Dialect accommodation in interaction: Explaining dialect change and stability

• West Sweden is characterized by both linguistic stability and change.
• Speakers accommodate to their interlocutors' use of both dialect and standard variants.
• Accommodation in conversation is an interactional resource.
• Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) can help explain linguistic variation.
• CAT and interactional analysis may explain both language change and stability.

The dialect situation in West Sweden is characterized by extensive intra-individual variation. When analyzing this variation, it became evident that speakers accommodate their use of dialect and standard features to their interlocutors. The present paper deals with interpersonal accommodation within a conversation and relates this to the dialect situation in the area studied, in order to discuss the possible relationship between micro-level accommodation and the linguistic situation in a given speech community. The paper goes on to suggest that Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) and interactional analysis are important assets to modern sociolinguistic theory as they can help explain variation and, maybe, the processes behind linguistic change and stability.