Introduction

In 1980, Joshua Fishman, a father fi gure in the fi eld of sociolinguistics and multilingualism, argued in a review article that, whereas considerable progress had been made in what he termed “micro analysis” where “variation theory, discourse analysis, speech act theory, pragmatics, and ethnomethodological concerns and sensitivities have pretty much become modern day orthodoxies” (1980: 161), hardly any attention had been paid to making connections with sociology or with socio-cultural theory more generally; “none at all, indeed, except for the ethnomethodological corner thereof”, Fishman claimed. He further stated, “If we look for linkages between macro-sociolinguistic e orts and the parent disciplines, the situation is even less heartening, because not only are such links exceedingly few and far between, but nothing approaching schools of thought or elaborated points of view are discernible. That being the case the likelihood of productive theoretical linkages between micro-and macro-sociolinguistic endeavours is rather remote for the foreseeable future” (1980: 161).