Accommodation and Chinese college teachers’ choice between dialects and Mandarin in casual talks and service encounters

Abstract

Focusing on the choice between Chinese dialects and Mandarin and working on the basis of Communication Accommodation Theory, this article investigates the way Chinese college teachers accommodate their interlocutors in casual talks and in service encounters. The data, collected through a questionnaire and several observations, point to a strong convergence tendency by Chinese college teachers toward their friends in casual talks and a strong divergence tendency from strangers in service encounters if the latter are known to be able to understand their dialects.