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CHAPTER 4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
function. It sets the interpersonal relations of the participants of the recalled
episode (complying with Power), as well as serving as a discourse-related
function of taking different conversational roles (complying with Perspective).
3 The principle of social concurrence [SOLIDARITY]
Solidarity is another principle (in addition to Power and Face) which is used
to define interpersonal social relations between the participants in a given
situation. Such instances of code-switching can be classified under this
principle which enable “[social actors] to maximize social affiliation and
solidarity in relational practice, i. e., [social] actors switch to the language
that is best positioned to index or create solidarity, affiliation, connection,
intimacy and/or similarity between self and other(s).”'??.
Under the principle of Solidarity, linguistic resources, more particularly
instances of code-switching, serve as means of expressing either a perceived
lower position in an unequal situation or as means of expressing solidarity with
or a sense of belonging to a group. As the default language of communication
in a given speech community varies, the language of solidarity and the
actual meaning of the switch has to be interpreted in light of the particular
community’s language use patterns.
In the Optimality Theoretical framework, numerous instances of code¬
switches cited by other theorists have been subsumed under the principle of
Solidarity. These instances express the disposition of the participants, acting
as social actors in an interaction where the roles are hierarchical, based
on affiliation, equality or solidarity rather than on domination, power, or
authority. Twenty-three (23) such entries have been detected, such as the “we¬
code”!**, code-switches expressing “intimacy”'?, “inclusion”'?, the “default
language”!?”, and “decreasing social distance”!**.
Three examples listed below illustrate how the principle of Solidarity
functions. Example [6] involves Hungarian-English code-switching in an
e-mail written by a mother to her son. The extract shows how the switch to
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Bhatt — Bolonyai, Ibid., 530
Gumperz, Discourse Strategies
Bhatt — Bolonyai, Code-switching and the optimal grammar of bilingual use, Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 530
Suresh A. Canagarajah, Functions of code-switching in ESL classrooms; socializing
bilingualism in Jaffna, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 16 (3) (1995),
173-195
Michael Meeuwis — Jan Blommaert, A monolectal view of code-switching. Layered code¬
switching among Zairians in Belgium, in Peter Auer (ed.), Code-switching in Conversation.
Language Interaction and Identity, London, New York, Routledge, 1998, 76-98
Myers-Scotton, Social Motivations for Code-switching; Canagarajah, Functions of code¬
switching in ESL classrooms, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 173¬
195
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