The Switzerland I know is a confusing mixture of geographic scales from global to local and everything in between. During a walk through Zürich, one could easily find tangible evidence of an attachment to worldly ideas and places. Global environmental groups such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund have branch offices in town. Travel agencies advertise their package trips to America and the Mediterranean as well as the exotic vacation in the Australian outback or on the beaches of Bali. There are alternative stores selling authentic goods from Asia and Africa, and Chinese, Turkish, and Indian foods are entering the culinary mainstream.

The Swiss maintain a curiosity towards if not an outright brotherhood with other "mountainous" people and places. In particular, Austria and other Alpenländer share similar interests in recreation and folk culture (Barker, 1982; Jordon, 1980; MacDonald, 1993). The current fad of foreign interest revolves around Tibet and the Andes as they capture popular imagination and fulfill some sense of authenticity (Bendix, 1993). In contrast, there is an indigenous loyalty to Swiss made products. A trend in Swiss clothes and accessories is to emphasize traditional styles popularized by the "ethno" designer Michel Jordi. Locally and nationally grown food with a "bio" label is popular in both a marketing and environmental sense. On the street, one sees "Zueri Korn" (flour) being touted in neighborhood bakeries and chocolate proudly boosting "Alpenmilch" as the main ingredient.

In the all-important context of Europe, Switzerland is in the Europe of ideas, such as constitutionalism and liberalism, but outside the current structure of the European Union (Bohn, 1983; Hobsbawn, 1992; Weibel, 1993). With popular opinion against joining international groups, the solution has been to deal with things on a bilateral basis. For example, the Swiss have never joined the United Nations despite Genève having a large U.N. presence. Furthermore, Switzerland contributes more to the U.N. than their allotment of dues would be if they were members. The government applies this bilateral strategy to Swiss-Europe relations as well. The Swiss government negotiated a series of treaties with the E.U. that the electorate eventually approved. While not joining, Switzerland is probably more compliant with E.U. regulations than some members and enjoys many of the benefits.

As a politico-territorial State, Switzerland has to balance its cultural diversity with the need for a national unity or raison d' être (Frey and Bohnet, 1995; Rokkan and Urwin, 1998). Ideally, both a pride in being "Swiss" and a member of a decentered ethnicity (opposite of ethno-centrism) has to co-exist, which is why promoting political ideas that transcend language is so important (Bohn, 1983). In the following discussion, I mix the notion of big and small with the dichotomy of global—local to come up with some different and even conflicting images of Switzerland.

Is Switzerland a Big or Small Place?

Obviously, Switzerland is a big place where place is understood not to be the same thing as space, but something with meaning. Switzerland could be mistaken for a big country because there seems to flow out a lot of ideas and products (Linder, 1994). For example, there is Calvin and the Reformation, Swiss mercenaries at the Vatican, and consumer hits like Swatch. On the other hand, Switzerland could be mistaken as a small peripheral space that further fragments into colloquial units. The federal government has no police force, relies on the cantons for tax collection, while individual communities (political Gemeinde) retain a high degree of sovereignty (Segesser, 1998). This split image of Switzerland rests on an underlying duality of places and nation. The nation Switzerland is composed of strong individual parts or places that successfully promote their own interests and uniqueness. Karl Deutsch the political scientist/geographer elaborated on the idea of city-states around the Swiss experience (Deutsch and Weilenmann, 1965). The large cities, Zürich, Genève, Basel, Bern, etc., are legacies of micro-statehood (Schorske, 1994). They have well defined hinterlands with recognizable language variations. Furthermore, they retain cultural icons such as parliament buildings, universities, and museums. Of interest and importance, these cities see themselves as global places more than just regional parts of Switzerland. Their success as global actors, such as Genève with the Red Cross or Zürich as a financial center, rests partly on Swiss neutrality and location but also on local initiative.

The rural areas of Switzerland also promote their own uniqueness albeit this is more intertwined with contemporary heritage and tourism (Hoggart et. al., 1995; Lowenthal, 1997). Three notable areas are Appenzell, with its retention of folk customs and direct democracy by community assembly; Bündnerland, for its natural and cultural wonders including its humorous self-portrayal of rurality (in Liebi, 1999); the "Forest Cantons" of Central Switzerland where the Eidgenossenschaft originated. Individual places such as St. Moritz, Zermatt, and Grindelwald are renown for their alpine tourism in terms of both longevity and quality. Nearly every rural place promotes some kind of primary or secondary development that includes tourism or vacation homes. Moreover, the process of differentiating places especially through tourism promotion creates thousands of unique villages and heritages.

Switzerland of strong local identities and corresponding territories can also be reversed. The particulars of the local level can be appropriated and elevated to the national (Watkins, 1991). The best known is the Wilhelm Tell tale that has become the Swiss national myth. During the Summer of 1941, the military dramatically retold it in a fashion to rally the Swiss behind the war effort (Bendix, 1992:779). Other examples include Emmentaler cheese and St. Bernard dogs becoming quintessential Swiss to foreigners or the portrayal of Heidi and her Walser relatives becoming the stereotypical alpine family. These images of Switzerland are set in localities that can be quite different from the next valley not to mention the other side of Switzerland (McGuire and Netting, 1982; Viazzo, 1989). Outside of Switzerland, one may view it as small land with an enormous influence (Linder, 1994). These images are important because Swiss tourism promotion and product confidence is interwoven with the notion of Svizra-exceptionality (Switzerland is exceptional). Inside the country, other forms of this big-small dichotomy play out across various geographical scales operate in the daily lives of ordinary Swiss through shopping, voting, and serving in the military.

Switzerland, in its diversity and unity, is the subject of this chapter and specifically those cultural features that have a direct impact on the Romansh language. Two features are important to highlight. The first is a political realm that encompasses the institutions, discourses, practices and policies that relate to language. The second is the culture of consumption in public spaces that has a stronger sense of nationalism than the political arena. Moreover, this public sphere of political discourse and consumerism has both a multilingual quality as well as a tinge of social egalitarianism. I begin the chapter with a background discussion of nationalism and my previous research experience in Switzerland. Then, I discuss the political and consumer culture operating at various geographical scales.

Svizra Exceptionality

Cultural geographers know Switzerland for its four national languages, and we enjoy asking our students to list them on a test. Because there is little chance of referential experience with Rhaeto-Romance, the question differentiates the good students. More importantly, there is a powerful story to convey about languages in our world. We collectively understand that a multilingual society supported by a state instead of attacked in the guise of creating national unity is exceptional. Assuming the number of nation-states stay under 200, the ratio of languages to states is nearly 25:1. If each state had the right and might to create a monolingual nation, it would likely lead to language loss on a global scale. The fact that Switzerland's multilingual development occurs in Europe where nationalism made its rhetorical and methodological debut compounds the irony.

Naziunal Svizer

Nationalism is alive and well in Europe and many people seem surprised. The European Union was going to create a new identity of pan-European and regions to complement if not replace nationality (Murphy, 1996). In some academic circles, nationalism is a contrived entity that can be exposed for its geopolitical ends (Agnew and Corbridge, 1995). If nationalism was supposed to be in the ash heaps of history, what keeps this strong allegiance to national identity and territory going? One explanation is that nationalism has other human dimensions such as ethnicity and public ritual. Many symbols of our global diversity still derive from a nation-state mentality such as the United Nations and the Olympic Movement where the national flag is a preeminent symbol.

The belief that other people you do not know share kinship is one of the trademarks of nationalism. More intellectual disagreement occurs over how this belief comes about. One extreme is that a nation really is a primordial people, and Williams (1994:5) explains that this notion of nation is continuous with time. Scruton (1992:83) present an opposite view that "… the nation is a peculiarly modern form of community…inseparable from the culture of the written word." One notes Hobsbawn (1992) for his contribution to this debate because of the invention of tradition thesis, but he also mentions the saliency of ethnicity to nationality claims. Smith (1991) provides a clear theory using the term "ethnie," that allows for both a limited ethnic claim and the instrumental reality of modern States.

In addition to ethnicity, political rituals and a sense of political community are important. States such as Switzerland and the United States must build political community around political ideas. A fundamental aspect is that political independence and democratic rituals seem to follow a national pattern. In Switzerland, these rituals including elections are multilingual and do not exclude the Romansh. The Romansh are Swiss when it comes to democratic practice and citizenship. What happens in Switzerland will affect the Romansh, and what the Romansh do occurs in a mostly Swiss context.

Mia Svizra

Switzerland has become the object of my research over the past decade, but I selected Swiss topics mostly by convenience and serendipity. My first time in Switzerland occurred when I was traveling to Kuwait for my first post as an embassy guard. I flew on a Swissair flight where thanks to an incompetent travel agent I spent hours at both the Zürich and Genève airports. In Zürich, I walked through the airport, which had these glass displays with expensive watches and knives, and I recall thinking how orderly and efficient everything seemed. In Genève, the plane had to wait on the tarmac, so they opened the doors for fresh air. From the plane, I could see the Alps in all their glory of a cloudless day. A stewardess quickly ascertained that I was an American and struck up a conversation in English. That she spoke four languages truly amazed me--maybe even more than the watches and mountains.

When my assignment in Kuwait ended, I selected Bern for my next post and to my surprise, I received it. I remember it was a wet summer. The smells and colors of blooming and decaying plants were very strong and in sharp contrast to the dry and dusty desert I had just left. A second impression was the comfortable feel of the city and positive urban lifestyle, which was the exact opposite of neglect and disgust towards American cities. I learned the Bernese custom of window shopping and socializing under the arcades of the Altstadt. As a traveler, Switzerland's multilingual landscape impressed me, and without catering to English speakers. In the Middle East, most signs were in Arabic and English, but in Bern, signs tended to be in German and French. One of my favorite examples is consumer goods that come with product information in German, French, and Italian. I still like to decipher ingredient lists while comparing the English to its Germanic past and Latin influences.

A few years later, I spent a Christmas season working in a hotel near Davos that catered to families with children. The couple that managed the hotel was Romansh, but they did not really talk about it. She spoke to their two sons in Romansh. Only later did I figure it out that the school they sent them to was a Romansh community about 20 minutes drive from the hotel. In many ways, they typified the Romansh situation. They were involved with the modern economy that pulls them away from Romansh speaking areas, but they could still try to maintain the language through personal effort and good fortune to be proximate to a Romansh town. While only a short experience, my memory of this family helped me personalize the Romansh situation.

As a graduate student, I was unsure whether to choose an environmental or cultural topic for my M.A. thesis. The allure of Bern as a place was crucial for me to engage a very cultural topic. The focus on sense of place was an excellent way to grapple with culture. Through this research, I developed an appreciation for historical preservation and its relationship to how people view themselves and how they present an image to others. Switzerland is fortunate to have well preserved city centers, but it was not an accident of history. Preservation in Bern as I discovered is an ongoing process with extensive planning and zoning regimes that revolve around monument protection. This process is extremely selective when it deals with an individual water fountain statue, and it is rather nebulous concept when the character of the skyline becomes a preservation goal. It all comes down to the tremendous amount of community support for protection of icons as well as a desire to maintain the public spaces and settings for cultural production. Many of the same controls over the urban landscape are found in rural communities, but the locals rely on the canton for planning and preservation expertise. In the next section, I present some linguistic background about Switzerland that has a direct relationship to the Romansh and their language survival.

Lingua Istorgia

Switzerland can and does celebrate two beginnings. The first is the romantic beginning of the Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) that supposedly occurred in 1291, and the second beginning is the modern, federal State linked to the 1848 Constitution. Along the way, a few crucial events such as political independence and the emergence of an alpine cheese economy (Hirtenland) complement the recent past in Switzerland. Instead of recounting Swiss history that is available in many publications (Im Hof, 1986; Luck, 1985), I summarize the linguistic past as it relates to Swiss history.

The current language boundaries in Switzerland are very stable, but their origins are anything but stable (Figures 1 and 25). Two points to emphasize about the borders: one, they are a result of human migration and have an underlying ethnic component, and two, there was a process of language change as different culture groups came into contact that could have been contested. Under the term human migration, I include the mass-migrations (Völkerwanderung) at the end of Roman hegemony, the settlement processes of the Middle Ages, and modern freedom to choose a place to live. All four national languages derived from a particular ethnic group or combination of groups. In the context of migration, some of these ethnic groups imposed their language on others; meanwhile other groups adopted the existing language.

Figure 25 [Map]

Language Border Formation

The language geography before Roman occupation was exceptionally fragmented. Celtic peoples inhabited most of the current Swiss territory, and perhaps Rhaetians (Staehlin, 1948) in the easternmost portions. As part of their Empire, Romans created an infrastructure of roads, forts, and three colonies in the Swiss Plain (Mittelland), and the legacy of transportation and settlement networks is still in the landscape. Presumably, the language situation was similar to France, where the Romans acculturated the Celtics (Gauls) over a sustained period, and should be called Gallo-Romance. The language geography of Switzerland in the later years of the Empire was relatively uniform at the higher levels of society but with some variations due to pre-Roman substrata and segmentation of Roman administration/institutions (see Figure 18).

Ethno-linguistic: The Völkerwanderung introduced different Germanic tribes into Roman territories at both Swiss and European scales (e.g. Goths in Mediterranean). Burgandians moved into the western Switzerland as well as Burgundy and Savoy in eastern France, and they became Roman Federal-allies responsible for security. Clearly, they assimilated linguistically, so French Provencal speakers are a combination of Burgandian and Gallo-Romance. Germanic speakers in Switzerland are the legacy of Alemmani who migrated into the Swiss Plain. The Alemmani were the first group to force their way into Roman territory as early as 284 AD (Alemmanifall), and their tribal name became the western Romance word for "German." They displaced or overwhelmed the existing languages, and they eventually settled the northern fore-Alps, Alps, and even some areas on the southern fore-Alps (Figure 26).

Figure 26 [Map] Ethno-linguistic Borders
 

Italian speakers in Switzerland also have a Germanic tribe connection. The Lombards (Langobards) originated from northern Germany, and they created a kingdom on the northern Po Plain. Lombards assimilated linguistically into the folk-Latin of the area, and today, the regional dialect goes by the Lombard name. Linguists usually classify the Swiss-Italian dialects as Alpine-Lombard, but they themselves use their local names e.g. Ticinese-Italian and Bregaglia-Italian. The Romansh link themselves with the Rhaetians instead of a Celtic tribe, but the romanisation of Grischun/Rhaetia results in a similar situation as the Swiss Plain. Unfortunately, one can only surmise the pre-Roman language as any reconstruction comes from fragmentary place-names and plant and animal names (Orts- und Flurnamen). The movement of people after Roman hegemony constricted the "Rhaeto" folk-Latin language territory, and subsequent political boundary changes reflected an ethno-linguistic frontier as well as evolving ecclesiastic districts (Im Hof, 1986). The contemporary Romansh dialects spoken in eastern Switzerland are the result of internal fragmentation and their individual contact with other languages.

Border Dynamics: The process of language change is multifaceted and lacks perfect clarity because it occurred so long ago. The end result or the current Romance-Germanic language border in Switzerland primarily reflects the settlement pattern of the Alemmani who displaced or integrated folk-Latin speakers. The same phenomena occurred in Tyrol as Bavarians (Bajuvari/Baiwaren) successfully moved the language border South of the Alps close to Trent (Figure 26). The introduction of Germanic settlers does not always mean a German tongue will be the local language as the Burgand and Lombard examples provide. In those cases, the new group adopted the place-names, environmental knowledge, and local idiosyncrasies of language.

For the Alemmani and Bavarian situations, a crucial factor is how long they were in contact with the previous inhabitants and what local knowledge they acquired. I believe Swiss-German reflects significant contact with Romance speakers, and place-name research in Switzerland confirms continuity rather than change. Weiss (1946) and Zinsli (1971) provide numerous examples of Celtic and Roman-Latin words that survive in the linguistic landscape. The stabilization of the current language boundary occurs only after the Middle Ages, when further colonization becomes a mute point because of demographic decline. The current stability is an aspect of Swiss democracy and local control over language decisions.

Eidgenossenschaft

German in all forms is the majority language in Switzerland. It is simplistic to call all these Swiss dialects German or even Swiss-German. The political decentralization that is characteristic of Switzerland also means a degree of cultural autonomy. Furthermore, the vast majority of these dialects developed in very isolated situations with unique ecological conditions. The settlement history and the Germanic colonization process are crucial to the contemporary dialect fragmentation.

There are two major geographical distinctions in Swiss-German. The first is an East-West variation that has a noticeable isogloss convergence along the Reuss River (Hotzenköcherle, 1993). This reflects different southward colonization streams by German speakers. The second distinction is a North-South variation that reflects temporal and ecological spectra. The time frame involved is the settlement process itself and measured in centuries. The ecological factor includes both the altitude increase as they move South and whether it was previously settled and human modified. Furthermore, the qualities of an advance group may have been a crucial factor in changing the language frontier. On the western edge of the Germanization front is the Bernese dialect, where the settlers successfully moved into the Alps sooner (Im Hof, 1986). This "Bern" colonization front continued into the upper Valais over the Lötschenpass and Gemmipass in the eighth and ninth centuries (Zinsli, 1991), which created a new frontier with Romance speakers. These Walliser Germans (where the name Walsers originates) eventually controlled the lower valley in a political sense, but they were also absorbed into the Bishop of Sion's ecclesiastical control. Later, some Walsers moved into northern Italian valleys and eastward into Grischun and on to Vorarlberg (Zinsli, 1991).

In eastern Switzerland, German speakers took much longer to reach the highest alpine areas. For example, Urners took control of the Urseren, which was monastery land nestled between the Furka, Oberalp, and Gotthard passes, only after Walsers had already colonized the valley (Müller, 1984). Likewise, German speakers colonized the upper Glarnerland and reached the Alps north of Surselva only in the late Middle Ages. The "Bündner" German frontier in the main Rhine valley was even slower and only reached the current Grischun border. German introduction into Grischun followed a sporadic pattern based on opportunity and geopolitics. The fire that destroyed Chur in the fifteenth century is an example, and the leapfrog Germanization of important pass-towns such as Tamins, Thusis, and Splügen are another (see Figure 21).

The Swiss Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) formed in the early fourteenth century, although the celebrated date of 1291 has its supporters. Regardless, there is no doubt that the Eidgenossen were German speaking. The original three cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden are adjacent areas in Central Switzerland along the emerging Gotthard pass route. The interpretation of these mutual defense oaths is that they were a means to promote both political and economic autonomy from the Habsburg emperors. The incremental enlargement of the Eidgenossenschaft includes both patrician city-states and rural alliances (Stadte and Lande), which makes Switzerland a complex collection of different leaderships. The cities had aristocrats and guilds while the lands were egalitarian agriculturists. Table 3 shows the cantons and some of their characteristics, and Figure 27 is a map of the territorial expansion of Switzerland.

Table 3 Swiss Cantons and their Cultural Characteristics

Figure 27 [Map] Eidgenossen Expansion
 

The Confederation did expand into Romance speaking areas, but not on an equality basis. Uri and the Central Swiss cantons occupied Ticino (Lugano), and Bern occupied the Waadtland (Lausanne). Both areas eventually join Switzerland as equal members in the nineteenth century. At no time before the end of the Ancient Regime, were Switzerland's political élites multilingual. Individual cantons and places may have had multiple language areas, but the ruling aristocrats of Fribourg (Freiburg i.S.), for example, were German speaking even though the majority of the population was French speaking.

The era of Constitutions after the French Revolution usually recognized language rights and clarified official status on languages. Not counting the Helvetic Republic years, which were dominated by French officials and political ideas, Swiss government has only tackled multilingual administration and governance since 1848. The political solution benefits from a decentralized political structure, and the Swiss believe in something called the Territorial Principal. The Territorial Principal is not in the Constitution, but it is a vital part of Swiss political discourse. Fundamentally, the smallest territorial units have the right to decide contentious cultural questions such as language and religion. A local community chooses the official language as well as school curriculum, and if people move into a community (assuming they can), they are expected to assimilate. So even small communities along the language border are very culturally secure because they control decisions and regulate contact.

To focus solely on language, one may miss the real source of conflict in Switzerland. Religion has been the major factor in conflict amongst Swiss including the 1847 Civil War or Sonderbundkrieg (Remak, 1993). Religious conflict was more about balance of power within the Confederation as opposed to ecclesiastic difference or evangelicalism (Segesser, 1998). A look at the religious situation shows a complex pattern at the cantonal scale (Figure 28). The territorial-based solution allowed each canton to make their own decisions concerning the (Counter) Reformation, which is an extension of the Augsburger doctrine, "cuius regio, eius religio" (Klemens, 1995). Some cantons relinquished the decision down to the local level or more likely, they had to accommodate what the local communities had already done.

Figure 28 [Map] Religions
 

Contemporary Situation

A geography of language along the French-German border is likely to focus on Belgium or the Alsace-Lorraine because there has not been much conflict or change in Switzerland. The traditional language regions are very stable except in Grischun/ Graubünden. Only Romansh speaking communities are undergoing significant language changes between another Swiss language. Either a breakdown in the territorial principal is occurring or a different form of language change associated with modernity is transforming the language frontier. Likewise, the overall language situation in Switzerland is becoming more complex as new languages are entering the country. These non-native languages have no macro-scale territory but they do have a geography.

Multilingualism: Swiss efforts to promote multilingualism are exceptional (Table 4). People enjoy telling me about all the languages they learn, and how the Swiss introduce second and third languages at grade school levels. Additionally, I believe the Swiss exhibit multilingualism and promote multiple language understanding better than any other place. Swiss politicians, reporters, and celebrities are seen regularly speaking another language, and people routinely have personal experiences with someone who speaks another language.

In recent years, a new controversy has developed over the teaching of foreign languages. The issue begins with German speaking cantons in northeastern Switzerland approving popular measures to teach "Early English" before French. "Early English" is not a normal foreign language program, it attempts to imbed the language through similarities with German as it exposes students to computers and foreign culture. Symbolically, it breaks with tradition of initially teaching a second national language. The controversy is more about solidarity with the minority than order of language instruction.

Table 4 Multilingualism in Switzerland:
Combinations of National Languages in Switzerland and Grischun

In Grischun, the public reacted by adopting a referendum that mandates the teaching of Italian as the second language of instruction, but now they have to sort this out because many Romansh reside in technically German speaking majority places. Nevertheless, Swiss language skills including multilingualism is commonly over-stated. According to the census, only about 25 percent of the population speaks two or more national languages, which is astonishing when compared to other modern states (Bundesamt für Statistik, 1995). Seventy-five percent of Romansh speakers speak another national language, the vast majority speak Swiss-German. Another misconception is that Swiss-Germans universally understand High German and can switch between them. Two out of three claim not to speak "Hochdeutsch," although many would admit to understanding it for tasks like watching television or dealing with a German tourist.

Foreign Languages: The language mixture is more complex with the addition of new languages. Switzerland has a foreign population of approximately 19 percent that includes mostly guest workers, spouses, and a few refugees. Guest workers are primarily low to medium skilled, but there is a market for extremely specialized professionals. The majority of foreigners in Switzerland originate across the border in adjacent countries, so they come with knowledge of a national language.

A discussion of languages in Switzerland depends on which Switzerland one is talking about. There are two distinct public spheres of interaction: a citizen sphere and a residential sphere (Figure 29). Therefore, three groups with overlapping political and linguistic interests exist. Naturally, the majority of both spheres are Swiss citizens living in Switzerland. Within the citizen sphere are the Swiss Abroad who account for about ten percent of all Swiss citizens.

Figure 29 – Diagram of Public (Politico-linguistic) Spheres
 
 

SWISS ABROAD	SWISS IN-SITU	FOREIGNERS
562,813	5,739,892	1,383,645
Languages of Contact:*	Official Languages:	Non-Swiss Languages:
French	German	English
German	French	Serbo-Croatian
Italian	Italian	Spanish
English	Romansh	Portuguese
Spanish		Turkish

Sources: Bundesamt für Statistik, 1999:28,57; *Swiss Review publication languages.

Many of these Swiss Abroad reside in neighboring countries such as France and Germany, and presumably, they can stay up on national affairs and exercise their rights to vote. On the other hand, nearly 1 out of 5 actual residents in Switzerland have citizenship in another country. While the majority of foreigners in Switzerland come from an adjacent country, a significant number introduce other languages. Table 5 a listing of all the major source countries for foreigners in Switzerland and the destinations for Swiss Abroad.

Quite separate from the statistical reality, there is a popular perception that more foreigners come from specific places. Many guest workers do come from southern Europe, and a strange good/bad label develops for individual groups. The longest relationship is with Italy as Italian guest workers were a crucial labor force in early industrialization and mass-tourism. Italians were bad in the 1930s during Irredentism and 1970s when Protestants saw Catholics becoming a majority, but now they are the ideal foreigners as they work hard and eventually return to Italy. The Iberian Peninsula is another source area in recent decades, and they generally have a favorable reputation. Since 1990, Portuguese workers have become the darlings of Engiadina, and people have told me how well they understand Romansh. One reason for a positive perception of Portuguese is they are replacing workers from the former Yugoslavia who have lost favor. Despite Switzerland's anti-Communist feelings, they had good relations with Yugoslavia (and still do with independent Slovenia), and Slavic speakers were significant part of the hotel work force in the southeast. Throughout Switzerland, a lot of concern over "Yugos" and Albanians/Kosovars exists because of the fear that Balkan conflict will prevent their return and that some are abusing Switzerland's goodwill. Slavic as a single category was the largest group of non-Swiss languages at the national level as well as in the narrowly defined Romansh language area (Bundesamt für Statistik, 1995). Figures 30-32 are examples of the geography of introduced languages; the three maps show Romance, Germanic, and Balkan/Southeastern Europe.

Table 5 International Migration, 1998/1999:
Public Spheres of Citizenship and Residency

Figure 30* [Map] Significant Foreign Languages
 

Swiss Political Realm

Switzerland is a democracy, and many claim it to be one of the oldest. There are some similar features with the United States especially the separation of power philosophy and the "Great Compromise" bicameral legislature. Switzerland has three levels of government each with their own democratic elements, but probably the most distinguishing elements are the popular referenda at all levels. Built on the tradition of community assembly where a public majority is obvious, referenda are an extension of popular legitimization. Referenda are mandatory to change the Constitution or grant new powers for government, and there are consultative referenda that ask the public to confirm or reject controversial legislation. Furthermore, there is a procedure to introduce legislation directly from the people through petition (Volksinitiative). A second characteristic of Swiss democracy is the de-concentration of power away from individual politicians and a respect for minority opinions in the discussion and formulation of policy. Executives of large political entities are typically councils that allow for some proportional membership.

Swiss Governments

Bohn (1983:148) states that the key to understanding Switzerland is knowing the government structure and the institutions. Switzerland has a complex federal structure with multiple balance of power components. The federal government (often called der Bund) symbolically lacks a concentration of power exemplified by a bicameral legislature and a seven member executive council. Federalism itself is a separation of power between the national and cantonal governments. I summarize the major components of this structure, so the discussion of language in politics will make more sense.

Federal: The current structure of the federal government consists of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The majority of the federal government is in Bern, which many refuse to call the capital but the federal city (Bundesstadt). Two symbolic examples of not concentrating power are the locations of the highest court in Lausanne and the main military complex in Central Switzerland. In addition, regional offices of the bureaucracy are scattered throughout the country.

The legislature is bicameral with a chamber devoted to equal representation of the cantons and the other based on proportional representation of the population. The larger chamber (Nationalrat) election is held every four years with everyone voting at the same time. In addition, the cantons administer and serve as electoral districts, and the voting is proportional with separate voting lists for each canton. Cantonal parties can combine their list of candidates with other parties, and the distribution of mandates is to the lists. For example, the Green party wins two mandates in Zürich, so the two people on their list with the most votes are elected and if one steps down the party can fill their mandate until the next election. Individual cantons determine the composition of the smaller chamber (Ständerat) by deciding their own voting procedure and duration of term for its two representatives.

Shortly following the Nationalrat election, a joint session of Nationalrat and Ständerat members convenes to elect the seven member executive council (Bundesrat). The election is quite symbolic because no one party has a majority to dominate the process. The Bundesrat runs the executive branch and each member has a portfolio of federal departments that they supervise (i.e. military, justice, etc.). Head of State is a rotating position amongst the seven members, so every calendar year, there is a new Bundespresident and Vice-President. The Bundesrat is an integral part of national leadership because they play a role in processing and responding to direct democracy and public opinion in general. Their role in a media society has become larger as they are the ones who respond to national tragedies and attend special occasions. Maybe the most important function is not what they do, but who they are. The Bundesrat symbolically represents Concordance Democracy because the seven members reflect regional, cultural, and ideological balance of interests.

Cantonal: The Cantons are co-equal partners in Swiss federalism. Perhaps they are more important than regions in other federalist States. The Constitution severely constrains federal government, and many functions one associates with national policy like border control is actually done by the cantons. There are 26 cantons in total, but in a formal sense there are 20 full cantons and 6 half cantons. Half cantons are historical realities and not some threshold size. Unterwalden is one of the three original cantons but has always been partitioned between Niderwalden and Obwalden. The two half cantons of Appenzeller reflect a partition between Catholics and Protestants during the Reformation. Baselstadt and Baselland originated with the separation of city and countryside during the Napoleanic years. Each half canton has only one member in the Ständerat but is its own electoral district for Nationalrat elections.

Swiss cantons are significant in another unique way—they embody diversity. Individuals are stereotyped by where they come, and the canton becomes a code word for the cultural differences of that canton. For example, a commission or referendum committee would have members whose home is in different cantons to exhibit diversity just as a non-partisan movement would have members from the different political parties. "Kantönligeist" is a term the Swiss use to describe the regional spirit of people towards their own canton. It has both a positive and negative connotation. The positive side of Kantönligeist includes pride in folk culture and just a healthy loyalty to home and familiar products. The negative connotation revolves around conservative resistance to centralized, more modern innovations or an unwillingness to support national goals.

Communal: Individual communes or communities have a legal and historical stature that really complicates Swiss politics. Socially, communes are the places where individuals call home, and Swiss are actually residents and citizens of individual communes (Vischnanca/ Gemeinde). Furthermore, there are different types of communes. Big cities usually have open communes that welcome everybody to live there, and have an automatic process of being considered citizens including voting. In the mountainous areas, many communes are the legacy of the Closed Corporate Community (Netting, 1981; Wolf and Cole, 1974). They control membership of the commune either by being a direct descendant of an existing member or by voting in new members. These "citizen" communes (vinscnanca burgaisa / Bürgergemeinde) basically own the land and manage its resources, and presumably, the members enjoy the benefits. Since this is a discriminatory process, a commune in the Alps might have a lopsided ratio between citizens and residents. For example, only ten percent of the people living a tourist resort might be citizens, and the rest are residents differentiated between Swiss (citizen of another commune) and foreigners.

An issue of serious concern in Switzerland is that small communes can not adequately govern themselves. Not only does a commune need a certain number of people to have a school and a grocery store, they need enough staff to handle modern administrative tasks. The obvious solution is to consolidate small communities into more viable units. Commune consolidation is contentious because the locals resent being told what to do and fear losing their independence. A certain number of communities have found creative ways to survive by working together on schools, forestry, and sharing administrative tasks. Nevertheless, some communes have voluntarily merged together, although it is usually a smaller place joining a more viable commune. If a Canton has resources, they might find ways to help small communes accomplish administrative tasks.

Communes are an integral part of the Swiss political landscape because they operate the government office with whom ordinary people have personal contact. Philosophically, conservatives argue that local communities are sovereign entities, and they jealously guard their powers of membership and culture. It could be argued that communes are more fundamental than the federal and cantonal levels, and therefore, Constitutions are instruments to protect communal autonomy and restrain centralized power. Regardless of one's ideology, these three levels of government provide a unique tension in Swiss politics, and people have loyalties towards them all.

Political Culture

Swiss political culture parallels its unique governing structure. There is a handful of important aspects that have a direct correlation with the Romansh. The most obvious is the use of Romansh in local and cantonal governments. The use of Romansh at the federal level is more symbolic but still important as an awareness tool for the larger Swiss and foreign exposure to the language. I select two aspects of political culture for discussion: multilingualism in politics and the political parties. After discussing them, I summarize all the political points that have a Romansh significance.

Multilingual Politics and Symbols: The symbolic display of Swiss multilingualism is on the signs and monuments in the landscape. Election advertising is one obvious example because the logic of reaching the electorate demands using all languages (Figure 33). Symbolic use of Romansh on paper money and in passports is another example. Multiple language usage of government institutions is well established within the Swiss political milieu. All the Federal government offices are multilingual, the language of parliamentary debate is whatever the speaker speaks, and laws and judicial rulings can be published in all official languages.

Figure 33 – Campaign Signs in Romansh

Top photo, FDP billboard in Zuoz

Bottom photo, Campaign posters in Mustér

Close-up of some Posters

There is an expectation that elected officials can speak at least two national languages, and for Romansh speaking politicians, it is essential outside of their own commune. Moreover, the path to the highest offices is even more demanding, as regional and ideological balances are important considerations. In general, Romansh speakers are not handicapped in their political careers, and contraire, they are successful. For example, Grischun has five Nationalrat mandates, and three of the five speak Romansh. Romansh speakers are indistinguishable from other Swiss-German speakers, and a native Swiss-German would correctly identify their accent as Bündner. Romansh politicians probably have an advantage because they can communicate directly to Romansh speakers through Romansh language media while not endangering their overall public personas with the German speaking majority. At the federal level, Romansh are not usually part of the very powerful political actors, but that is more a function of Grischun being only a small percentage of the national population. Other cantons with cultural diversity, farmer dominated politics, and alpine areas exist, so many important issues to the canton are already over-represented in the federal government.

The primary linguistic relationship in Switzerland is the French—German one. The dynamic between French speaking West and the German speaking majority in the Swiss Plain dominates the balance of power and promotion of multiple language use in Switzerland. A recent issue has been the hardening of a German speaking bureaucracy and behind the scene negotiation style, which implies that the "Latin languages" are only figuratively equal. The fact that the legislature meets in a German speaking though officially bilingual city reinforces the image of an inflexible German speaking majority, and makes government service unattractive to French speakers. Bern as the federal city has been sensitive to this issue and the city supports a French language school to appease French civil-servants. The question of political discourse is significant because the language groups are exposed to political discourse of neighboring countries, which is what many do not want to emulate.

Political Parties: Swiss political parties are another element of Swiss democratic uniqueness. Figure 34 is a map of the current federal mandate distribution. Four political parties dominate the mandate distribution and the parties' appeal cuts across language divides. These four political parties with different ideologies have held together as a coalition for over 40 years. Actually, the political parties are very small with less than 100,000 members combined (Segesser, 1998). Clearly, most Swiss do not join political parties, nor are they required to register under a party label. Party membership is elitist but also very dedicated and motivated for their political cause. From a distance, the political parties appear highly fragmented, and unable to garner true majorities during an election. Amazingly, the four major political parties do not overly coincide with geographical regions, even though they do have strengths in particular regions. For example, there is no West Suisse political party that could tailor a distinct message to attract French speakers concentrated in western Switzerland.

Figure 34 [Map]

The origins of the parties are a history of modern Swiss politics (Segesser, 1998). The FDP (Freisinnig-demokratische / Radical) is the singular party that has been in government since 1848. They were instrumental in the first federal constitution and setting the tone for modern Swiss democracy. Despite being a radical liberal party by mid-nineteenth century standards, they currently fall in the center of the political spectrum and even slightly conservative at times. The CVP (Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei) is the political party that developed as the nineteenth century conservative (Catholic) opposition to the FDP. They still maintain a strong base in Catholic areas, but now many consider them a centrist party with some liberal social positions. The CVP joined the government in 1891 and has been part of it ever since. The SPS (Sozialdemokratische Partei) is the result of labor and social movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since the 1930s, the Social Democrats have adopted a non-confrontational attitude (off the street), and have been a part of the government since 1959. The Schweizerisch Volkspartei (SVP) is the ideological counterbalance to the SPS inside the government. The SVP began as a farmer/workers party that was staunchly anticommunist, and they initially joined the government in 1929 as a junior partner. Since the 1920s, the FDP, CVP, and SVP have worked together to reduce socialist influence and are known as the citizens coalition (Bürgerlich / Bourgeois).

The four political parties make for a strange governing coalition. They are ideologically different and in the case of the Social Democrats and Swiss Volkspartie openly hostile at times. Each maintains their own parliamentary faction that entitles them to committees and debate time. Impressively, the four parties capture over 80 percent of the popular vote and slightly higher percent of all mandates. On the other hand, they seem able to avoid responsibility for policy failures because of the compromise nature that a coalition entails. The big question in Swiss politics is the weakening of the center, and whether ideological polarization is inevitable and/or desirable. The center-left SPS and center-right SVP tend to be more vocal critics and they can exploit media attention. Although critics blame them for changing politics by not working together in a civil way, they both have made electoral gains in the last two national votes. The traditional center parties (FDP and CVP) are struggling to maintain control over the political system.

Elections

Campaign and election activities in Switzerland seem relatively subdued. The Swiss approach political activities as being a necessary disruption of their ordinary life, and they typically do not reward vocal or passionate politics. Elections in Switzerland are rigidly set in terms of a timetable as the federal government (Bundesrat) selects the four dates for the quarterly cycle. The election for the Nationalrat is held in October of every fourth year (1995, 1999, etc.), and other issues do not usually coincide with it. Cantons and communes can utilize other federal dates or select additional ones for their own elections. For example, the Canton of Zürich holds its legislative and executive elections in March every fourth year, and during the election, people may have to vote on a federal issue at the same time. Since Zürich is the most populous canton and their election is only a few months before the Nationalrat election, it has excitement of a primary or national poll.

The wildcard of Swiss politics is the assignment of referenda to the election schedule. At all levels of government, referenda are assigned to an upcoming poll date, which may effect the participation rate and issues of a regularly scheduled election. Two basic origins of a referendum are from the legislature and from the people. Mandatory referenda include constitutional amendments, treaties, and international memberships. Consultative referenda are useful when a coalition government needs to receive a popular mandate, but they can be forced when a significant percent of the legislature or a citizen petition demand public approval. The people can also compose legislation through a Volksinitiative, which is likened to direct democracy, but in actuality, the government can respond to the petition and it may not ever go to the voters.

The voting procedure in Switzerland has completely changed in the last century due to complexity of issues and number of voters. The prevailing method from the nineteenth century was for male-citizens to assemble in a public place, hear debate, and then vote community assembly style. The progressive cities switched as their populations became too large, and elected assemblies became the norm for legislation. Thereafter, elections became a poll booth style event for most eligible Swiss, which was male and 20 years of age. Woman’s suffrage came very late, 1971 at the federal level and the 1990s for the last community assembly in Appenzell. The current method is for the government to mail the actual ballot to registered citizens about 30 days before the election date with a booklet of explanations and analysis of the issues. One can mail the completed ballot (free of charge) back a week prior or personally drop off the ballot at a designated site up to the Noon Sunday deadline. Local officials count the ballots that get tallied and certified upwards only as far as necessary.

Campaigning is interesting because election law excludes radio and television advertising. The candidates use a variety of methods to reach the general population such as mass-mailers, newspaper advertisements, and billboard posters (Figure 33). They also appear on talk-shows and participate in debates that electronic media will cover. Political parties organize special events or put information stalls in busy public spaces. In rural areas, posters and oddball signs are found in the landscape. The political parties are able to communicate their party's positions rather well through these measures.

Consumer Culture

Consumption is a conspicuous aspect of modern societies, so the idea of a consumer culture is a growing concept (Sack, 1992). Everyone consumes energy and matter as a fact of life. In a "traditional" settlement, the source of food, water, and firewood are easier to locate because of their presumed proximity. In "modern" settlements, the ultimate source of nutritional items, petroleum products, and cooking materials can be incredibly distant, and they often have complex patterns of delivery. For the most part, the stuff comes from somewhere else. Therefore, a geography of marketing and transportation activities exist as well as a change in the landscape of urban cities and rural places that accommodate consumption. Equally important, a personal mobility associated with the physical act of shopping increases as does the imaginative scope of consumption to its logical end—the whole world.

Consumption is a large topic that could be a thesis or chapter by itself. I discuss only two, very narrowly focused parts of consumption in Switzerland, and I base these observations on my own experiences and judgement of relevance to the Romansh. The first is the presence of a national scale of shopping, which defies the political fragmentation and place-based identities and territories. The second element is the maintenance of public transportation that incorporates rural areas into complex national and regional networks. Then, I mention some other elements such as military service and media that have the effect of promoting Swiss solidarity despite their necessity for linguistic specialization.

Shopping

Shopping in Switzerland is undergoing a revolution of sorts. The notion of shopping as a social activity is not new, but the scale and intensity of those activities on the landscape are dramatic. Department stores have been a part of the larger cities for a long time, and I would hasten that Switzerland was one of the earlier places to adopt these consumer innovations. However, department stores did not disrupt urban infrastructure because they use existing buildings and rely on the public transportation that reinforces centrality of cities. Mid-twentieth century, the demographics began to change as suburban and peri-urban areas outgrew the inner cities. Nevertheless, public transportation kept up and most Swiss moving out of the urban core were still highly integrated with the shopping and public life of the city.

While Switzerland was becoming a relatively wealthy society after the World Wars, automobile ownership was a luxury according to the tax-codes, and few public resources were designated to make places more car friendly. An automobile lobby developed in recent decades that included their own political party, but as soon as the party tried to expand, it lost all its mandates to more conservative parties. Regardless, planning and design with the automobile in mind has become a reality. Already, new shopping geographies with American style malls and car-oriented strips exist. The automobile (and driver individualism) has been a force for change in the countryside, but so far these changes have not displaced established city centers.

The Consum: One feature of these recent shopping geographies is the presence of older established Swiss businesses that capitalize on both their older urban and newer automobile-focused centers. In fact, large national companies dominate retail functions in Switzerland. The biggest and best known are COOP and Migros. Both COOP and Migros are national scale, grocery store chains that have diversified into supermarket and department store retailing. Every town except the smallest of the small has at least one COOP, Migros, or a regional competitor. Large cities like Zürich have them in just about every neighborhood. The smaller outlets serve as Mom and Pop stores selling basic food and household items. Both COOP and Migros have bigger supermarkets (e.g. "Supercenters"), urban department stores, and even regional discount superstores. Both chains offer a whole collection of service oriented activities such as photo developing, dry cleaning, and restaurants that they can tie into their physical operations. They have expanded in recent years to consumer banks, and specialty divisions such as electronics and furniture that may not actually carry their name but have floor space in their new suburban shopping centers.

The COOP name is a play on cooperative, but most everyone calls it the "consum" in everyday usage. The name consum can be used for any small grocery store, and in rural areas, the consum is the only market regardless of the chain name (Figure 35). COOP publishes a weekly newspaper that has the largest circulation of any paper in Switzerland. While it undoubtedly serves as an advertising platform, the COOP newspaper includes interesting articles about Swiss politics and culture. Every fourth week or so, they publish a Romansh page (Pagina Rumantscha) in the Deutschschweiz version, which reflects a typical situation of Romansh being included with German.

Figure 35 – Consums in Romansh Areas (Volgs)

Top photo, Rabius (Sumvitg, Surselva)

Bottom photo, Ardez (Engiadina bassa)

COOP is slightly older than Migros, but until recently, it lacked central organization. The evolution of COOP begins with communal agricultural cooperatives, which parallels the transformation of rural population and the modernization of agriculture. Over a long period, the individual cooperatives and regional networks began to coalesce. Currently, COOP combines seven regional entities and one umbrella organization. Some regional cooperatives could establish themselves in the large cities, and they bought existing department stores like St. Annahof in Zürich and Ryfflihof in Bern that still retain their old building names.

Migros began as a collection of grocery trucks that could serve small towns and places with no markets. This year, Migros is celebrating its 75^th birthday and is using these images prominently as well as remind the public that they still maintain a fleet of mobile markets. Migros is an obvious success story of an individual creating the largest retailer in Switzerland. Moreover, Migros was based on a socio-political ideology that everyone should have access to basic consumer items. A corresponding political movement started with support for an independent political party and cultural foundation. At one time, the Migros supported LdU (list of independents) was the largest opposition political party until the Greens surpassed them (Segesser, 1998).

Migros' success rests on its ability to balance the twin pillars of consumer confidence: quality and cost. Migros was and still is notable for not having product names. Basically, Migros was large enough in scale to force producers to sell them quality products without logos and labels. Instead, the "M" in Migros became the only symbol, which eliminated unnecessary costs. Only in the last few years, has Migros begun selling limited quantities of brand-named products. For example, they recently signed an exclusive product deal with Pepsi.

Egalitarian Consumption: Shopping in Switzerland misses a typically normal aspect of the retail landscape. There is almost no difference in the prices of products despite having different delivery costs. Both COOP and Migros have set prices for all of Switzerland and they even preprint prices on most items. The price of items that should be more expensive in the mountain communities is exactly identical; meanwhile selection and availability might be lower. This price standardization clearly favors all rural communities as a form of consumer subsidy, which increases their viability. One reason they subsidize rural/mountain areas is because there is no public pressure to remove them.

There is another interesting aspect of Swiss shopping structure. These private retailers have a pulse on public opinion, and they can react better than any government. For example, Swiss have expressed concern over genetically modified food, and both COOP and Migros have publicly committed themselves to be GM-free. The government could never impose such a ban because it would provoke trade wars like the E.U. has done with the U.S. Likewise, the government has the leisure not to prohibit meat with growth hormones or require food origin labeling because consumer sensitive retailers effectively do it.

The success of these two shopping chains reflects a strange dichotomy of local and national once again. Despite strong local senses of place, national shopping chains have come to dominate the retail landscape. Moreover, they have been flexible in accommodating the changing consumer tastes and affluence of society. Besides subsidizing rural customers, retailers like COOP and Migros are leaders in charitable enterprises including special projects to help the mountainous areas. A similar example of institutional local-national is the transportation system that integrates communities in Switzerland.

Public Mobility

Public transportation is an important part of integrating the Swiss regions into a coherent network. The public transportation network is complex because it combines different transportation methods as well as incorporates fragmented authorities. Many regions coordinate timetables as well as create tariff unions. The cities have to overcome metropolitan regions that cross into other political territories. For example, Zürich metropolitan area extends into other cantons, while Basel and Genève are actually multinational situations. Mountainous areas also have to overcome multiple political boundaries. More importantly, they rely on tourism and government subsidies to maintain a quality public transportation system.

Two national transportation systems operate in a complimentary fashion: the postauto buses and the railroads. The postal service of Switzerland was a comprehensive network of mail, telegram, and telephone (PTT), and they operated an extensive network of passenger buses that also delivered mail. This postauto network draws on its legacy of operating stagecoach and wagon mail delivery through the alpine passes. While the PTT has been broken up to allow telecommunication competition, the postauto network is still intact and effectively links every community in Switzerland. Post buses (called "Poschi") are a familiar site in the Swiss Alps because tourist areas contract for extra service to accommodate recreational needs. Both the federal government and local areas promote the use of public transportation through special tariffs and excursions.

Switzerland was relatively late in initiating a national railroad system because of the political conflict during the 1840s that precluded such an investment. Instead many railroads started under private capital, and even today, Switzerland has more private railroads than the rest of the world combined. The reality is that most of them are highly integrated with the federal system and only a few are in a position to be truly independent. Swiss have perfected the railroad time schedule and created a fame based on punctuality. Moreover, the railroad system integrates with other public transportation and in general has not eliminated service to smaller places. The result is a rail commuter network in urban and rural areas, which allows people flexibility to live in older places.

Names and Signs

Swiss retail and transportation networks have a national scale that goes against localized political ideology. One important consequence of these national institutions (COOP, Migros, Post, and SBB) is the language policies that they maintain. As a rule, their public face is multilingual. They publish timetables in the local language, they use the local spelling for place-names, and consumer information is usually multilingual. Most public entities in Switzerland deal with customers in whatever language the customer speaks, while they may operate administratively in a single language. Many employees are multilingual with an eye towards both local speakers and the likely languages of tourists. For example, a train going to Interlaken (Bernese Oberland) would announce information in English, or a postauto driver in Engiadina bassa would speak Romansh and German.

The railroad in the Grischun/Graubünden is the RhB (Rhätischen Bahn / Viafier retica). The "Rhaetian Railway" uses all three cantonal languages: German, Romansh, and Italian, with an emphasis on local situations and place-names. Many examples from Grischun exist. The Swiss post office goes by a combination of names including "La Posta" and "Die Post," and individual offices abide by the community' official status. Like everywhere else, railroad stations, post offices and road signs use only the official names (Figures 36 and 37). Therefore, one can find prominent displays of the language around these buildings in Romansh speaking areas. One of the relatively successful aspects of keeping Romansh names in the public realm is street names, and natural features. Even places with German majorities like St. Moritz and Domat/Ems retain Romansh names such as Via instead of Strasse. The tourist landscape is even more prominent e.g. Via Engiadina and Via Surselva are walking paths that traverse the valley.

Figure 36 – Official Signs in Romansh

Top photo, Police Department Office in Chur

Bottom photo, Bilingual place-name on RhB Sign

Figure 37 – Official Grischun Roadsigns

Top photo, Surselva roadsign (Cuolm Lucmagn)

Bottom photo, Val Müstair roadsign (Svizer cunfin)

Additional Photo, Surses roadsign at Julier Pass

A similar situation can be found on Swiss topographic maps, and even tourist oriented maps. The cartographic convention of Swiss mapmakers is to label with the local language. Stated another way, cartographers label maps as local areas would post signs. A strictly German or French language map would label Genf / Basel; Genève / Bâle respectively just as an English map would label them Geneva / Basel. A Swiss map would label them Genève and Basel. When an area is officially bilingual, both versions such as Bern and Berne are correct, but the preference is to the majority language group. Places that are near language borders may have both names as the official name, for example Biel / Bienne is a bilingual German-French city, no less than a dozen Romansh places have dual names.One last cartographic note is that place-names based on historical and/or biblical people are more fluid in their translation and usage e.g. John=Jean=Gion. Therefore, as mentioned previously, Sankt Moritz the town may end up on the shores of the lake labeled Lej da San Murezzan (Eidgenössische Landestopographie, 1970).

Swiss Militia or Militantly Swiss?

A common saying is that Switzerland does not have an army, it is an army. Not only is the army large, the military played a role in strategic infrastructure such as communication, hydro-electricity and fallout shelters. Some would even go further and say there is a good ole boys network that crosses over between at the top of government, business, and military. Undoubtedly, Switzerland like many places had strong government involvement in crucial and symbolic enterprises. A short list of national entities includes Swissair, the Swiss Federal Railroad (SBB-Schweizerische Bundesbahn), television and radio broadcasting (DRS-Deutsch-Romanischschweiz), the PTT (Post/Telegraph/Telephone), which after deregulation becomes the telecommunication Swisscom and the mail and bus oriented Post Office.

Just like the standardization of weights, measurements, and currency did before, these institutions are intertwined with power and national attachment. As familiar aspects of public life, Swiss are very loyal to their "national" government operated companies as well as very successful ones like Nestlé, Swatch, and Credit Suisse to name a few. Some official entities will survive as special or instrumental institutions like the railroad, while Swissair and Swisscom are likely to evolve with international competition. All these (quasi-) official entities have important roles in national language policy.

Armed Forces: One institution in Switzerland stands out like no other in its unique role of building social unity—the military. The Swiss Army remains one of the most important institutions for obvious reasons, a large share of the population is technically in it. Swiss militarism is a separate topic of discussion that includes a geopolitical philosophy of armed neutrality. The defining characteristic of the Swiss Armed Forces is that it is a militia. Military service begins after obligatory school with a basic training course, and then, they serve short stints of time every year in local units or civil defense. Men have the duty to maintain personal readiness including shooting competitions and keeping their military rifle at home.

The militia system reinforces the Swiss defensive strategy in which highly decentralized citizen soldiers could perform guerrilla and redoubt tactics. Swiss Armed Forces also pursues a high tech strategy with modern weapons as well as a comprehensive civil defense. Therefore, a small number of professional military officers do exist, especially in a headquarters capacity. Women can also serve on a voluntary basis and become professional military officers. When one considers the cost and impact of universal male service, public acceptance of the militia is very strong. The electorate has rejected numerous attempts to force reform through referenda.

The military contributes in many ways to inter-cultural contact and shared national experience. Military service plays a national function as the political ideology of Switzerland and the Free Mountain Man becomes a participatory ritual. Military training includes some indoctrination of national values, but more importantly, members from different parts of Switzerland have the opportunity to develop camaraderie even if very few actually serve together. Most men serve in regional units and most units operate in the local language. There is even a Romansh language unit assigned to the Graubünden Mountain Regiment (Mountain Infantry Regiment, 1987). National shooting matches (Eidgenössische Schutzenfest) are held at different venues, which symbolically increases exposure to other Swiss places and languages. For men at least, being Swiss has a corresponding role as members of a military unit.

Swiss Media: Government has been a crucial player in the electronic media of Switzerland. Like most governments, they built and regulated the telecommunications system, and now they retain an equally important role in the digital transformation. Television and radio can be important parts of modern, national identity as long as one receives only national media broadcasts. Swiss viewers can watch other national and private telecasts usually coinciding with the neighboring countries. In contrast, newspapers serve an important local and regional role in communication, and every commune needs a publishing organ for notices (Amtsblatt). Newspapers have almost no limitations of free speech, and they play an important role in presenting controversial ideas and investigating controversial subjects. A new factor in Swiss newspapers is regional consolidation around larger media companies. For example, the Südostschweiz group has bought most of the newspapers in the Grischun, and they have a role in the emerging private media of southeastern Switzerland.

Historically, media were crucial elements of conducting a multilingual, national language policy. From the government's perspective, they symbolically created separate services for the different languages. Official media could showcase other national languages and regions as well as promote awareness and appreciation of multilingualism. Although a monolithic language policy is probably not feasible with current electronic media, the government resists divesting or allowing a true, free market. Moreover, they retain a steep tax on all access to television and radio, and the revenues subsidize their complicated but inclusive system of production and transmission.

Fundamentally, Swiss radio and television has different broadcast systems for the different language areas. Nevertheless, they cooperate and share resources like satellite access or broadcast rights with each other. Traditional broadcasts were geographical because the aerial transmission was limited to line-of-sight, so initially most Swiss only received broadcasts in their language. With affluence and cable transmission, access to all Swiss television and radio programs became widespread. For example, Zürchers receive all six official Swiss television stations: the two German and Romansh Swiss (DRS), two French-Swiss, and the two Italian-Swiss. In addition, the cable antenna system provides nearly a dozen German language channels from Germany, Austria, or private multinational as well as some popular and/or official French, Italian, and English speaking stations. The radio antenna cable (buildings are hard-wired with both analog TV and radio) brings in signals from various regions and countries including the Radio Rumantscha program.

Romansh activities were initially integrated with the German language service, but currently, Radio e Televisiun Rumantscha is an autonomous unit located in Chur. The reality is Romansh and German services are still intertwined because the distribution network is regional. Romansh language television is aired on the DRS channels, which does extend the Romansh programming to a national scale. Radio Rumantscha utilizes the official communication system, which means it is aerial-signal transmitted around 25 times to reach all the Romansh speaking areas, but more importantly, it links to the Swiss satellite and cable services.

The programming time of actual language on both the radio and television is low. Television programming consists of a daily, 10 minute news show on DRS 1 at 1845 that is repeated around midnight on TSI 2 (Italian), and a 45 minute news magazine on Sunday evenings on DRS 1. In total, about an hour and a half of Romansh is seen on TV per week. Radio Rumantscha transmits a little over nine hours a day, but much of the time is music with a play list that is multilingual, different genres, and international in scope. Because Radio Rumantscha presents regional news and call-in shows, it seems to offer more in fostering community.

Swiss-Romansh

A crucial aspect of the Romansh—Swiss relation is the description of how Romansh became a part of Switzerland. While the 1848 Federal Constitution did not recognize Romansh as either a national or an official language, two idioms were given official status as early as 1794 in the Grischun Constitution (Metz, 1989). Scientific classification of Romansh as a Romance language occurred only in the nineteenth century with more clarity around the turn of the twentieth century (Jud, 1973), but this is really an outside academic question. The real impulse for national action was the claim by Italian fascists that Romansh was a dialect of Italian. More frightenly, there was a corresponding territorial claim that Italy should have watershed borders, which was a direct challenge to national integrity. The Swiss response to declare Romansh a national language was an act of resistance (Bundi, 1996), and Romansh intellectuals played an essential role in the formulation of and campaign for the referendum. During the election held in February of 1938, voters passed the constitutional amendment with a 91.6 percent affirmation (Federal archive website).

The extension of language recognition already fit into the Swiss conception of nation and territory. The Romansh were a language group within the boundaries of the territorial State, and they deserved the same recognition as the other three although practical considerations of scale had to be taken into account. Moreover, there was a symbolic pre-historic parallel between indigenous Rhaetians and Helvetians occupying Swiss territory, so there was a nativist aspect. The unity between the language groups as is the national identity in general was always more about political ideology than ethnic brotherhood. Romansh communities resemble the political and social communalism of the Swiss-German ones in the Alps.

Being Swiss

There is an inseparable link between the Romansh language and broader events in Switzerland, and the way Swiss filter and interact with global trends affects Romansh. Not only is the language at risk while being supported by the Swiss, the agricultural and environmental changes are evolving within a Swiss regulatory framework. The on-going "identity crisis" in Switzerland with its debates over its role in Europe shows how ingrained being Swiss is in the various regions. No one suggests joining Europe without their fellow Swiss, nor is their any strong identification with pan-nationalism of their neighboring nation-states.

A lasting significance of the Romansh—Swiss relationship is the nature of their cultural movements that resemble Swiss political structures. Political culture in Switzerland generally allows minority participation. Not only are diverse opinions permitted—a literal seat at the table of power; small groups of determined opposition can usually hold up decision making. Swiss political commentators call this "Concordance" democracy. The majority moves very slowly and tries to build a super-consensus; diverse groups agree to disagree. Groups practice voluntary proportionality, which means they do not even attempt to dominate the membership or decision making process. In politics, this means a political party voluntarily sponsors only three candidates for a five-member council. So even if a party is successful during an election, they only carry a mandate to lead not dominate the process.

The Lia Rumantscha is the premier Romansh organization and has a few typically Swiss elements. They describe themselves as an umbrella organization (Dach in German) that resembles Swiss inclusiveness in its structure. Half of the board members originate from all the Romansh regions, which is geographical and covers religious diversity. The other half comes from different cultural groups such as a language institute, writers association, and the new press agency. The two top officials, President and General Secretary, symbolically come from different regions.

Furthermore, a Swiss style of leadership exists in many local Romansh communities. Typically, local citizens elect a president communal in small places and city councils in larger places. In general, council meetings are open forum events that allow public comment and discussion of ideas. Councils also have the power to assign residents with special skills such as bookkeeping duties for the community, and there is a tradition of residents doing community service in exchange for tax credits. Romansh communities retain many social functions of the Welfare State

Being Romansh

It is easier to identify cultural features where the Romansh fit into the Swiss conception of political or social communities, than it is to see Swiss fitting into a Romansh point-of-view. Obviously, the Swiss perspective evolved with Romansh and Bündner influence for two hundred years, so it might not be a fair comparison. I coined a term to look at this Swiss—Romansh interconnectivity: reciprocal accommodation. Both Romansh and Swiss-Germans do certain things for each other, but an additional relevant question is whether the accommodations are equal.

As a rule of thumb, the Romansh speak German, and other Swiss do not speak Romansh. Fundamentally, there is an unequal language relationship because only one group crosses over. A significant number of Romansh must learn German, so the two groups can communicate and co-exist. A clear problem or issue is the attitude of German speakers who move into traditional Romansh speaking areas. Many people notice reluctance among German speakers to assimilate linguistically into Romansh speaking communities. To be fair, there are no institutional structures for adult, German speakers to learn Romansh.

Romansh accommodate their fellow Swiss by speaking their fellow citizen's language. Romansh communes actually welcome them to visit, reside, and invest in their communities. They also accommodate tourists and travelers as well as engage in global culture. In exchange, the Swiss-Germans, who are the national and cantonal majority, provide a structural framework to help the Romansh language. There is legal and financial support that Romansh can use to build their preservation activities. It is a judgement call to say they are equal or not, but it is obvious that their accommodations are different. The Romansh future is a Swiss future, and in the next chapter, I discuss the Swiss canton of Grischun and the Romansh cultural landscape.

Return to Main Page