Das Geheimnis des Schweizer Sprachenfriedens, nachahmbar oder singulär?

Abstract

Switzerland is no multinational or polyethnic, but a multilingual, polyglot country, in which four autochthonous languages are recognised as national or state languages. The language difference has never been seriously politicised by being organised along ethnic or national lines. Due to the high degree of politicisation and nationalisation of the language groups that began during the 19th century in most other states, it is not possible to emulate the Swiss way of organising peace between the linguistic groups. Large multi-ethnic states require a privileged language as the <italic>lingua franca</italic> for the state as a whole. However, elements of the linguistic peace in Switzerland can be adopted by a cooperative nationalities policy: the federalisation of historic areas and not of language territories, a high degree of municipal autonomy, and the recognition of all autochthonous languages as being equal.