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CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW
theories into a comprehensive model of language alternation, Myers-Scotton
and Bolonyai propose the Rational Choice model? relying on the social theory
of rationality by Elster".
In order to reconcile the macro-level, essentialist, sociocultural approach
to the interpretation of code-switching with the micro-level, constructivist,
conversation analytical approaches, Myers-Scotton and Bolonyai focused their
theory on the individual speaker, who, as a rational social actor determined by
the sociocultural dimension of a given community, makes their idiosyncratic
linguistic choices which gain their actual meaning in the context of various
interactions”.
Myers-Scotton and Bolonyai criticized the CA approach for “downgrading
or even ignoring speaker motivation”. Myers-Scotton and Bolonyai claim
that, by focusing fundamentally on the sequential and interactional analysis of
code-switching, the CA approach fails to take into consideration the individual
variation in code-switching patterns. They claim that code-switching is
determined by the individual’s rational choice to express intentionality.
Therefore, the individual’s rational linguistic choice as a means of optimizing
their intentionality and motivation has to be interpreted in the individual’s
linguistic repertoire contextualized by extra-linguistic, societal norms”.
As a reinterpretation of the Markedness Model, they propose the Rational
Choice (RC) model based on Elster’s concept of rationality’’. By placing
rationality at the center of motivating linguistic choices, the RC has shifted
its emphasis more into the direction of the choice of the individual. RC is a
normative framework, but it is rather individual than community based.
According to this framework, speakers are rational actors who make
cognitively based linguistic choices propelled by the aim of intentionality and
by the speakers’ estimation of what choices will grant the greatest utility in
a given situation. These choices, however, have to pass through three filters.
First, there are external constraints on speakers: their linguistic repertoires
(their “opportunity set”) are constrained by large scale external societal
factors, and the discourse structure of their communities. Secondly, they
are filtered through internal constraints: by a markedness evaluator, and by
somatic markers. A third filter is rationality”.
Myers-Scotton — Bolonyai, Calculating speakers: code-switching in a rational choice model,
Language in Society, 1-28
Jon Elster, Sour Grapes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983; Jon Elster, Rational
Choice, New York, New York University Press, 1986
Myers-Scotton — Bolonyai, Calculating speakers: code-switching in a rational choice model,
Language in Society, 1-28
Myers-Scotton — Bolonyai, Ibid., 5
76 Myers-Scotton — Bolonyai, Ibid., 1-28
Elster, Sour Grapes; Elster, Rational Choice
78 Myers-Scotton — Bolonyai, Ibid., 22
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