Nor do these media usually include the depth of context that allows readers to pick up such nonverbal cues from more traditional literature or visual media. The result is a kind of control mark by which we can measure the level of CAT that takes place face-to-face. While phone texting seems to be developing its own accommodation markers through the numerous abbreviations and emoticons that emerge ongoing, my own informal research group at least agrees that an email from a professor to "come see me in my office about your paper" does not encourage convergence even with a perfect grade point average, although there is no literal suggestion of divergence either.

This informal control benchmark indicates how complex forms of accommodation can become. When we hear a speaker with a regional dialect we cannot automatically tell if they are affecting an accent on purpose, or for example if they grew...
[ View Full Essay]