Selection of the language to be used in a business encounter is of importance, as is
maintenance of this language for the duration of that period. Australian informants
report that extensive sequences of code-switching from English to Japanese sometimes
occur in Australian-Japanese interaction. It can be argued that code-switching is a direct
violation of English norms of politeness for it acts to exclude certain participants in the
encounter from the ensuing discourse. In the business luncheons in the video taperecorded
data, all the sequences which contained the ordering of the meal items by the