Not necessarily. It has little to do with learning to speak in a higher status manner. The comment box doesn't allow for a clear concise explanation but the lan

Not necessarily. It has little to do with learning to speak in a higher status manner. The comment box doesn't allow for a clear concise explanation but the language shift is something that the brain does on a subconscious level. A person's emotional state is related to how they see themselves in relation to their world at that moment. The 'language shift' is a manifestation of that. It is a tell in a way, the same way different clusters of body movements are, unlike body language, though, it is something that goes undetected by either party and hence can't be actively expressed or detected. That's why the LWC software was built. Check out the book that Pennebaker wrote. It does a better job explaining this than the article does and it will clear any confusion. Pennebaker doesn't provide an explanation for why their's a need to be more personal when assuming a lower status or when experiencing emotional trauma but he does provide plenty of evidence for the relationship.