"Can You Spell That for Us Nonnative Speakers?": Accommodation Strategies in International Business Meetings

Abstract

This article investigates the role of speech accommodation by native and nonnative speakers of English in a series of international business meetings. The study first of all reveals an awareness by some participants of the need to adjust language for an international audience and an intuitive understanding of some of the ways this can be achieved. Analysis of the meetings’ discourse further illustrates some of the normalization and convergence strategies used by some participants throughout the meetings to accommodate linguistic differences and difficulties. It is suggested that such authentic examples could be used as the basis for business communication training resources to help both native and nonnative speakers communicate more effectively in international contexts.