___Societal factors are integral to theory______________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UP: <[LINK] 1 7>

Gumperz and Wilson attribute multilingualism's persistence to the social value placed on sparate ethnic identities. All groups interact publicly, but maintain discrete "private" boundaries (from the level of the neighborhood to the level of household) along ethnolinguistic lines. The "home" language is always spoken in home, religion and neighborhood, and visitors from other groups are immediately recognizable and treated to more formal language and attitude. (How do Gumperz and Wilson know what they were treated to?)