What do you do when you can t accommodate? Managing and evaluating problematic interactions in a multilingual medical environment

Abstract

This study sought to better understand how speakers react, and what factors predict their evaluations of interaction, when a language barrier renders conventional verbal accommodation impossible. An analysis of conversation self-reports by n = 30 medical doctors working in multilingual hospital settings indicated that in these situations, speakers engage with their interlocutor to problem solve, and use their social and affective experiences as a basis for evaluating these conversations. These results underscore the importance of social connection when language barriers render conventional interaction impossible, and highlight how the cognitive and affective functions of accommodation work in concert.