{"title":"Linguistic territoriality in Switzerland","authors":"Till Burckhardt","doi":"10.1075/lplp.00077.bur","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This article argues that the linguistic territoriality principle cannot be considered as a general guideline for the\n design of language policy but rather as a tool to find the right balance between linguistic freedom and linguistic peace under\n given circumstances. The article traces the origin and evolution of language policy principles during the drafting process of the\n new constitutional article in its three official language versions. The Swiss language regime is embedded in an institutional\n system of executive federalism in which mostly monolingual cantons and municipalities are in charge of implementing nearly all\n public policy. This significantly reduces the relevance of the inconsistency between a formally personalistic multilingual federal\n language regime and linguistic territoriality deriving from cantonal language regimes. The point of the new federal regulation is\n to provide room for manoeuvre for cantonal policymakers to adopt legislation based on linguistic territoriality. The relevant\n constitutional article recognises that territorial language policies can be implemented to ensure linguistic peace. At the same\n time, the personality principle may be adopted to protect autochthonous linguistic minorities.","PeriodicalId":44345,"journal":{"name":"Language Problems & Language Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Problems & Language Planning","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00077.bur","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article argues that the linguistic territoriality principle cannot be considered as a general guideline for the
design of language policy but rather as a tool to find the right balance between linguistic freedom and linguistic peace under
given circumstances. The article traces the origin and evolution of language policy principles during the drafting process of the
new constitutional article in its three official language versions. The Swiss language regime is embedded in an institutional
system of executive federalism in which mostly monolingual cantons and municipalities are in charge of implementing nearly all
public policy. This significantly reduces the relevance of the inconsistency between a formally personalistic multilingual federal
language regime and linguistic territoriality deriving from cantonal language regimes. The point of the new federal regulation is
to provide room for manoeuvre for cantonal policymakers to adopt legislation based on linguistic territoriality. The relevant
constitutional article recognises that territorial language policies can be implemented to ensure linguistic peace. At the same
time, the personality principle may be adopted to protect autochthonous linguistic minorities.
期刊介绍:
Language Problems and Language Planning is published in cooperation with the Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems. This international multi-lingual journal publishes articles primarily on political, sociological, and economic aspects of language and language use. It is especially concerned with relationships between and among language communities, particularly in international contexts, and in the adaptation, manipulation, and standardization of language for international use.