examples were ranslated into English in the process of writing up the paper.

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Long-term Accommodation and Language Planning Strategies: Network Density, Dialect Vitality, and the Restructuring of the Shanghai Speech Community

by Marinus VAN DEN BERG

2017, 语言战略研究

In a society, citizens are exposed to measures taken at the national level, and adjust to these measures overtime. This process is called long-term accommodation toward a national norm or norms. One of these norms set by the government is... more

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ETHNOLINGUISTIC IDENTITIES AND ACCOMMODATION ACROSS GENERATIONS IN TAIWAN

by Marinus VAN DEN BERG

2017

his paper documents the extent of differences in language proficiency across generations in a continuously changing society. It is demonstrated that each generation produces a specific language proficiency constellation that is directly... more

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Field survey of the East Java earthquake and tsunami of June 3, 1994

by Nanang Puspito

2016, Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH

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Field survey of the East Java earthquake and tsunami of June 3, 1994

by jumadi jumadi

2015, Pure and Applied …

Fig. 1. The beach at Rajekwesi on Java's southeast coast after the tsunami attack. On June 4, two simulations were reported by Titov and Synolakis, They used a fault- plane solution of an area of about 100 km x 50 km with strike directions of 284° and 95°, slip angle of 99°, dip angle of 78°, and maxi- mum vertical dislocation of 1,2 m. No direct runup computations were performed due to An international tsunami survey team car- ried out the damage survey from June 19 to 24, covering a coastal area of approximately

front, where on a steep coastal hillside it reached 8.3 m. In both villages, the river wa- ‘ers on the back sides effectively blocked all direct evacuation routes to higher ground. Atthe southwestem end of the channel, the fishing village of Sendangbiru sits on the main- tand alongside a small harbor. The harbor ies in the shadow zone of Sempu Island and is pro- tected from the typical! swell of the indian Ocean. However, the harbor was not protected fromthe tsunami attack and one evewitness reoorted a 4.0 m runup along the wall ofa cannery. Furtherup the channel! but sullon the mainland, a run-up height of 2.9 m was measured

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Field survey of the East Java earthquake and tsunami of June 3, 1994

by Jumadi Jumadi

2013, Pure and Applied Geophysics

A field survey of the June 3, 1994 East Java earthquake tsunami was conducted within three weeks, and the distributions of the seismic intensities, tsunami heights, and human and house damages were surveyed. The seismic intensities on the... more

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Migration Narratives, Official Classification, and Local Identities: The Memba of the Hidden Land of Pachakshiri

by Kerstin Grothmann

2012

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