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 Prediction versus interpretation
 Two kinds of prediction:
 (A) The most ambitious kind is to be able to predict
just when a bilingual speaker would switch from one
language to the other within a conversation.
 (B) A more limited kind is to be able to predict which
of three language-choice patterns an individual would
use in a certain situation; her first language, her
second language, or a combination of both, without
trying to predict each and every switch.
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 Explanation = Interpretation: take a particular language
choice event as given and try to understand the interactive
work it is accomplishing for the speaker.
 Rubin (1968b): A broad-category prediction technique -
decision tree – domain analysis: in Paraguay, decision
between Spanish and Guarani.
 A Paraguayan's decision to speak Spanish or Guarani was
based on an ordered series of situational considerations.
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Location (place of conversation)
Rural (Guaraní)
Nonrural
Formality-Informality (of the situation)
Formal (Spanish)
Nonformal
Intimate (relationship between speakers)
Non-intimate (Spanish)
Intimate
Seriousness of discourse (topic)
Nonserious (Guaraní)
Serious
First language learned (of speaker)
Predicted language proficiency (of addressee)
Sex of speakers (Men: G:M, S:W) (Women: S:MW)
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 Four factors affecting broad language-choice
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predictions:
(1) location or setting
(2) situation (formality category)
(3) topic (seriousness of discourse)
(4) participants (intimacy)
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 Two problems:
 1- Although many scholars use the same terms, there
may be little in common in what they mean by them.
 2- Almost all these scholars stop short of saying that
they know how to use these factors to make reliable
predictions about language choice (except: Gal who
emphasizes that the identity of the participants is
virtually the only thing that needs to be known).
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 Explanation/interpretation:
 (1) Use of the High language to make an utterance
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more authoritative
(2) Using the High language to give the 'point' or
reason for telling a story that had been narrated
mostly in the Low language
(3) Using the High language to impress a child with
the seriousness of a command.
(4) Quotations
(5) Addressee specification
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 Choosing without a choice
 Conversational language switching patterns, in
particular, seem to be beyond the conscious control of
individual speakers and often even contrary to their
expressed language attitudes.
 Switching of the metaphorical type seems to be almost
universally deplored by bilinguals as language mixture.
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