Mechanisms of Accommodation among Emerging Adults in a University Setting

Abstract

In accommodation contexts where dialects already contain extensive overlap, the processes of convergence/divergence may be better specified in terms of the “expansion” and “reduction” of linguistic variation. Among emerging adults at Southern Illinois University, contact between South Midland and Northern Cities speakers illustrates that accommodation of variation in the /u/, /o/, /æ/, and / / vowels is expressed not through the wholesale adoption of new forms but rather through an expansion or reduction of the range of previously existing forms. By providing this alternative view, this study mitigates the competing discussions regarding the primary importance of speaker identity/attitudes versus frequency of interaction by allowing both a role in shaping the outcomes of dialect contact and accommodation. The author suggests that the mechanisms of expansion and reduction in accommodation are echoic of more general processes in language contact and language change.