Definition:
Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT), developed by Howard Giles from the early 1970s onwards, explains how speakers dynamically adjust their speech — in accent, vocabulary, rate, or style — in response to their interlocutor. The two fundamental strategies are convergence (moving toward the other’s style) and divergence (moving away from it).
Core Concepts
Convergence: Adapting your speech to become more similar to your interlocutor’s. Speakers converge to signal solidarity, liking, approval-seeking, or to facilitate comprehension. A non-native speaker slowing down and simplifying for a beginner is convergence.
Divergence: Deliberately maintaining or exaggerating differences from the interlocutor’s style. Divergence signals group identity, social distance, or resistance. Welsh speakers switching to Welsh when addressed by an English speaker on Welsh soil diverge to signal national identity.
Maintenance: Keeping one’s own style unchanged regardless of the interlocutor’s style.
Mutual vs. Unilateral Accommodation
Accommodation can be:
- Mutual — both parties converge toward each other (typical in cooperative conversation)
- Unilateral — only one party converges; common in unequal power situations or service encounters
Later Development: Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)
Giles later broadened SAT into Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) to cover non-verbal and written communication, not just speech. CAT incorporates social identity theory and addresses the strategic motivations behind accommodation choices.
Relevance to L2 Learning
SAT has direct implications for second language acquisition:
- Input modification by native speakers toward L2 learners (foreigner talk) is a form of convergence
- Whether learners converge toward or diverge from native speaker norms may reflect their integrative motivation
- Learners with strong L1 community identity may resist convergence and maintain a foreign accent as divergence