What is Accommodation Theory

Accommodation theory was developed by Howard Giles

and others in the 1970s.
It suggests that we adjust our speech to accommodate the
person we are addressing.
This may result in convergence or divergence.

Convergence this is more common and occurs when

we move our speech closer to that of the other person.
Divergence when peoples speech styles move further
apart.

Convergence
Convergence decreases the social distance between
people.
Someone with an RP accent toning down their accent to
speak to someone with a lower class accent is called
downward convergence .
Someone with a working class accent trying to eliminate
some of the stronger regional features of their speech for a job
interview with an RP speaker is called upward convergence.

If both participants in a conversation converge towards

the other, this is called mutual convergence.

Divergence
Divergence has the effect of emphasising the
differences between people. Two supporters of
rival football teams might exaggerate their
respective regional accents in an argument, if
unconsciously.