Eva Maria Belser Wyss
Professor
BRG 01 - 1.04
+41 26 300 8130
How do you speak Swiss?
Consensus Democracy, Multilingualism and Political Participation
This interdisciplinary research project focuses on the relationship between multilingualism and plurilingualism, political institutions and legal conditions in Switzerland.
The project is a collaboration between the Institute of Federalism and the Institute of Multilingualism.
Aim
The Swiss Confederation is a federal state with four national languages. Switzerland's political culture is based on consensus and the often lengthy negotiation of compromises. Recently, however, political positions and public discussion seem to become increasingly polarized.
How do political and institutional practices, norms and values, and legal frameworks affect linguistic products such as speeches, debates and parliamentary initiatives? And vice versa: how are individual monolingual and multilingual linguistic repertoires reflected in political-institutional discourse?
What role do the different first languages of the actors play? Who is expected to be receptively or productively competent in which other languages or varieties – and how were/are these language skills acquired? How do, for example, newly elected, naturalized or other language speakers acquire political and institutional discourse skills?
By looking at the interplay between federalism and multilingualism, consensus and polarization, and social cohesion and social change, the project will shed light on the question of how (multilingual) Switzerland (politically) speaks to each other.
Methodologies
Based on a literature review and various case studies, the project investigates the interaction of language(s) and institutional conditions in the context of Swiss multilevel democracy. In an interdisciplinary approach using methods from law, political science, sociology, ethnography and applied linguistics and combining quantitative and qualitative research, the project looks at the role of language(s) in Swiss politics – at the national level (parliament and media), cantonal level (by example of Neuchâtel and Schwyz) and also the communal level (participation of Non-Swiss or recently naturalized citizens).
Project team
Raphael Berthelé
Professor
MIS 10 - 1.14
+41 26 300 7140
Activities, publications and presentations
Activities
October 22, 2024: Workshop and Public Lecture “Konsens und Kompromiss in der Schweiz. Linguistische Perspektiven” by Prof. Dr. Juliane Schröter, University of Geneva
Spring 2025: MA-seminar "Political Debate on the Foreign Language Effect" (Prof. Dr. R. Berthele, Department of Multilingualism and Foreign Language Education, Uni FR
Interview "Dialekt oder Hochdeutsch? Wie Sprache und Politik zusammenhängen". Blog der ch Stiftung für eidgenössische Zusammenarbeit, Juni 2025. Link: https://chstiftung.ch/ch-blog/dialekt-oder-hochdeutsch-wie-sprache-und-politik-zusammenhaengen
Presentations
February 28, 2025: MA-seminar « Globalisations et Circulation » (Prof Dr. A. Kernen), University of Lausanne, talk by Dr. Verena Richardier
Thursday 16. 10. 25, 17.15-18.45: Conférence « Plurilinguisme et politique : Sprachgebräuche in der Schweizer Politik » à l’Institut de Plurilinguisme de l’Univesité de Fribourg/Freiburg (K0.02) Lien : https://institut-plurilinguisme.ch/de/alle-veranstaltungen#event6211
Tuesday 11. 11. 25: Workshop and Public Lecture by Dr. Sean Müller, University of Lausanne, at the University of Fribourg/Freiburg
Publications
Berthele, Raphael (2025). Doing politics in the other language. Sentiment and subjectivity in Swiss political debates. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2526705
Shafer, Naomi (2025): „Verhandlungssprache Schweizerdeutsch: Vom Gewohnheitsrecht in die Geschäftsordnung eines Deutschschweizer Kantonsparlaments“. IFF Working Paper Online 47. https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/331770