This interdisciplinary research project focuses on the relationship between multilingualism and plurilingualism, political institutions and legal conditions in Switzerland.
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 disucssion seem to become increasingly polarised.
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, naturalised or other language speakers acquire political and institutional discourse skills?
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. By looking at the interplay between federalism and multilingualism, consensus and polarisation, and social cohesion and social change, the project will shed light on the question of how (multilingual) Switzerland (politically) speaks to each other.