Variation in Xenolects (Foreigner Talk)

The way we talk to people who do not understand and speak our language, or more precisely even, who we think do not understand and speak our language, is different from the language we normally use. It has long been a mystery, however, just how, and to what extent, people adapt to the challenges of unequal and restricted communication conditions: There are reports often anecdotal and speculative in nature though on the use of a highly ungrammatical and largely condescending register that native speakers use when addressing non-native speakers. Other studies report different degrees of adaptations in different realms of the language, while yet another group of studies have not been able to identify any structural adaptation patterns at all and hence question the existence of such patterns (Stocker-Edel 1977; Arthur et al., 1980). Overall, the fact that this area of intercultural communication has not been researched very well and relies largely on anecdotal evidence and speculation contributes to the rather blurred and inconsistent picture. Two main factors stand out in distinguishing the studies and thus explaining the lack of consistency in their results: methodology and research objectives. First and foremost, the methodology used in eliciting data can be clearly linked to whether or not, and to what degree, adaptations are found (see Beebe/Cummings 1996 and Houck/Gass 1996 for further references). Generally, conversational settings where speakers are aware of being recorded and their language use is being monitored (for instance interviews, or questionnaires) or where "linguistic etiquette" appears to be required (e.g. in many sales or customer service conversations recorded in North America and in