ABSTRACT
Code switching provides an excellent window for observing the interrelationship between microsociolinguistics and macrosociolinguistics. At the basis of Halliday's model of language is the act of interaction between the subject and his environment. Halliday sees language as the primary tool for the perpetuation of the social order. The tenor of Bernstein's theory is that there are overt language differences contingent on social class, but it must be realised that this alone is insufficient to draw inferences about the existence of substantive differences in meaning or in higher cognitive structure. Variation between languages or between dialects involves differences at all linguistic levels; yet the speech differences between social classes are hypothesised by Bernstein to be restricted to the semantic level. Pidgins are auxiliary linguistic codes connected to a very specific set of circumstances, and their eventual death is inevitable unless they become the native language of the young generation through creolisation.
