Assimilation of problematic voices and the historicity of signs

This chapter considers how words and other signs absorb their meaning from the experience and cultural context of people who have used them, a property called historicity. Through the historicity of the signs they use, therapists’ and clients’ cultural backgrounds shape clients’ understanding of and solutions to their problems. The account is framed in terms of the assimilation model (Stiles, 2011; Stiles et al., 1990).