These are aspects of our identity, and the identity/ies of the person(s) we are communicating with, which may influence the way we talk to each other. Macro-contextual factors include: national or regional origin, social class, gender identity, age, ethnic origin, occupation, religion, sexuality, social context, multilingualism, education and social status. Macro-contextual factors are also known as ‘global’ factors and are assumed to exist prior to the interaction. Whether they actually influence a specific interaction will depend on the nature of the communicative task and micro-contextual factors.