Linguistic Synchrony in Parasocial Interaction

Abstract

This investigation examines the linguistic behavior of audience members replying to the blog posts of television characters. Proponents of communication accommodation theory (Giles, 1973 Giles , H. ( 1973 ). Accent mobility: A model and some data . Anthropological Linguistics , 15 , 87 – 105 . [Google Scholar]; Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991 Giles , H. , Coupland , N. , & Coupland , J. ( 1991 ). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence . In H. Giles , J. Coupland & N. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 1 – 69 ). Cambridge , UK : Cambridge University Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) contend interactants accommodate the communicative behaviors of others they perceive as socially desirable. We argue similar behaviors should be observed in individuals engaging in parasocial interaction. Using the Language Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC) (Pennebaker & Francis, 1999 Pennebaker , J. W. , & Francis , M. E. ( 1999 ). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC): A computer-based text analysis program . Mahwah , NJ : Erlbaum . [Google Scholar]), we examine the language use of the TV characters as well as the audience members replying to their blog posts for linguistic synchrony and verbal immediacy by comparing language usage. The results suggest that audience members adapt language behaviors to TV characters and are more immediate when posting more often.