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CHAPTER 4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ancient culture which grants him the right to use a piece of land he does not want. By switching to the official language of English from the traditionally default language of the Pandit community, speaker B not only places himself in a distant position from the community’s default language but also from his traditional rights vested in this community. The switch to English per se expresses authority and distance, while the monolingual instance would require more linguistic or meta-linguistic resources to draw upon to express the same socio-pragmatic meaning. Consequently, the switch to English is a more optimal candidate complying with the constraint of Power. In the second part of the same conversation [Example 4b], the switch to English in line 4 is of interest to us. Speaker C is also a member of the Pandit family, she is Kashmiri dominant, but she starts her utterance in Hindi, indicating affiliation and solidarity with speaker A, who is an older member of the family. However, she switches to English, the language of authority. The switch grants her control over the situation and enables her to top the argument and to close the conversation without giving more explanation. The switch to English also involves face management. By taking on the position of authority, the speaker mitigates a face-threatening act, that is, she wants to rely on B’s financial assistance if need be. The switch to English, hence, complies more optimally with the constraint of Power, Face, and Power than the monolingual candidate or a switch to Kashmiri. However, it violates the constraint of Solidarity. [Example 4b] 1 A“... jeb mein paisa honaa chahiye” (‘you need to have more money in your pocket’) 2 C “are, aisaa kuch nahiiN hai” (‘Oh, it’s nothing like that’) 3 B “kyuN, aap bina paisoN ke apnaa kaam caleto ho” (‘Why you get through life without money.) 4 C “mujhe paise kii kabhii zarurat paRhegii, I will ask B” (‘When/If I need money, I will ask B.’) (cited by Bhatt and Bolonyai)!*° In the next example [5], the switch to English line 5 is an indication of how “authority and social distance” is created’. 130 Bhatt — Bolonyai, Ibid., 529 131 Bhatt — Bolonyai, Ibid., 530
