STUDIES IN LOGIC, GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC 59 (72) 2019 DOI: 10.2478/slgr-2019-0029 Agnieszka Stępkowska University of Szczecin e-mail:
[email protected] ORCID: 0000–0003–2646–3348 SWISS MULTILINGUALISM: A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO LANGUAGE POLICY Abstract. Specific historical and linguistic circumstances gave way to a Swiss original concept of a multilingual state as the nation of the will. The discus- sion concerns problems inherent to the unity-in-diversity philosophy and the proportional representation of national languages within the framework of the Swiss constitution, including the legislation protecting language and the lan- guage principles obtaining in Switzerland. Drawing on the language ideology studies, this paper shows how the linguistic diversity is designed on the admin- istrative level and what provisions have been made to maintain multilingualism. The discussion also addresses and concludes on the ever timely questions of di- versity, pluralism and intergroup cooperation fostered by the Swiss political and social culture. Keywords: multilingualism, linguistic peace, territoriality principle, federal con- stitution. 1. Introduction The Swiss owe their specific national identity to political institutions which have made a marked contribution to the unification of different lan- guage communities. The Swiss government builds on the cooperation of four major parties which take up about 80 per cent of the electorate. The government is made up of seven equal-rank ministers, including a president elected by rotational appointment. The participatory democracy in Switzer- land means that the main instruments of direct democracy, i.e. legislative initiative and the right of referendum, rests with the citizens (Brunetti, 1997; Huld & Lejins, 1988; Schaffner, 1998).