Arabic interdialectal encounters: Investigating the influence of attitudes on language accommodation

• This paper investigates Arabic interdialectal accommodation in the U.S.
• Dialect asymmetry characterizes first generation interdialectal contact.
• The motivation to accommodate is predicated on attitudes to Arabic varieties.
• Micro-level accommodation reflects macro-societal intergroup relations.
• Arabic interdialectal accommodation is unstable and may trigger language shift.

This paper investigates patterns of interdialectal language accommodation among Arabic speakers in the U.S. It contributes to Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) by demonstrating that speakers' motivation to accommodate is predicated on their attitudes toward the different Arabic varieties. Using data from natural conversations, personal interviews, and ethnographic observations, this study shows that language attitudes affect the degree of a speaker's convergence or divergence toward their interlocutors. The theoretical undertaking of this study is to examine the relationship between micro-level accommodative strategies and macro-societal relationships that arrange the asymmetries between these varieties and their speakers.