Language, health, and the unseen: communication accommodation strategies in Nigerian Ruqyah culture

Communication accommodation theory (CAT) has been widely applied to interpersonal, intergroup, and healthcare communication, yet little is known about its relevance in transcendental health contexts. This study examines how Nigerian Islamic exorcists (Ruqyah practitioners) employ communication accommodation strategies before and during exorcism sessions involving individuals possessed by jinns or related possessing agents. Drawing on participant observation of eleven Ruqyah sessions involving three practitioners and interviews with two practitioners, we analysed the linguistic and paralinguistic strategies used to communicate with patients and possessing jinns. Findings reveal that pre-Ruqyah interactions were characterised by convergence, interpretability, discourse management, emotional expression, and interpersonal control aimed at building trust, facilitating diagnosis, and accommodating patients’ gender and religious backgrounds. During Ruqyah, practitioners strategically shifted among convergence, divergence, and maintenance through persuasion, religious preaching, questioning, threats of divine punishment, and nonverbal displays of authority. The study contextualises CAT to a decolonial and transcendental health setting by identifying triadic interaction involving practitioners, patients, and possessing jinns, while demonstrating how multiple identities are communicatively negotiated within spiritually framed healing encounters.