The article describes sociolinguistic, grammatical
and pragmatic approaches to code-switching, concentrating on
several well-known models (MLF, markedness model, pragmatic-grammatical
continuum etc). It is argued that neither a strictly grammatical
nor a macrosociolinguistic approach can adequately account for
all instances of Russian-Estonian code-switching. Code-switching
in post-Soviet settings (including Estonia) challenges the portrait
of a prototypical code-switching person. In the author's view
linguistic creativity should be definitely considered as a factor
in code-switching.
