(A) The accomodation theory, in linguistics, starts from the premise that speech accommodation takes place when people modify their speech so that it conforms more with the way their conversational partners speaks.
(B) For example, the speed at which people talks, the length of both pauses and utterances, the kind of vocabulary and syntax used, as well as intonation, voice pitch and pronunciation are all subject to the accommodation process.
(C) A wide range of subtle adaptations have been observed, which tend to occur more or less unconsciously.
(D) This kind of convergence is by no means an automatic feature of all conversations, and we can discern certain social contexts in which accommodation can be predicted.