ABSTRACT
A djusting for our fellow interactants is a fundamental part of successful interaction. We do not speak to our colleagues in the same way we do to our spouses, or to our parents in the same way we do to our children. Rather, we adapt our communication to our present circumstances and the ways in which others respond to us (Beukeboom, 2009). However, and unfortunately, the adjustments we make for each other are not always experienced as adequate or appropriate. Problems with communicative adjustment may take a range of forms across a variety of contexts and can have serious consequences. The prospects for miscommunication are particularly rife when people breach intercultural and intergroup divides (e.g., Dubé-Simard, 1983; Hewstone & Giles, 1986). Failing to adapt to local communicative or behavioral norms—not using polite forms, for example, in a high power distance culture—could lead to speakers' committing social or cultural faux pas, resulting in their being labeled as rude, offensive, or worse. In general, when communicative adjustments are felt to be lacking or inappropriate, interaction is experienced as dissatisfying and/or problematic (e.g., Williams, 1996).
