Relevance, accommodation and conversation: Modeling the social dimension of communication

This paper addresses the issue of the role of the social component in a theory of communication. In the first, theoretical part of the paper, we examine what constitutes an adequate social, or sociolinguistic, basis for modeling communication. We ask whether there may be radically different orientations to social assumptions about communication by different theorists, and we review several current frameworks: relevance theory, conversation analysis, and accommodation theory. We also make reference to other well-established and (broadly) sociolinguistic approaches - politeness theory, frame analysis, and what we might call pragma-semiotics. In the second section of the paper, we introduce some interactive data from an audiological clinic to illustrate the varying remits of the different theoretical perspectives, and what social dimensions they are best and least able to handle. What we hope will emerge is a clearer understanding of the social basis of communication as a platform for future, more integrative theorizing.