Accentual convergence means that people perceive accents as coherent collections of different linguistic features.

Over exaggerated convergence can be perceived as mocking or patronizing.

If you don't have an actual speech target to converge toward, you might resort to inaccurate, simplistic or stereotyped ideas about how someone will speak.

However, subtler shifts - in what might be called the "sweet spot" of convergence - can have a number of benefits, from social approval to more efficient and successful communication.

Convergence refers to the shifts people make to their speech to approximate that of those around them.

Code-switching or style-shifting can also be examples of convergence, as long as the shift is toward an interlocutor – the person you’re talking to. But people can also sh...