Different situations (being at a job interview, in a court of law, or at your Uncle Fred’s sixtieth birthday party) call for different speech repertoires. Code switching is a type of accommodation in which communicators change from one repertoire or “code” to another as the situation warrants. The language you speak is one type of code. If you speak both English and Spanish, for example, you might speak English in the classroom or on the job but switch to Spanish with your family at home because it creates a special bond between family members (Gudykunst, 2004).

Another type of code that you may switch is the linguistic style—the use of slang, jargon, and grammar—that allows you to fit in with a particular group. These language accommodations may be ways to survive, to manage defensiveness, to manage identity, or to signal power or status in different situations (Dragojevic, Giles, & Watson, 2013). For instance, police officers use this type of accommodation when they adopt the street slang or foreign phrases used by citizens in the neighborhoods they patrol and when they use more formal, bureaucratic language when interacting with superiors, filling out reports, or testifying in court.

Similarly, you might decide to use high language—a more formal, polite, or “mainstream” language—in business contexts, in the classroom, and in formal social gatherings (as when trying to impress the parents of your new romantic interest). However, you would probably switch to more informal, easygoing low language (often involving slang) when you’re in more casual or comfortable environments, such as watching a football game at a sports bar with your friends.

Our sex and gender can interact with the situation to affect our language use. For example, women and men adapt their language use to same-sex versus mixed-sex situations. When women speak with other women, they tend to discuss relationships and use words that are more affection-oriented (concerned with feelings, values, and attitudes). Men chatting with other men use more instrumentally oriented language (concerned with doing things and accomplishing tasks) (Reis, 1998). Gender also comes into play in workplace situations. Occupations that have been traditionally defined as “masculine” or “feminine” often develop a job culture and language that follow suit. Male nursery school teachers (a traditionally “feminine job”) and fathers doing primary childcare may use feminine language at work; female police officers (a traditionally “masculine” job) may adopt more masculine language on patrol (Winter & Pauwels, 2006).

But as we’ve learned, competent communicators use the most effective and appropriate ways of interacting in a given situation. That may mean putting aside gendered speech “appropriate” for our sex. For instance, a successful male manager uses language that reflects liking and respect when building relationships in the workplace, and a successful female manager uses direct language to clarify instructions for completing an important task (Bates, 1988).