accommodation (n.)

A theory in SOCIOLINGUISTICS which aims to explain why people modify their style of speaking (accommodate) to become more like or less like that of their addressee(s). For example, among the reasons why people CONVERGE towards the speech pattern of their listener are the desires to identify more closely with the listener, to win social approval, or simply to increase the communicative efficiency of the interaction.

In SEMANTICS and PRAGMATICS, a term which refers to the acceptance by a hearer of a PRESUPPOSITION made by a speaker that was not previously part of their COMMON GROUND. For example, on hearing ‘All Mary’s children have got colds’, we would accept the presupposition that Mary has children, even if we were previously unaware of the fact. Accommodation is often modelled using RULES which COPY the presupposition into the REPRESENTATION of the preceding DISCOURSE.