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There are different reasons for choosing 'H' or 'L' variety.

Some of the reasons are as follows:

i) To make topics easy (leakage)


ii) To maintain status
iii) To maintain social role( teacher-pupil, doctor-patient, soldier-civilian etc.)
iv) Features of the setting and the dimension of the formality (In church, at a formal ceremony)
v) Function or goal of the interaction
vi) Identity and solidarity (as a signal of group membership and shared ethnicity with an
addressee) 
(J Homes, Example 4, page: 25)

Changes in diglossia situation:

Diglossia has been described as a stable situation. It is possible for two varieties to continue to
exist side by side for centuries, as they have in Arabic speaking countries and in Haiti for
example. However, one variety can gradually displace the other as well. For example, England
was diglossic after 1066 when the Normans were in control. French was the language of the
court, administration, the legal system and high society in general. English was the language of
the peasants in the fields and the streets. The following words provide a nice illustration of this
relationship:

English French English

ox boeuf beef
sheep mouton mutton
pig porc pork
calf veau veal

The English 'calf' becomes French 'veau' as it moves from the farm to the dinner table. However,
by the end of the fourteenth century, English has displaced French (while absorbing huge
numbers of French words such as beef, mutton, veal and pork) so there were no longer domains
in which French was the appropriate language to use.
Questioning Diglossia:
Although the concept of diglossia has been important in the study of multilinguialism in a
diverge range of societies, the validity of it as a language practice has also been questioned. The
relative statuses of language may not be exactly as Ferguson depicts; for example, Stepkowska
(2012) notes that in Switzerland Swiss German has long had high prestige and this fact would
contradict the usual assumptions about the L variety in diglossic situation. The situation there is
further complicated because Swiss German is now the language of instruction in elementary
schools.
Another issue is the strict compartmentalization of languages which diglossia requires. Several
recent studies have shown the use of colloquial varieties of Arabic mixed with Classical Arabic
(Albirini 2011, Boussofara-Omar 2003, Soliman 2009). Managan (2003) also reports that
although the relationship between French and French-based creoles in Carribean is often
assumed to be diglossic, in Guadelope, there is frequent code switching and nothing resembling
diglossia in terms of functional distribution of languages. She also reports that this is a situation
of stable bilingualism. However, the challenge is the claim that such stable bilingualism can be
found only with diglossia.
Even if we embrace the idea of diglossia, it is a concept which fits only a narrow range of social
situations. There are many more examples of bilingualism which are clearly not diglossic.

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