Department of English University of Bern Switzerland

URS DüRMüLLER

Repeatedly multilingual communities have looked to Switzerland for answers to certain of their pressing questions. It is said that Switzerland is a multilingual state with federalist structures supporting the peaceful co-existence of four separate language groups, one German, one French, one Italian, and one Romontsch. It is believed that the situation in mutlilingual Switzerland is unproblematic not only because the rights of the minority groups are constitutionally assured, but also because the multilingualism of the nation is mirrored in the multilingualism of its citizens. This would mean that there is mutual respect by the various language groups for one another and that when communicating with each other they would at least understand the language of the others if not make use of them themselves. However, there are doubts as to whether the German, French, Italian and Romontch speaking Swiss really communicate with each other in the Swiss national languages only. The question is whether they might not make use of a lingua franca common to all of them instead. And these days that language would be English.

Asking such a question suggests that multilingual Switzerland might be a myth rather than a reality. Indeed, this is what recent surveys on the language competences of the Swiss have shown (Dürmüller 1991). Nevertheless the experiences made in multilingual Switzerland with what are called "the partner-language model" and "the lingua franca model" can be of use to the present discussion concering multingual Europe and the status of English in intra-community communication. Even if the Europeans cannot hope for a simple solution coming from Switzerland, they could still learn from the Swiss experience.

The Chances of Polyglot Dialogue

The case of multlingual Switzerland shows how two rival models for the solution of the problems of intranational communication are put into practice: (1) the partner-language model used for "multilingual talk" or "polyglot dialogue" and (2) the "lingua franca" or LWC (language of wider communication) model. The partner language model, on which intranational communication in multilingual Switzerland is currently based, depends on the notion that speakers are naturally or educationally bilingual, possibly trilingual or quadrilingual in the national languages. Every speaker thus has access to the language of his or her partner in conversation. The whole conversation may take place in one language or in two languages, the partners agreeing to make use of just one of the languages available in the shared repertoires or to stick each of them to their own language, usually their L1, provided the partner has at least a passive competence in it. In the following table the possibilities for communication among members of the three main language groups of multilingual Switzerland are shown, active (a) competence being separated from passive (p) competence.

PARTNERS (A / B) Languages used by speaker A Languages used by speaker B

1. German speaker (A) French speaker (B)

L1 GERMAN (a) L2 FRENCH (p)

L1 GERMAN (a/p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p) L1 FRENCH (a) L2 GERMAN (p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p)

L1 FRENCH (a/p)

2. French speaker (A) Italian speaker (B) L1 FRENCH (a) L? ITALIAN (p)

L1 FRENCH (a/p)

L? ITALIAN (a/p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p) L1 ITALIAN (a) L2 FRENCH (p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p)

L1 ITALIAN (a/p)

L3 GERMAN (a/p)

3. Italian speaker (A) German speaker (B) L1 ITALIAN (a) L3 GERMAN (p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p)

L3 GERMAN (a/p)

L1 ITALIAN (a/p) L1 GERMAN (a) L? ITALIAN (p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p)

L1 GERMAN (a/p)

L? ITALIAN (a/p)

4. German speaker (A) Romontch speaker (B) L1 GERMAN (a) L? ROMONTCH (p)

L1 GERMAN (a/p)

L? ROMONTCH (a/p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p)

L? ITALIAN (a/p) L1 ROMONTCH (a) L2 GERMAN (p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p)

L1 ROMONTCH (a/p)

L3? FRENCH (a/p)

L2/3? ITALIAN (a/p)

5. French speaker (A) Romontch speaker (B) L1 FRENCH (a) L? ROMONTCH (p)

L1 FRENCH (a/p)

L? ROMONTCH (a/p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p)

L? ITALIAN (a/p) L1 ROMONTCH (a) L3/? FRENCH (p)

L? FRENCH (a/p)

L1 ROMONTCH (a/p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p)

L3/? ITALIAN (a/p)

6. Italian speaker (A) Romontch speaker (B) L1 ITALIAN (a) L? ROMONTCH (p)

L1 ITALIAN (a/p)

L? ROMONTCH (a/p)

L2 FRENCH (a/p)

L3 GERMAN (a/p) L1 ROMONTCH (a) L2/? ITALIAN (p)

L2/?ITALIAN (a/p)

L1 ROMONTCH (a/p)

L? FRENCH (a/p)

L2 GERMAN (a/p)

Tab. 1: Possibilities of using the national languages in the partner language model

As can be seen here, the active-passive bilingual solution, which is encouraged by Swiss educational policy, has the best chances of working between the two largest language groups, the speakers of German and the speakers of French. For in the linguistic contact between French and German speaking Swiss each partner can theoretically stick to his own L1. Everyone can assume that the passive L2 competence of his partner is such that they will be understood, even if they stick to their own mother tongues; for each has had to learn the L1 of his/her partner as an L2 at school, the school repertoires for the German and French speaking Swiss looking like this:

German speakers French speakers L1 German French L2 French German Table 2: Bilingual language repertoires built by schools

This situation is what Roland Posner has in mind when he discusses what he calls "polyglot dialogue". According to Posner 1992 (see also Posner 1991) Europeans ought to communicate with each other in this way, actively using their own L1, while passively decoding the L1 of their partners in conversation. Communication is successful because they all have such a good language education that the language of the partner can be understood without any problems. The assumption seems to be that multilingual speakers establish their dialogue like this:

POLYGLOT DIALOG two speakers from different language background

ACTIVE USE PASSIVE USE SPEAKER A Mother tongue: L1= language A Any repertoire language: L2,3,4 ,... = language B

SPEAKER B Mother tongue: L1 = language B Any repertoire language L2,3,4, ... = language A

Table 3: Polyglot dialogue for multilingual speakers

However, such a dialogue situation seems to be an idealistic construct, at least if judged from the Swiss experience. Not only do we know that there is a certain, if small, percentage in both the German and French speaking groups that claim not to have any L2 competence whatever, and a large percentage that only have insufficient L2 competence, there are also further obstacles preventing the model from functioning in real life. For one, the majority of the German speaking Swiss do not speak the same kind of German the French speaking Swiss learn at school. Since they are all native speakers of a dialect of Swiss German, they learn Standard German only at school. But while in French speaking Switzerland the target language is the kind of Standard German used in Germany, the German-speaking Swiss have developed their own national kind of Standard German. This tends to be heavily coloured by what is called "the Swiss German accent". Indeed there are significant interferences in the articulation of vowels and consonants as well as in the shape and use of intonation contours. As a result, there are many complaints made by the French speaking Swiss about the kind of German spoken by their compatriots; understanding them, they say, is rather difficult because the German utterances produced by them are so different from those produced by their models when learning German as an L2. Of course, there is also some deviation from the standard norm in the way the French speaking Swiss speak their French, although these are much less important than those observed in the case of the German speakers, and complaints about difficulties in the understanding of Swiss French by German speaking Swiss are comparatively rare. While the existence of language varieties deviating from the norms of the standard language is an obstacle to the application of the partner-language model in real life, social and psychological reasons seem to impede the working of the partner-language model in its ideal form even more. The Swiss experience shows that except for the bilingual city of Biel-Bienne (and similar communities), situated right where the German and French areas meet, the use of two languages - one actively, one passively - by both partners in conversation is quite unusual. Even in the contact situation between a German and a French speaking Swiss, who have both learnt the language of their partners in dialogue as their L2 and thus can follow a simple bilingual strategy - active use of L1, passive use of L2 -, a total switch to one of the two languages - the L1 of speaker A or the L1 of speaker B - appears to be preferable. Thus, if a conversation between the two is begun, one of the partners will have to have full command (passive and active) of L2. One of the two languages is chosen as the dialogue medium and kept for the whole length of the conversation. Whether this is L1 of A (= L2 of B) or L1 of B (= L2 of A) depends on social-psychological factors not yet clearly determined. One hint is given by the index of contact-linguistic adaptability calculated in Dürmüller 1991. For the case of multilingual Switzerland it is suggested there that the French speaking Swiss show a much smaller degree of adaptability than their German speaking compatriots, and that these again are much less willing to adapt themselves linguistically to their partners than the Italian speaking or the Romontch speaking Swiss. For the dialogue situations presented in Table 1 this means that in case one - German speaker in contact with French speaker - most often German will be the medium of conversation (bold characters in the table), in case two it will be French, and in case three it will be German again. The relationship between French speaking and Italian speaking Swiss (case 2) highlights another problem of the polyglot dialogue in multilingual Switzerland. Successful communication is possible only if the speakers have access to a trilingual repertoire. French is L2 for the Italian speaking Swiss, but Italian is available to the French speaking Swiss only as L3, if not L4; and that is where the difficulties become apparent. Here and in similar situations, cases 4, 5 and 6, e.g., the partner language has often not been learnt at all (cp. Dürmüller 1991). That is why in case 2 , the partner language Italian is marked L?, and in cases 4, 5 and 6 the partner languages Romontsch, French and Italian are so marked, too. In order to use Italian or Romontsch in the polyglot dialogue all the Swiss would have to have a trilingual or quadrilingual all-Swiss language repertoire. This, however, is not the case at all, not even for passive use only. Trilingual language repertoires are enforced only in the case of the minorities:

German speakers French speakers Italian speakers Romontsch speakers L1 German French Italian Romontsch L2 French German French German/I L3 (choice open) (choice open) German French/I/G Table 4: Languages prescribed in school language repertoires

The working of polyglot dialogue depends essentially on the extent and qualitiy of the citizens' language repertoires.The trilingualism necessary for a balanced type of polyglot dialogue, however, is shown only by the minoritity groups, and the bilingualism expected from the majority groups does not always attain the working degree aimed at. Even in Switzerland, where language education is generally considered good and exemplary, people cannot generally be expected to have the language repertoires necessary to establish and maintain the intranational polyglot dialogue. In large-scale surveys conducted in 1985 and 1987 the competences for L2 and L3 of the young Swiss (with the tiny Romontsch group excluded here) show relatively high figures for L2 if the standards of expectations are not high ("sufficient"), and somewhat lower figures if the standards are higher ("good"). Bilingual talk might nevertheless be possible for most of these men and women; trilingual talk, however, is possible only to the minority speakers of the Italian group.

German speakers Women Men French speakers Women Men Italian speakers Women Men

L2 Competence good sufficient FRENCH 52% 35% 90% 77% GERMAN 75% 41% 92% 73% FRENCH 76% 60% 94% 90%

L3 Competence good sufficient ITALIAN 1% 1% 14% 5% ITALIAN 3% 1% 12% 5% GERMAN 37% 32% 78% 53%

Table 5. Repertoire competences of young Swiss women and men (1987 and 1985 surveys, cp. Bickel & Schläpfer 1994, Dürmüller 1991)

A "sufficient" competence is assumed if language instruction has been enjoyed for at least two years, a "good" one if schooling has lasted at least four years. One may be tempted to assume that a "sufficient" competence would be enough to make polyglot dialogue work. Should not two years of L2 instruction guarantee the passive competence required by Posner? No precise data on the working of polyglot dialogue in individual cases are available, however. A research project aimed at clarifying this issue was denied funding within the current National Research Program devoted to determining the results and the efficiency of language teaching in multilingual Switzerland (Dürmüller 1992b). In the absence of such data one has to rely on other surveys that cast some doubts on the general validity of the figures Quoted in Table 5. For these figures show the highest self-reported competences of all the surveys conducted within the past ten years. The data made available by a polling institute in 1986 for all the age groups of German and French speaking Switzerland, e.g., point to a considerably lower L2 competence. The question asked of the people interviewed aimed at determining the ease with which the German or French speaking Swiss would be able to communicate orally with one of their compatriots from a different language background.

L2 Competence German speaker French speaker

fluent 21% 15% not quite fluent 33% 13% painful 26% 34% not at all 18% 37% no answer 2% 1% Table 6: Ease of establishing a dialogue based on L2 competence (Isopublic 1987)

What the data on the young Swiss (Table 5) do show quite clearly, however, is that where the partner language is an L3, polyglot dialogue would not have much of a chance. For instance, a good competence in Italian can be assumed only for 1% of the German or French speaking young people. The minority group of the Italian speakers, on the other hand, still has a relatively high L3 competence. The burden of making multilingual talk possible thus rest rather unequally on their shoulders. One question in the 1985 and 1987 surveys was asked specifically to determine which of the languages available in the young people's repertoires were indeed being used as means of intra-national communication. The answers are summed up in Dürmüller 1991. Here these data are related directly to the partner-language model, so that the theoretical possibilities discussed above (Table 1) can be given some statistical significance.

Languages used in the contact between language groups(%) CONTACTS between language groups (G,F,I,R) French

German

Italian

Romontsch

NO CONTACTS 1) G/F F/G 48.2 47.1 18.2 29.4 ? ? ? ? 30 19.9 2)F/I I/F 51.2 77.7 ? ? 14.2 6.9 ? ? 31 14.5 3)G/I I/G ? ? 42.4 46.7 17.2 24.7 ? ? 36 27.1 4)G/R R/G ? ? 27.7 92.3 ? ? 0.7 0.2 67.1 6.4 5)F/R R/F 19.4 33.3 ? ? ? ? 0.7 17.9 71.7 43.6 6)I/R R/I ? ? ? ? 22.7 69.2 0.7 15.2 67.8 12.8

Table 7: Languages used in contact situations (based on Dürmüller 1991)

While the majority groups - the German and the French speaking Swiss - only rarely have some knowledge of a third or fourth Swiss language, the minority groups - the Italian and the Romontsch speaking Swiss - are expected by those majorities to have such a wider repertoire. The multilingual talk within the partner-language model only works if the Italian and Romontch speaking Swiss make an extra effort and completely switch to the L1 of their partners, even if that is their own L3. Thus in cases 3 and 4 (of Tables 1 and 7)) German is the typical language of communication. The differences in some of the figures for the two groups of case 4 (Table 7) illustrate the fact that the majority groups do not seem to care much about establishing contacts with the minorities. German is used only by 27.7% of the German speakers not because they would prefer to use the partner language (Romontsch 0.7%), but because most of them do not have to talk to a member of the Romontsch group at all (67.1% no contacts). On the other hand, 92.3% of the Romontsch speakers use German although this is not their L1; obviously, establishing contacts to the majority is vital for them. That is also the reason why most Romontsch Swiss are natural bilinguals. Case 6 is similar to case 4, though not valid for the whole Romontsch community. Italian is L2 for those speakers of Romontsch who live in the valleys bordering the Italian speaking Ticino, for the others it might be L3 or L4. What concerns them, it is doubtful whether there would be any contact at all. The lack of contacts between French speaking Swiss and Romontsch speaking Swiss is also the reason why no solution stands out in case 5. The data on the minorities showing them having larger language repertoires, better language competences and more contacts also point to the fact that the partner-language model is put into practice where there is a real need for communication. Multilingual talk in these instances remains one-sided, polyglot dialogue is reduced to a monolingual dialogue in the language of those partners that are less adaptable, numerically more important and economically more powerful. (The exception to this rule is found in the contact between the two majority groups, where the more important German groups yields to the less important French group.)

The Lingua Franca Model (English)

Theoretically, already within the partner-language model (Table 1) there is the possibilitiy of using some languages as lingua francas in particular situations involving only two language groups, e.g. German in case 2, being L2 for the French speaking Swiss and L3 for the Italian Swiss, French, in case 3, where it is L2 both for the Italian and the German speakers, German, French and Italian in cases 4, 5 and 6. In Table 7, which is based on data indicating people's actual use of languages, all the Swiss languages that might be used in the contact situation between the different language groups as lingua francas are marked (?), however, because they were not mentioned in the questionnaires serving as the basis for these statistics (Cp. Dürmüller 1991, diagram 17). Indeed, it is utterly inconceivable that in the contact between German and French speaking Swiss, Italian or Romontsch would be used. Equally unlikely is the use of French or Italian between German and Romontsch speaking Swiss, the use of German or French between Romontsch and Italian speaking Swiss, the use of French or Romontsch between German and Italian Swiss or the use of German or Italian between French and Romontsch speaking Swiss. The only lingua franca that seems to have a chance is English. For one, it is not one of the Swiss languages, it is not the L1 of any of the four language groups, but a foreign language for all and everyone. It thus fulfils the requirements of a lingua franca for the whole nation. The other reason why English has good chances for being used within the multilingual community is its general acceptancy. This term has been introduced into the language discussion by public opinion (see Dürmüller 1993). It indicates that the public is ready to accept English, that English is generally welcomed as a language one might take up into one's repertoires. The same acceptancy, however, cannot be taken for granted for the Swiss languages where they ought to be L2 or L3 in the repertoires of the various language groups. People are quite outspoken about their preference for English as an L2. While the authorities enforce educational bilingualism with a second Swiss language as L2 (for the majority groups of the French and German speaking Swiss) and educational trilingualism with two further Swiss languages as L2 and L3 (for the minority group of the Italian and Romontsch speaking Swiss) the people themselves would like to be able to learn English as their L2 at school. All the surveys conducted in the past ten years showed the same results: not only the young, but also those professionally active, not only the majority groups, but also the minorities indicated their clear preferences for English. In 1985 two thirds of the young Swiss men (over 33,000 were questioned!) indicated that they would like to replace their current Swiss L2 by English. English, they said, should no longer be an option for L3 or L4, but should be made an obligatory subject at school, the L2 to be learnt by everyone. And in other data (from a survey on the whole population of German and French speaking Switzerland) published in 1987 the preferences for L2 at school were as follows: LANGUAGE AREA L2 PREFERENCE speakers of GERMAN speakers of FRENCH ENGLISH 58% 65% FRENCH GERMAN 23% 21% ITALIAN 12 8 OTHER 4 4 Table 8: Preferences for L2 (Isopublic 1987)

Nevertheless, the use of English as a lingua franca in multilingual Switzerland is not a reality yet. But as the statements made by public opinion leaders show, the possibility of the foreign language English serving this function is at least being discussed, although rarely in a favorable way. Even a government report on the linguistic situation of Switzerland (Dept. of the Interior 1989) recently had to acknowledge certain trends working in favor of English. It notes (§§ 36, 37) that Switzerland is more and more exposed to economic and cultural influences from abroad, and that the economic concerns have generally become more dominant. Both the cultural and linguistic influences from abroad and the use of language(s) in economic domains are said to defy control and not to respond to measures in language policy. The report also notes that the linguistic behavior of a large part of the population is changing - helped on by modern communications technologies. There is, the report regrets, a tendency away from what it calls "languages of culture" towards a language which it labels "merely functional and communicative". This development, the report says, leads to "a loss of esthetic values, of cultural diversity and expressiveness"; instead it leads to "a general levelling" which finds "its adequate instrument" in the English language. While, according to the report, the competences in the traditional languages of Switzerland, even in the citizens' own L1, are being diminished, a compensatory competence is being built up in English. People's motivation to learn a second or third Swiss language is said to be falling, but English seems to be learnt quite eagerly. This observation the report links to the utilitarian thinking of the Swiss and their acceptance of a world-wide culture transported by the English language. As a consequence of all these trends, the state of Swiss multilingualism is sketched rather soberly: The four-language repertoire of Switzerland has been reduced to a repertoire of two and a half languages, the report says. For, insofar as the country as a whole is concerned, only German and French can count as full languages. Italian, the report comments, may be an official language, but on the national level it has, at best, the significance of half a language. And Romontsch, which is L1 not even for one percent of the Swiss, should not be counted at all. The report goes on to say that the the distribution of languages acording to their relative importance could also be seen differently, especially if one looks ahead into the future. The quadrilingualism of Switzerland might then be reduced to the bilingualism of German and French. English might then be the language to join these two national languages in the repertoires of the citizens, where it would probably occupy the L2 slot, leaving the second national languages to the uncomfortable L3 slot where they would be no more than "half languages". The government report on the linguistic situation of multilingual Switzerland lists observations that fit in with the findings of social scientists. Its authors know that measures in language policy can only slow down the developments described, not stop them; nevertheless, they recommend various measures that might help to maintain the present status of multilingual Switzerland and its four languages. This attitude is also shared by the people as a whole. There is no majority at present that would want to embrace English as a language of Switzerland. In 1985 and in 1987 a third of the young Swiss men and women opposed the idea that English should be made a national language of Switzerland, only ca. 6% were in favor. Yet, a third also thought it conceivable that English might be included in the Swiss language repertoire one day; only for a sixth was this an inconceivable idea (cp. Dürmüller 1991, diagram 15). This means that there is a split attitude towards English: On the one hand there is agreement that English, being a foreign language, should not become an official language of Switzerland; on the other hand, people in their everyday activities, are turning more and more towards English as an additional language for many purposes, preferring that language over the other Swiss national languages in situations where English can compete with these, and gradually moving English to the L2 slot in their individual language repertoires. The spread of English also in Switzerland and the apparent status change of English from a foreign language to a language of wider communication have been described and documented in Dürmüller 1986 and 1992. As the government report quoted suspects, the attraction of English lies mainly in the economic benefits that come with the acquisition of English and the share in a modern Western, mainly American, culture that English gives access to. While material gains and cultural affiliation are strong factors promoting the spread of English in other nations, too, in Switzerland English also profits from the factor of linguistic diversity. It is only a very small step from using English as an additional language in many domains (from highly specialized professional fields to everyday leisure activities) to also using it as a national lingua franca. As English is entering competition with the traditional Swiss languages for a key position in the national language repertoire, its international prestige and the promise of world-wide understanding it carries as well as its other assets make it look like a winner. Of course, English cannot replace German, French or Italian where these are L1, but it can replace them where they are L2 in people's individual repertoires. The L2 slot currently seems to be occupied by two languages - maybe two "half languages", to use the terminology of the government report quoted -, the second national language acquired at school, and English, the additional language frequently learnt in a special effort even after the school years. In 1984 a large-scale survey found that the language competences of French and German speaking young men were about the same for English, which had been learnt voluntarily, and the second national language prescribed at schools:

English and L2 (G/F) compared German speakers French speakers L2: F L?: E. L2: G L?: E Comprehension 33.6 35.6 30.7 29.0 Speaking 27.6 32.0 22.4 24.1 Reading 31.4 32.5 26.2 28.5 Writing 25.0 28.7 22.7 24.0 Table 9: Percentage of young men evaluating their language competences in national L2 (prescribed) and English (opzional) at least as "fairly good" (Girod et al 1987: 48)

Girod et al. (1987) were also able to compare these 1984 competences with those reported in 1975. On a national level, all the language competences appear to have gone up, most pronouncedly those for English, which emerges as the number one L2, if considered on a national level.

L2 Ranking of national languages and English

1975 1984 1. English 22.2 30.0 2. French 26.5 29.3 3. German 19.7 23.8 4. Italian 5.7 5.9 5. Romontsch 0.4 0.7 Table 10: Percentage of comepetences in national L2 and English reported as "good" (Girod et al 1987: 48)

Weighted data from a similar survey in 1985 can be used to establish a ranking of English and the main Swiss national languages in a general way. The data derived from speakers who rated all their language competences (thus including L1) as at least "sufficient" show that German and French easily remain the dominant languages of Switzerland:

Competence in at least "sufficient" GERMAN 92.5 FRENCH 82.6 ENGLISH 37.3 ITALIAN 9.7 Table 11: Ranking of English and main national languages according to competences reported(%), based on Dürmüller 1991, Table 22.

German, the language of two thirds of all the Swiss emerges as the language in which most Swiss have at least a "sufficient" competence; second is French, the L1 of a fifth of the Swiss, and the prescribed L2 of almost all the others; English is third, well behind French, if very much ahead of Italian. (Romontsch must be disregarded for statistical reasons.) It seems that a distinction has to be made between the individual repertoires of Swiss citizens, in which English may indeed be advancing to the L2 position, and the language repertoire of the whole nation, which keeps to be dominated by German and French. Yet, for communication across language borders, from one language community to another, the shape of the individual speaker repertoires are decisive. It matters which language(s) speakers are able and willing to use apart from their L1. In this respect, English has some advantages not only over Italian, but also over French. Thus, the prospects for English to be increasingly used also in lingua franca functions are quite good. Already now, using English is an alternative to multilingual talk in intranational communication (Dürmüller 1991, diagrams 14, 17); e.g. ca. 20% of all the young men and women of German speaking Switzerland would rather use their English than their French when having to talk to a French speaking Swiss. For those who do not avoid contacts altogether, however, switching to the partner language is still the option they take. In view of the importance attributed to English in all the parts of Switzerland and the good motivation to learn that language by the young one might wonder whether language contacts in multilingual Switzerland could not be helped by making all the Swiss competent speakers of English. In this case the national type of bilingualism enforced in Switzerland, in which a second national language must be added as L2 to the regional mother tongue (L1), would be replaced by a new type of bilingualism in which English would be added as a general additional language to the national L1s:

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: Additional lang. English English English Table 12: New types of bilingualism for Switzerland This new bilingual repertoire, in which the foreign language English is given the second position, must be compared to a trilingual one, in which the L2 slot is reserved for a second national language and the L3 slot is left open for English:

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: National language French German German/French L3: Lingua franca English English English Table 13: Trilingual repertoires for Switzerland with English as general L3

There is a tendency at Swiss schools, not only to keep, if not to strengthen the position of the national languages, but also to give pupils the opportunity to learn English while at school as well. Officially, a trilingual repertoire of the type presented in Table 13 seems to be advocated most generally, following the lead taken in public opinion. Inofficially, however, the better motivation going into the learning of English, the greater willingness to make use of that language, and the many opportunities of bettering one's command of the language also after the school years both formally and informally seem to lead to a reversal in these trilingual repertoires so that English can advance to the L2 slot:

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: Lingua franca English English English L3: National language French German French/German Table 14: Trilingual repertoires for Switzerland with English as de facto L2

This model has no chance of being adopted officially. Too great is the fear that the second or third national languages would completely vanish from the repertoires of the Swiss. While it is true that in this model the Swiss national languages would lose their status as languages used for intra-national communication, they would not necessarily be weakened otherwise. For the trend of "Anglification" might stop with English in the L2 slot. The mother-tongues of the Swiss would be left untouched by further intrusion of English-language elements, since everybody would be able to switch to English completely when motivated to do so by situation or topic. Maybe, accepting English openly as what it secretly seems to become anyway, would be the best defense to keep English and the culture it transports out of the traditional Swiss languages. Which is to say that allowing English to acquire the status of a language of wider communication or lingua franca inside Switzerland might not result in the "national catastrophe" some of the politicians among the opinion leaders foresee. After all, Switzerland would remain multilingual. The new language, apart from fulfilling its functions as a language for international communication and a language for many specific purposes would additionally only be used to assure intranational communication; it would not replace people's traditional L1s, would not deprive them of a language in which to express their identities. But the data on the linguistic contacts among the Swiss and the quality of their language repertoires allows the conclusion that more of them might try to speak to their different language compatriots in English than do now in their national L2s or L3s. For today it is only the educational elites, and often not even these, that are capable and willing to enter (and then to maintain) the intranational dialogue according to one or several of the possibilities offered in the "partner-language" model. Also the "English-as-a-lingua-franca" model should not have come to Switzerland as a full surprise. After all, for fifty years now, Switzerland, like the rest of Western Europe, and many parts of the world indeed, has not fought against the intrusions of goods and values that were transported on the wings of English. Trying to stop only the language now does not look very promising, and it surely would not be an act of a convincing policy.

Applying the Swiss Models to Multilingual Europe

Multilingual Talk or one language for all? This is the question many Swiss ask themselves today. It is also the question many Europeans have come to ask of themselves and their neighbors. If communication within a multilingual community is to work, either a partner-language model or a lingua franca model must be applied. And, maybe, Europe, i.e. the European Union, could learn from the experiences made in Switzerland. A conclusion to be drawn from the preceding sections is that a polyglot dialogue of the type Posner has in mind does not seem to work well, even within the small community made up by the four language groups of Switzerland. To repeat the main point of my discussion, if multilingual talk is attempted, then by the elites who have relatively wide and high-quality language repertoires and by that part of the population who indeed are in close contact with members of another language group. Mostly, however, it is not the active-passive type of polyglot dialogue that is put into practice in these cases, but a strategy in which one partner totally switches to the language of the other. The difficulties of applying the partner-language model successfully are with the unwillingness of speakers first to learn and then to use a language they do not particularly like. Since English, on the other hand, appears to have so many assets, promising international understanding, professional advancement and material benefits, not to speak of the cultural affiliation it seems to make possible, the motivation to learn this language and then also to use it is much greater than that for learning and using additional Swiss languages. English is encountered daily, not only in one's spare time, in radio, TV and movie programs, in leisure time activities, in advertisements for many kinds of products and instructions for their use, etc., it is also present at people's workplace. That is why, if contact with a Swiss from another language group becomes necessary in the workplace or during leisure activities, both very easily can switch to English. This situation, it seems to me, is very much the same in other European countries. The wish to apply the partner-language model is understandable in Switzerland as it is in Europe. But whether the European community would be more successful than the Swiss must be doubted. To make the partner-language model work is certainly much easier in a community like Switzerland that only has four languages. For the more languages there are, the larger the repertoires. While the four national languages of Switzerland already produce twelve translation combinations, the nine languages of the EC produce seventy-two. While in Switzerland there exist individual speakers with repertoires made up of all the four national languages, it is utterly improbable that there are speakers with repertoires made up of all the nine current EC languages. Nevertheless, for Europe, too, models can be suggested that are variants of those presented in tables 12 to 14.

The simple lingua franca model

There is the simple case of establishing English as the general L2 in every country (cp. the Swiss model of Table 12).

Country A B C D E .... L1: National Language A B C D E .... L2: Lingua Franca English Table 15: Bilingual European repertoires with English as general lingua franca

English would be the one and only lingua franca of Europe. Or not quite: For according to the definition of a lingua franca, that language should not, at the same time, be the L1 of any of the language groups in question. Indeed, accepting English as the general lingua franca might unduly enhance the importance of Britain and therefore be intolerable for other member states. Europe could only solve this problem by establishing a distinction between British English (the language of a member) and American English (the lingua franca), a rather doubtful way out of the dilemma. While such a split status for English at once stands out as a grave disadvantage of that model, the advantages, on the other hand, also seem clear: All the European languages would be treated equally, none of them appearing as more important than another. National cultural identities would still find their expression in the individual languages apearing as L1s in the repertoire, while (Am)E would be the lingua franca accessible as L2 everywhere. Communication across the borders and throughout the European community would be easy to establish for average citizens, too, not only for the well-educated elites.

The partner plus lingua franca model

The second and third models are trilingual ones. Model 2 recognizes the fact that the European nations do not all have the same neighbors and that they might want to keep special relations with all or some of these. They might therefore insist that their citizens acquire some competence in one or two neighbor languages before adding English to their repertoires. Obviously, this model is based on the Swiss model shown in Table 13.

Country A B C D E ... L1: National Language A B C D E ... L2: Neighbor Language B A B C D ... L3 Lingua Franca English Table 16: Trilingual European repertoires with neighbor nation language as L2 and English (general lingua franca) as L3

Such a trilingual solution shows respect to traditions and may be politically and culturally advisable. As in Switzerland, however, the authorities putting such a model into practice cannot rely on their citizens really applying it. The polyglot dialogue it seems to make possible would be just as much at the mercy of changing fashions in world-culture, motivation for language learning, and shifting attitutes towards neighboring language groups as it is in mutlilingual Switzerland. And in order to be fair to all the neighbors, the small ones and the large ones, more than just one neighbor language would have to be considered. Yet, expecting people to be competent (actively or passively or both) in more than three languages is quite vain. Even in Switzerland, where language education is considered excellent by comparison, already the functioning trilingualism required here is rare.

The extended lingua franca model

The last model to be suggested here takes into account that Europe is not composed of nations that all are equal to one another, but there are centers of economic and political power that cannot be ignored. Accordingly, the languages of these nations would have greater importance than the languages of other countries. In this model English would no longer be the only lingua franca of the community, but share that status with two or three other languages - the power languages having the status of regional lingua francas:

Country A B C D E F G H I ... L1: National language A B C D E F G H I ... L2: Regional Lingua Franca German French English ... Table 17: Bilingual European repertoires with regional lingua francas

The regional lingua francas should be identical with neighbor languages except in the case of the "power nations", who would use each other's languages for wider communication. Thus the lingua franca for the Netherlands and Poland might be German, but for Germany is might be English; for Norway and Iceland it would also be English, but for Britain it might be French, etc. Applying such a model would simplify the babylonian situation in the EC greatly. Already now, on the level of officials and experts, the EC recognizes (de facto, not de iure) two languages as more important than others: French and English. And the representatives of German are trying to give the same status to their own language. Yet, choosing a set of languages for wider communication within the European community will always remain problematic. Even if the question should politically be settled, there is no guarantee that the speakers in the various regions would follow the regulations recommended. For what appears to be decisive for the learning of additional languages is surely not the political will-power of the community authorities, but the needs and desires, not to forget, the talents, of the individual speakers. That is what Europe can learn from the Swiss example. As long as English remains attractive, the selection of it as the general, lingua franca will appear as the easy way out of the jungle of inter-community communication, whatever models might be followed in the language policy of the various countries or communities. Even if one day the spell of English should be broken, the average European will not turn into a practitioner of polyglot dialogue, for multilingual talk is not a skill practiced by the average citizen, but an art for the gifted; it is reality for a tiny few only, but a dream for many an idealist.

References:

Bickel, Hans & R. Schläpfer (eds.) 1994. Schweizerische Mehrsprachigkeit, eine Herausforderung. Basel.

Department of the Interior. 1989. Zustand und Zukunft der viersprachigen Schweiz. Bern: EDMZ.

Dürmüller, Urs. 1991. Swiss Multilingualism and Intranational Communication. In: Sociolinguistica V, 111-159.

Dürmüller, Urs. 1992a. The Changing Status of English in Switzerland. Status Change of Languages. Ed. U. Ammon & M. Hellinger. Berlin/New York: W. de Gruyter. Pp. 355-370.

Dürmüller, Urs. 1992b. Sprachenrepertoires und Mehrsprachigkeit in der Schweiz. Projektskizze NFP 33

Dürmüller, Urs. 1993. Themen der Schweizerischen Soziolinguistik im Spiegel der öffentlichen Meinung. In Bulletin CILA 58 :79-92 (Schweizer Soziolinguistik - Soziolinguistik der Schweiz)

Girod, Roger et al. 1987. L'éventail des connaissances. Aarau/Frankfurt.

Isopublic, 1987. Weltwoche Nr. 3

Posner, Roland. 1991. Der polyglotte Dialog. Sprachreport 3: 6-10.

Posner, Roland. 1992. Maximen der Sprachverwendung im europäischen Kulturverbund. Sprachreport 2-3: 4-5.

Zehnder, Egon et. al. 1992. Umfrage bei Schweizer Managern. Schweiz. Arbeitgeberzeitung. Reviewed in Berner Zeitung, 19 November 1992, p. 15.

TABLES

German speakers French speakers L1 German French L2 French German Table 2: Bilingual language repertoires built by schools

POLYGLOT DIALOG two speakers from different language background

ACTIVE USE PASSIVE USE SPEAKER A Mother tongue: L1= language A Any repertoire language: L2,3,4 ,... = language B

SPEAKER B Mother tongue: L1 = language B Any repertoire language L2,3,4, ... = language A

Table 3: Polyglot dialogue for multilingual speakers

German speakers French speakers Italian speakers Romontsch speakers L1 German French Italian Romontsch L2 French German French German/I L3 (choice open) (choice open) German French/I Table 4: Languages prescribed in school language repertoires

German speakers Women Men French speakers Women Men Italian speakers Women Men

L2 Competence good sufficient FRENCH 52% 35% 90% 77% GERMAN 75% 41% 92% 73% FRENCH 76% 60% 94% 90%

L3 Competence good sufficient ITALIAN 15 1% 14% 5% ITALIAN 3% 1% 12% 5% GERMAN 37% 32% 78% 53%

Table 5. Repertoire competences of young Swiss women and men (1987 and 1985 surveys, cp. Bickel & Schläpfer 1994, Dürmüller 1991)

L2 Competence German speaker French speaker

fluent 21% 15% not quite fluent 33% 13% painful 26% 34% not at all 18% 37% no answer 2% 1%

Table 6: Ease of establishing a dialogue based on L2 competence (Isopublic 1987)

Languages used in the contact between language groups(%) CONTACTS between language groups (G,F,I,R) French

German

Italian

Romontsch

NO CONTACTS 1) G/F F/G 48.2 47.1 18.2 29.4 ? ? ? ? 30 19.9 2)F/I I/F 51.2 77.7 ? ? 14.2 6.9 ? ? 31 14.5 3)G/I I/G ? ? 42.4 46.7 17.2 24.7 ? ? 36 27.1 4)G/R R/G ? ? 27.7 92.3 ? ? 0.7 0.2 67.1 6.4 5)F/R R/F 19.4 33.3 ? ? ? ? 0.7 17.9 71.7 43.6 6)I/R R/I ? ? ? ? 22.7 69.2 0.7 15.2 67.8 12.8

Table 7: Languages used in contact situations (based on Dürmüller 1991)

LANGUAGE AREA L2 PREFERENCE speakers of GERMAN speakers of FRENCH ENGLISH 58% 65% FRENCH GERMAN 23% 21% ITALIAN 12 8 OTHER 4 4 Table 8: Preferences for L2 (Isopublic 1987)

English and L2 (G/F) compared German speakers French speakers L2: F L?: E. L2: G L?: E Comprehension 33.6 35.6 30.7 29.0 Speaking 27.6 32.0 22.4 24.1 Reading 31.4 32.5 26.2 28.5 Writing 25.0 28.7 22.7 24.0 Table 9: Percentage of young men evaluating their language competences in nationa L2 (prescribed) and English (optional) at least as "fairly good" (Girod et al 1987: 48)

L2 Ranking of national languages and English

1975 1984 1. English 22.2 30.0 2. French 26.5 29.3 3. German 19.7 23.8 4. Italian 5.7 5.9 5. Romontsch 0.4 0.7 Table 10: Percentage of comepetences in national L2 and English reported as "good" (Girod et al 1987: 48)

Competence in at least "sufficient" GERMAN 92.5 FRENCH 82.6 ENGLISH 37.3 ITALIAN 9.7 Table 11: Ranking of English and main national languages according to competences reported(%), based on Dürmüller 1991, Table 22.

Competence in at least "sufficient" GERMAN 92.5 FRENCH 82.6 ENGLISH 37.3 ITALIAN 9.7 Table 12: Ranking of English and main national languages according to competences reported(%), based on Dürmüller 1991, Table 22.

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: Additional lang. English English English Table 12: New types of bilingualism for Switzerland

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: National language French German German/French L3: Foreign language English English English Table 13: Trilingual international repertoire for Switzerland

Speakers of German French Italian

L1: Mother tongue German French Italian L2: Linguas franca English English English L3: National language French German French/German Table 14: Trilingual repertoires for Switzerland with English as de facto L2

Country A B C D E .... L1: National Language A B C D E .... L2: Lingua Franca English Table 15: Bilingual European repertoires with English as general lingua franca

Country A B C D E ... L1: National Language A B C D E ... L2: Neighbor Language B A B C D ... L3: Lingua Franca English Table 16: Trilingual European repertoires with neighbor nation language as L2 and English (general lingua franca) as L3

Country A B C D E F G H I .... L1: National language A B C D E F G H I .... L2: Regional Lingua Franca German French English ... Table 17: Bilingual European repertoires with regional lingua francas

Urs Dürmüller

Es war einmal: Englisch als Fremd-Sprache Seit dem Ende des Zweiten Welkriegs hat sich die englische Sprache weltweit mit zunehmendem Tempo ausgebreitet. Auch in der Schweiz ist das Englische heute mehr als bloss eine beliebige Fremdsprache. Noch vor 50 Jahren begegnete man dem Englischen vorab nur dort, wo englischsprachige Touristen in Kontakt mit Einheimischen gerieten. Es kam zwar auch zu Entlehnungen aus dem Englischen, aber Wörter wie sport, corner, foul, jazz, charleston, fox-trott, star und manche andere liessen sich mit derselben Leichtigkeit in die Muttersprachen der Schweizer integrieren, wie das auch für Italienische Brocken wie Gelati oder spaghetti oder französische Elemente wie parfum oder jupe der Fall war. Die Schweizer Bevölkerung sprach noch kein Englisch. Nur jene eigneten sich Englischkenntnisse an, die mit englischsprachigen Ausländern zu tun hatten. Englisch galt ganz eindeutig als fremde Sprache. Für jeden Schweizer, jede Schweizerin, aus welchem Landesteil auch immer, war Englisch weiter weg als irgendeine der andern Landessprachen. Aufschlussreich ist die Feststellung, dass etwa der Name des legendären Filmkomikers Charles Chaplin nicht nur in der Welschschweiz, sondern auch in der Deutschschweiz in einer französisierten Form verwendet wurde. Ebenso wurden die „ jeans“ von Levi‘s in der Deutschschweiz zuerst in einer französisierten Form - wie der Name „Jean“ - übernommen. Selbstverständlich wusste man, dass Chaplin Engländer war und seine beliebten Filme wie die genieteten Hosen von Levi‘s aus den USA kamen, dennoch hielt man sich in der Deutschschweiz bei der Ausprache der Namen ans Französische, d.h. an eine Fremdsprache, die wenigstens einigermassen vertraut war, statt ans Englische, das man kaum kannte.

Englisch auf dem Vormarsch Seit 1945,vor allem aber seit etwa 1960 hat sich diese Situation verändert. Die Verbreitung des Englischen hat vor den Schweizer Landesgrenzen nicht halt gemacht. Etwa ein Drittel der Weltbevölkerung, so wird geschätzt, soll heute zumindest über marginale Englischkenntnisse verfügen. Von diesem Drittel wiederum verwende ein Drittel die englische Sprache fliessend und kohärent als Erstsprache oder als zusätzliche erworbene Sprache. In der Schweiz ist das Englische von einer wenig bekannten zur beliebtesten Fremdsprache geworden. Im Alltag wird man mit Gegenständen, Verfahren, Erscheinungen konfrontiert, die englisch benannt und über die englisch gesprochen und geschrieben wird. In Bereichen wie Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Technologie, Unterhaltung und Freizeit ist das Englische heute so stark präsent, dass man auch schon um die „wahre“ Schweizer Kultur, insbesondere die alte Viersprachigkeit der Schweiz zu fürchten begonnen hat. In den vergangenen Jahren wurden diese Eindrücke und Beobachtungen durch gezielte Untersuchungen erhärtet : Englisch wird zunehmend im beruflichen Alltag verwendet, und zwar mündlich wie schriftlich; dabei liegt Englisch gesamtschweizerisch nur wenig hinter der zweiten Landessprache zurück. In der Schweiz werden vier- bis fünfmal so viele Bücher auf Englisch wie auf Italienisch produziert. Und wer in der Schweiz Bücher liest, der liest ungefähr gleich viel auf Englisch wie in der zweiten Landessprache. Englisch ist eine wichtige Sprache in Graffititexten geworden. Schon in den achtziger Jahren waren in ausgewählten Schweizer Städten durchschnittlich 30 Prozent der Graffititexte auf Englisch abgefasst Unter dem Einfluss der Hip-Hop-Kultur hat sich die Tendenz zum Gebrauch des Englischen in den Schweizer Graffiti in der Zwischenzeit weiter verstärkt. Diese Daten lassen den Schluss zu, dass es auch ausserhalb der Bildungseliten Schweizer geben muss, die eine englische Sprachkompetenz haben, die ihnen einen gewissen Ausdruck im Englischen erlaubt. Und es muss Schweizer geben, die die verschiedenen englischen Messages lesen können. Ein Befund, der übrigens auch durch die Werbung bestätigt wird, die in zunehmendem Masse sich in ähnlicher Weise wie die Graffiti-Autoren englischer Wörter und Phrasen bedient. 30% aller Reklamen in Printmagazinen verwenden Englisch, meistens in prominenter Stellung. Reklametexte, die nur Englisch verwenden, sind selten, gemischtsprachige die Regel. Auch für Schweizer Produkte wird in der Schweiz mittels Englisch geworben. Offensichtlich geht die Werbung davon aus, dass sich Produkte, die mit englischen Namen ausgestattet sind oder von englischen Slogans begleitet werden, gut verkaufen lassen. Englisch ist die wichtigste Kinofilmsprache der Schweiz. Auch in diesem Bereich ist seit der Erhebung der ersten Daten in den achtziger Jahren eine Zunahme des Englischen in den Schweizer Kinosälen festzustellen. 80% der in Westeuropa gezeigten Filme sind amerikanischer Provenienz. Selbst wenn die Filme untertitelt sind, wird das Publikum mit der englischen Sprache konfrontiert, und zwar in einer Vielzahl von Gesprächssituationen. Das bleibt nicht ohne Auswirkungen auf das Sprachenlernen. Die Untertitelung der Filme, so lässt sich sagen, fördert das Erlernen des Englischen nach der Uebersetzungsmethode. Englisch ist zu einer beliebten Sprache für die Titel von Radiosendungen bzw. -Sendegefässen geworden. Auch am Fernsehen haben gemäss Radio-internen Abklärungen drei von vier Programme englische Titel . Und in den Radioprogrammen mit Popmusik ist Englisch die dominante Sprache, sogar auf den Schweizer Staatssendern. Zwischen 75% und 96% der gespielten Songs waren schon in den achtziger Jahren englischsprachig. Vor allem jüngere Radiohörer werden so mit englischen Sprachflocken berieselt. Bedeutsam ist auch die Tatsache, dass Radiomoderatoren englische Ausdrücke zuhauf verwenden (bis 20% in einem als landessprachlich geltenden Text). Durch diese Einbettung von englischsprachigen Titeln, sowie von Fragen und Antworten in auf Englisch geführten Interviews in einen zusammenhängenden Schweizer Sprachtext ergibt sich für die Zuhörer erneut eine Möglichkeit zum Lernen von einzelnen Wörtern, Phrasen und kurzen Sätzen.

Die Sprache der Jungen Englisch wird von jungen Schweizern als Sprache eingeschätzt, deren Kenntnis für das berufliche Fortkommen wichtig ist - ebenso wichtig wie die zweite Landessprache, in der Deutschschweiz und der Romandie gar wichtiger als diese: in der Deutschschweiz im Verhältnis von 65% für Englisch, 47% für Französisch, in der Romandie im Verhältnis 74% für Englisch, 65% für Deutsch. Nicht überraschend sind junge Schweizer der Meinung, sie hätten zu wenig Gelegenheit gehabt, während der Schulzeit jenes Englisch zu lernen, das ihnen für ihre Zukunt so wichtig scheint. Deshalb wünschen über 70% eine Intensivierung des Englischunterrichts. Ihrer Meinung nach sollte Englisch obligatorisch als erste Fremdsprache an den Schweizer Schulen unterrichtet werden. Dieser Meinung sind übrigens auch die älteren Schweizer. Dennoch zeigt sich, dass über einen Zeitraum von zehn Jahren hinweg Englisch seine Stellung in den Sprachenrepertoires der jungen Schweizer stark verbessert hat und neu an die erste Stelle der zusätzlich zur Muttersprache (L1) beherrschten Sprachen (L2) getreten ist.

1975 1984 1. Englisch 22.2 30.0 2. Französisch 26.5 29.3 3. Deutsch 19.7 23.8 4. Italienisch 5.7 5.9 5. Rätoromanisch 0.4 0.7 Als "gut" bewertete Sprachkompetenzen in Englisch und den Nationalsprachen in Prozent (Dürmüller, 1994, nach Girod et al., 1987)

Englischlernen begünstigt Die Motivation der Schüler zum Erlernen der englischen Sprache ist eindeutig höher als die zum Erlernen einer zweiten Landessprache. Nicht weil Englisch leichter zu lernen ist als Französisch oder Deutsch, sondern vor allem weil der Unterricht anders orientiert ist. Häufig muss man fesstellen, dass Deutschschweizer Jugendliche das Französische und Westschweizer Jugendliche das Deutsche hassen, weil ihnen diese Sprachen in der Schule verleidet wurden. Fehlererlebnisse zuhauf und nur wenige Erfolgserlebnisse während der Schulstunden, Drill von Ausnahmen statt von Regelmässigkeiten - das gibt es im kommunikativ orientierten Englischunterricht kaum. Weiter wird das Erlernen des Englischen durch ein Umfeld erleichtert, in welchem die englische Sprache ebenfalls angeboten wird und als attraktiver Partner zur Aktivierung einlädt. So geschieht der Spracherwerb auch ausserschulisch. Obwohl die Schweiz Radio- und Fernsehprogramme in Deutsch, Französisch und Italienisch produziert und es auch Presseerzeugnisse in allen Landessprachen gibt, werden diese Medien zum vertiefenden Sprachunterricht in den Landessprachen kaum genutzt, schon gar nicht freiwillig und ausserschulisch. Hingegen wird das Englische, so wie es über auswärtige Radiostationen, über Satellitenfernsehen, über allerlei Presseerzeugnisse und nicht synchronisierte Kinofilme angeboten wird, sehr stark konsumiert. Zudem profitiert Englisch von der Existenz englischer Fachsprachen in der Schweiz, die sich gegenseitig verstärken und überlagern. Diese verschiedenen Englishes for special purposes bereichern das Fremdsprachen-Englisch und machen es zu etwas Einheimischem.

Kulturelle Affiliation Der Faktor , der für die weitgehende Akzeptanz des Englischen und die weitgehende Verbreitung des Englischen in der Schweiz verantwortlich gemacht werden muss, ist der der kulturellen Affiliation im weitesten Sinne. Unsere Kultur ist dabei, sich an eine Kultur anzupassen, deren Sprache das Englische, vorab dasAmerikanische, ist. Nicht nur die Schweiz, sondern ganz Westeuropa hat sich dem dominanten Einfluss des Englischen selbst geöffnet. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg sah man auch in der neutralen Schweiz eine Bedrohung nur im Osten. Westeuropa war darauf bedacht, ja nicht sozialisiert, kommunisiert und planverwirtschaftet zu werden. Die Staatsschützer leisteten ganze Arbeit. Nach Osten hin wurden die Grenzen hervorragend verteidigt, doch am Atlantik fehlten die Schutzwälle. Aus Uebersee kam ja nur Hilfe, keine Gefahr - Militärhilfe, Wirtschaftshilfe und eben auch Kulturhilfe. Amerikanisches durfte sich ungehindert ansiedeln, Kapitalismus und Marktwirtschaft hielten ungehindert Einzug. Kontakte mit den USA wurden intensiviert, Reisen nach den USA wurden Mode. Der amerikanische Film eroberte die europäischen Kinos und machte gleichzeitig der europäischen Filmproduktion den Garaus. MacDonald‘s Imbissstuben verdrängten urige Lokale und führten dem Essvokabular neue Begriffe zu. Elektronisch aufgeheizte Rock-Pop-Klänge ersetzten das Heimatlied und dessen Sprache, und die Familiensaga aus Texas wurde beliebter als die Geschichten einheimischer Romanautoren. Europa und die Schweiz wurden amerikanisiert, weil kaum jemand sich wehrte, weil beinahe alle diese Amerikanisierung auch wollten. Jetzt über den Vormarsch des Englischen zu klagen, scheint deshalb unpassend. Denn die starke Präsenz der englischen Sprache in unserer Gesellschaft ist bloss eine Begleiterscheinung dieses allumfassenden Amerikanisierungsprozesses.

Englisch offiziell zur Kenntnis genommen In der öffentlichen Meinung wird die Präsenz des Englischen in der Schweiz als Tatsache behandelt. Bundesrat Flavio Cotti sprach in seinem Präsidialjahr (1991), welches auch das Jahr der Feiern zum 700jährigen Bestehen der Eidgenossenschaft war, davon, dass Englisch zur "heimlichen fünften Landessprache" geworden sei. Die offizielle Schweiz hat den Vormarsch des Englischen zur Kenntnis genommen. In dem vom Bundesrat angeforderten Bericht zum "Zustand und Zukunft der viersprachigen Schweiz" (1989) ist zur Stellung des Englischen folgendes zu lesen: "Was sich in der Nation tut, spielt sich nicht zuerst im Schaufenster ab, und wie die Schweizer miteinander sprechen, erfährt man nicht, wenn man die Sprachpraxis des Parlaments zum Modell nimmt. Dass in weiten Teilen der Wirtschaft, des Bankwesens und der Naturwissenschaften Englisch bereits "lingua franca", d.h. Verkehrssprache nicht nur im Kontakt mit dem Ausland, sondern ebenso unter Schweizern geworden ist, lässt sich kaum leugnen. Man könnte der Ansicht sein, es handle sich hier um Bereiche, in welchen aus Rationalisierungsgründen einheitliche Fachsprachen unvermeidlich und funktionell auch zu rechtfertigen sind. Wie falsch die Ansicht ist, es handle sich hier um die Verwendung des Englischen aus fachsprachlicher Notwendigkeit und nicht aus umgangssprachlicher Gewohnheit, erfahren wir allerdings, wenn wir einen Blick auf die jüngere Generation werfen. Bei Begegnungen zwischen Jugendlichen der verschiedenen Landesteile macht man schon oft die Erfahrung, dass sie keineswegs aus modischen, sondern aus Kompetenzgründen lieber Englisch untereinander sprechen. Es gibt keine Gründe zur Annahme, dieser Anglifizierungstrend im sprachlichen Alltag der Schweiz sei eine temporäre Uebergangserscheinung und werde mit dem Verschwinden der anglo-amerikanischen Kultur und Subkultur ebenfalls abflauen. Es ist vielmehr davon auszugehen, dass die alltägliche Dominanz des Englischen in der Schweiz noch erheblich wachsen wird, und dass kein Appell an nationale Traditionen gegen diese faktische Anziehungskraft der englischen Sprache für die künftigen Generationen der Schweiz etwas ausrichten wird. Ob institutionell gestützt oder nicht: nach aller Wahrscheinlichkeit könnte für die Gesamtschweiz in wenigen Jahren gelten, dass die Zweitsprache, die die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung in der Schweiz am besten beherrscht, das Englische sein dürfte. Unser Bildungssystem wird phasenweise diese Priorität zwar in Frage stellen können (durch bewusste Förderung der Nationalsprachen), doch verhindern lassen wird sich diese Entwicklung durch keine Gegenprogramme der Bildungspolitik." (§ 37.3) Der Bericht kommt zum Schluss, dass das Englische auf Kosten der Landessprachen an Terrain gewinne. Das wird bedauert: Die Bevölkerung wende sich immer stärker weg von den nationalen Kultursprachen und hin zu einer Sprache, die bloss zweckdienlich sei. Diese Entwicklung führe zu einem Verlust von ästhetischen Werten, von kultureller Vielfalt und von Ausdrucksvermögen; statt dessen ergebe sich eine allgemeine Nivellierung, und die finde ihren adäquaten Ausdruck im Englischen. Während, dem Bericht zufolge, die Kompetenz in den Nationalsprachen abnehme, werde eine kompensatorische Kompetenz im Englischen aufgebaut. Die Motivation der Schweizer, eine zweite oder dritte Landessprache zu lernen, sei im Abnehmen begriffen; Englisch dagegen werde gerne gelernt. Diese Beobachtung verbindet der Bericht mit dem materiellen Denken der Schweizer und ihrer Offenheit der modernen, nun einmal Englisch orientierten Massenkultur gegenüber. Als Konsequenz wird der Stand der schweizerischen Mehrsprachigkeit recht nüchtern betrachtet. Das Viersprachen-Repertoire der Schweiz sei auf ein Zweieinhalb-Sprachen-Repertoire reduziert worden. Deutsch und Französisch könnten noch als volle Sprachen gelten, Italienisch aber habe, aufs ganze Land bezogen, höchstens die Bedeutung einer halben Sprache, und Rumantsch, das von weniger als einem Prozent der Bevölkerung gesprochen wird, dürfte gar nicht berücksichtigt werden. Der Bericht äussert sich neben dem nationalen Sprachenrepertoire auch über die individuellen Sprachenrepertoires und gibt zu bedenken, dass es neben Französisch und Deutsch Englisch ist, welchem die nächst wichtige Bedeutung zukommt. Englisch werde wohl dieZweitsprachen-Position übernehmen und die zweiten Landessprachen auf den ungemütlichen dritten Platz verweisen; dort würden auch diese bald zu "Halbsprachen" verkommen. Sprachpolitische Massnahmen, so die nüchterne Haltung des Berichts, können diese Entwicklungen nur verlangsamen, sie jedoch kaum stoppen.

Englisch als Schweizer Verständigungssprache? Angesprochen ist hier die Verständigung zwischen den Landesteilen. Wie werden sich in Zukunft Deutschschweizer,Tessiner, Romands und Rätoromanen verständigen? So, dass alle die Sprachen der andern kennen, oder über eine allen gemeinsame Verständigungssprache? Während es mit den Kenntnissen der Schweizer und Schweizerinnen in den andern Landessprachen nicht zum besten bestellt ist, hat das Englische tatsächlich gute Chancen als Verständigungssprache für alle zu dienen. Für Englisch spricht, dass diese Sprache nicht zum nationalen Repertoire gehört, also für alle Schweizer eine neutrale Fremdsprache ist. Der Gebrauch des Englischen innerhalb der Schweiz bevorteilt keine Sprachgruppe und schafft keine Ungleichheiten und Unausgewogenheiten von der Art, wie sie in der Praxis des polyglotten Dialogs auftreten, die mit der staatlich verordneten Erziehung zur nationalen Zweisprachigkeit angestrebt wird. Zum andern verfügt Englisch als Sprache über eine grosse allgemeine Akzeptanz, da die Schweizer Bevölkerung dem Englischen gegenüber grundsätzlich positiv eingestellt ist. Damit Englisch in der Schweiz tatsächlich zur Lingua franca werden könnte, müsste der Wunsch der Bevölkerung nach Englisch als Zweitsprache erfüllt werden und müssten alle Schweizer und Schweizerinnen tatsächlich über gute Englischkenntnisse verfügen. Noch kann man nicht sagen, dass das Englische in der Schweiz diesen Status erreicht hätte. Die Haltung dem Englischen gegenüber ist nämlich gespalten: Auf der einen Seite besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass Englisch eine Fremdsprache ist und es bleiben sollte. Andererseits wenden sich Schweizer und Schweizerinnen im Alltag immer mehr dem Englischen zu, verwenden die Sprache bei der Arbeit und in der Freizeit und schliesslich auch im Kontakt mit anderssprachigen Schweizern. Die Attraktivität des Englischen liegt zu einem grossen Teil in den wirtschaftlichen Vorteilen, welche englische Sprachkenntnisse heute bieten, und der Möglichkeit, sich an der grossen westlichen, Nordamerika-dominierten Kulturgemeinschaft zu beteiligen, wenn man die englische Sprache ganz oder auch nur teilweise beherrscht. Materielle Vorteile und kulturelle Affiliation sind zwei wichtige Faktoren, welche die Ausbreitung des Englischen begünstigen. In der Schweiz gesellt sich als dritter Faktor die Mehrsprachigkeit des Landes dazu. Denn es ist nur ein kleiner Schritt vom Gebrauch des Englischen in bestimmten Bereichen und für bestimmte Zwecke zum Gebrauch des Englischen als Lingua franca in einem mehrsprachigen Land. Das internationale Prestige, über welches die englische Sprache verfügt, und die Möglichkeit, sich auf der ganzen Welt verständigen zu können, welche sie verspricht, stärken das Englische in der Schweiz zusätzlich. Im Wettstreit um den besten L2-Platz im Sprachrepertoire der Nationerscheint Englisch als Favorit.

ENDE ?=

Zur Zeit liegen Englisch und die jeweils zweite Landessprache etwa gleichauf. Schon 1984 ermittelte eine grossangelegte Umfrage unter jungen Männern aus der Deutsch- und Westschweiz (Girod et al., 1987), dass die Sprachkompetenz im Englischen, welches zur Hauptsache freiwillig und ausserhalb der obligatorischen Schulzeit gelernt worden war, etwa gleich gut war wie die in der zweiten Landessprache, die doch ein paar Jahre lang in der Schule unterrichtet worden war.

Auch wenn es den Anschein macht, dass Englisch im Begriffe ist, im Sprachenrepertoire der Schweizer den zweiten Platz zu übernehmen, so behalten die Sprachen der Mehrheiten doch ihre dominante Stellung. Betrachtet man nämlich auch die L1-Kompetenzen, so zeigt sich sogleich, dass Deutsch und Französisch weiterhin die wichtigsten Sprachen der Schweiz sind (Dürmüller, 1991: Tab. 22):

Kompetenz in mindestens "genügend"

DEUTSCH 92.5 FRANZöSISCH 82.6 ENGLISCH 37.3 ITALIENISCH 9.7 Rangfolge von Nationalsprachen und Englisch nach Kompetenzbewertungen in Prozent

Deutsch, die Sprache von zwei Dritteln aller Schweizer, erscheint hier als jene Sprache in der die meisten Schweizer über gewisse Sprachkenntnisse verfügen. Auf dem zweiten Platz folgt Französisch, L1 noch von einem Fünftel der Schweizer und offenbar als L2 vielen Anderssprachigen geläufig. Erst auf dem dritten Platz und mit deutlichem Abstand folgt Englisch, allerdings weit vor dem Italienischen (und natürlich dem Rätoromanischen, das hier aus statistischen Gründen gar nicht erfasst ist).

LIQUIDIERTES Englisch begleitet den Schweizer und die Schweizerin durch den Tag. Morgens beim Aufstehen hören sie Radio - englische Musiktitel, Popmusik mit englischen Texten. Auf dem Weg zur Arbeit -englischsprachige Graffiti, Plakate, die auf Englisch für irgendwelche Produkte werben. Am Arbeitsplatz ein englischsprachiges Manual, im Büro ein Fax aus Uebersee, am Abend die Fernseh-News von CNN, ein Popkonzert oder ein Movie aus USA. Wir alle können solche Listen erstellen, einmal wird sie länger, einmal kürzer. Für jeden Schweizer, jede Schweizerin aber gehört die tägliche Begegnung mit der englischen Sprache zur normalen Erfahrung.

Junge Schweizer sind der Meinung, ihre Englischsprachkompetenz sei etwa gleich gut wie die in der zweiten Landessprache, obwohl die meisten von ihnen in der Schule kaum viel Englisch gelernt haben.

Und Bundesrat Jean-Pascal Delamuraz meinte zwei Jahre davor mit dem ihm eigenen Hang zum Bonmot, in der Schweiz gebe es vier Sprachen, aber bloss deren zwei würden gebraucht, Schwyzerdütsch und Englisch nämlich. Die beiden Spitzenpolitiker sind nicht allein mit ihrer Einschätzung des Gewichts, welches der englischen Sprache in der Schweiz in den letzten Jahren - insbesondere in den Jahrzehnten seit dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs - zugekommen ist. In den standardisierten Interviews mit Schweizer Opinion Leaders,(Dürmüller 1993, Bickel/Schläpfer 1994) zeigt sich durchwegs, dass die Präsenz des Englischen als nun einmal gegeben betrachtet wird. Die Politiker unter den Opinion Leaders betrachten den Vormarsch des Englischen in der Schweiz als ein gravierendes Problem. Sie geben allerdings zu, dass es einen allgemeinen Trend zum Englischen hin gebe, dass Englisch einen recht hohen Stellenwert geniesse und die Englische Sprache in mehreren Gebrauchsdomänen verwendet werde. Explizit nennen sie: Sport, Reisen, Freizeit, Fernsehen, Musik. Englisch setze sich langsam und unauffällig durch, wird gesagt; in der Romandie allerdings spricht man schon von Imposition -l'Anglais s'impose. Ob die Politiker der Ansicht sind, dieser Trend müsse oder sollte gestoppt werden oder nicht, wird in den Interviews allerdings nicht deutlich. Einer der interviewten Politiker beklagt zwar die Reduktion des Schweizer Sprachenpotentials durch die Konkurrenz des Englischen, aber ein anderer bemerkt dazu, es sei bereits zu spät, diese Entwicklung aufzuhalten. Die Schweiz sei bereits allzu sehr amerikanisiert. Massnahmen der Sprachpolitik gegen das Englische seien wirkungslos. Alle Opinion Leaders - Managers und Politiker - sehen, dass die Einführung des Englischen als "Language of Wider Communication" in der mehrsprachigen Schweiz Verständigungsprobleme weitgehend lösen könnte, obwohl ein solcher Schritt wohl auch Opposition provozieren würde. Einer der Wirtschaftsführer ist überzeugt, dass Englisch eines Tages tatsächlich einen offiziellen Status in der Schweiz erlangen werde; denn bereits jetzt funktioniere es als De-facto-Esperanto. Obwohl die Meinungen der Opinion Leaders, was den Status und Gebrauch des Englischen in der Schweiz betrifft, auseinandergehen, betonen sie doch alle, dass Englischkenntnisse heute unabdingbar seien. Die Manager behaupten, Englischkenntnisse erhöhten den Wert einer Arbeitskraft, sie verstärkten die Akzeptanz der betreffenden Person und sie erleichterten Kontakte. Englisch sei die Sprache des Managements, betont einer von ihnen. Englisch diene dazu, die Schweiz im internationalen Markt zu verkaufen. Englisch, wird da gesagt, diene der linguistischen Positionierung und schaffe für die Unternehmungen wie für das Land als Ganzes ein günstiges linguistisches Profil. Deshalb setzen sich die Wirtschaftsführer unter den Opinion Leaders auch engagiert für vermehrten Englischunterricht für alle Schweizer ein, eine Forderung, der sich die Politiker anschliessen. Sie aber fügen sogleich bei, dass, wenn Englisch gelernt werde, dieses Lernen nicht auf Kosten der Landessprachen gehen dürfe.

Befragt man die Schweizer und Schweizerinnen, welche Sprache sie denn als zweite in der Schule lernen möchten, werden nicht Französisch, Deutsch oder Italienisch (und schon gar nicht Rätoromanisch) genannt, sondern in erster Linie Englisch. Während die Behörden an den Schulen die Erziehung zur schweizerischen Zwei- und Dreisprachigkeit durchzusetzen versuchen, geht der Wunsch der Bevölkerung nach einer Zweisprachigkeit, in der Englisch als L2 die zweite Landessprache ersetzt. Sämtliche Umfragen der letzten Jahre sind sich in diesem Punkt einig. Nicht nur die Jungen, wie man vielleicht denken könnte, sondern auch all jene, die im Berufsleben stehen, nicht nur die Mehrheitsgruppen, sondern auch die Minderheiten geben dem Englischen als L2 klar den Vorzug. 1985, z.B., gaben zwei Drittel der befragten 33'000 Rekruten an, dass sie es gerne sähen, wenn in der Schule die zweite Landessprache obligatorisch durch das Englische ersetzt würde. 1987 machten junge Frauen aus allen Landesteilen dieselbe Aussage. Eine Umfrage in der Deutschschweiz und der Romandie aus demselben Jahr, die nun auch die übrigen Altersgruppen berücksichtigte, ergab einen ähnlichen Vorsprung für das Englische: Englisch lag 30% vor der zweiten Landessprache!

Urs Dürmüller

Department of English,University of Bern, and Department of Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley February-April, 1998

1 Introduction

The English language, it has been noted widely and repeatedly, has been spreading all over the world ever since the end of World War II. In Switzerland, a country with four national languages, it has not only become the most popular foreign language and the language of choice for international communication, but also a lingua franca available to the Swiss for intranational communication (Durmuller, 1992, 1997). The increasing use of English inside multilingual Switzerand runs contrary to the efforts in language policy meant to encourage "polyglot dialogue" among the Swiss. When striking up a conversation with a Swiss from a different language background, instead of using the second national languages taught at school, the Swiss tend to use English. This has led to a change of the status of English in Switzerland, which is due not only to spread factors like material benefits and cultural affiliation, but also to the fact that English has established itself as the language of choice in quite a number of different domains. It is the use of Englishes for Special Purposes in so many areas that strengthens the position of English within the national language repertoire. The many ESP varieties appear as the branches of a well developed additional language. It is this English as an additional language (EAL) which is seen as also taking over lingua franca functions inside multilingual Switzerland. Science has long been singled out as a field within which English has attained a commanding presence world-wide. That is why, in Switzerland, too, the language of science tends to be English. Academia is where one would expect scientific language do be used foremost. It is in the universities and their research groups that one would try to find evidence of the language of computer and medical science, of biochemistry and engineering, etc. Switzerland has four language areas, but has universities only in three of them. In German speaking Switzerland there are the universities of Basel, Bern, St. Gall and Zurich and the Swiss Polytechnic (Zurich). In French speaking Switzerland there are the universities of Geneva, Neuchatel and Lausanne and the Swiss Polytechnic (Lausanne). The University of Fribourg/Freiburg is French and German speaking, being located in a bilingual city and canton. Italian speaking Switzerland has the Universita della Svizzera Italiana. It is only the tiny minority group of Rheto-Romance speakers (6% of the population) that do not have their own university. All these state universities would be expected to do their business - administration, teaching, research - in the local territorial language, thus following the tacit maxim of Swiss language policy which has made possible the peaceful co-existence of diverse language groups within one nation. Officially, there is no place for English in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the language is present, with more L1 speakers than Rheto-Romance, and with more L2/3 speakers than any of the national languages. As there are no regulations whatever that would ban English from the Swiss universities and as the universities themselves do not have any clearly defined language policy, English can be assumed to have made its forays into academia, too. To what extent then is English used in Swiss universities? Do the universities keep to the national languages or have they switched to English? If English is used, is this as an auxiliary language for clearly defined purposes? If there are ESP varieties in the universities, how far have they spread? Are they limited to talks among experts? to publications? Are they also to be found in acamdeic teaching, replacing the local national languages as the languages of instruction? These are some of the questions I want to examine in this paper. I am basing myself mainly on data made public by the universities themselves (course catalogues, webpages, research proposals, publications). Not all of the universities offer the whole range of academic subjects, the Universita della Svizzera Italiana, e.g., is a school of architecture only. I will therefore not establish a compilation of data according to language territory, but use the German speaking University of Bern as my main example and refer to other - especially French speaking universities - as needed. Bern university representatives have also answered questions regarding the information transmitted by the data.

2 English in Course Listings and on Webpages

In oder to learn which languages are used for instruction the titles of the courses listed by the universities seem to be reliable sources of information. According to these course catalogues, all the Swiss universities list most of their courses in their local territorial language.

Languages used in teaching Courses are taught at the University of Bern in the academic year 1997/98 according to language of instruction

Language Total G F E I Other

Teacher Training 996 560 306 81 49 Natural Sciences 990 967 13 10 Humanities 1094 887 62 94 31 20 Veterinary 159 158 1 Medecine 742 742 Law/Economics 275 260 5 6 4 Theology 187 186 1 Interdisciplinary/ cont. education 227 209 8 6 4

Total 4670 3969 395 198 88 20

(G=German, F=French, E=English, I=Italian)

Out of a total of 4670, there are 198 courses, which, according to their titles, appear to be held in English. This is only 4% of all the courses taught; the number becomes even less important if one takes into consideration the fact that most of these courses are offered in teacher training or the humanities where they are clearly linked to English language subjects. By comparison, French appears to be doubly as strong as English, with a percentage of 8. But again, most courses are offered in teacher training and the humanities and are linked to French language subjects. If one leaves teacher training and the humanities aside, there appears to be no doubt about English being of only marginal importance as a language of instruction at the University of Berne. A cursory inspection of the course catalogues of other Swiss universities - in German, French and Italian speaking Switzerland - confirms this impression. The Swiss universities offer their courses in the language of the territory in which they are situated. Other languages, Swiss and foreign, are used above all in the humanities and related to those languages as subjects of instruction. The university of Fribourg might appear as an exception, but isn't. Fribourg, the canton and the city, are bilingual, and so is the university. The territorial languages for Fribourg are French and German, and accordingly, the courses are offered in these languages predominantly.

A different picture emerges if, instead of the printed guide to the academic programs of the universities, one turns to the webpages of the universities and their institutes/departments. In all instances - except for the Universita della Svizzera Italiana, which is Italian-only - the universities do not only have a webpage in the language of their territory - German or French - but also in other languages. Typically one finds the three main Swiss languages, German, French and Italian, while Rheto-Romance (R), the minority Swiss language, with just 6% of the population speaking it, is never included. Instead it is the foreign language English which is always present and often appears as the language of the opening page with links to the pages in the other languages. That fact, that the selectors are frequently set to English rather than to the page in the territorial language - this is especially so in German speaking Switzerland - indicates that the universities are aware of the function of English to transport information world-wide.

Languages used in University Homepages Swiss national languages English G F I R

UniBasel x x x x UniBern x x x x UniFribourg x x x x UniNeuchatel x x x x UniGeneva x x x x UniLausanne x x x x UniZurich x x x x UniStGall x x x x EPUL x x x x ETHZ x x x x USI x

Although the reason for having English webpages is international communication, the fact that these pages exist and often come up first when one chooses a university webpage, may also strengthen the position of English as a language for intranational communication in multilingual Switzerland. The probability is high that Swiss readers looking for information about a university will not bother with moving to the webpage in their own or in another Swiss language if they are confronted with English first.

If one moves from the frontpage of the whole university to the level of the faculties and the departments/institutes, the English option becomes more of an English obligation. The farther down one moves hierarchically, the more probable it is that the webpage in question is in English only. While the universities are aware of Switzerland being multilingual, offering their pages not only in English, but also in three of the four national languages, most of the faculties, departments and institutes do not bother with Swiss multilingualism. Their webpages are either in the territorial language or in English. Links to a page with the identical information in another language are rare. The example of the departments/institutes of the University of Bern (www.unibe.ch) show a preference for English or German only, those of the University of Lausanne (www.unil.ch) for French or English only. There is a clear correlation between choice of language and academic discipline. The local territorial language (German or French) is favored by the Humanities, by Theology, by Law and Economics, English by Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, and the Natural Sciences. The faculties and departments, however, are not homogeneously either local language-oriented or English-oriented. A closer look at the University of Bern webpages in the Humanities shows that three quarters are in German only, one quarter in both German and English. English webpages are offered by psychology and some of its branches. The Research Center for Multilingualism - ironically - appears as monolingual German only. Law and Economics opens in English, but has all of its further pages in German only. Medecine, on the other hand, is clearly dominated by English. Links to alternative pages in German are not found. German pages open for the public services in psychiatry and neurology, for neurology, medicine history, and medical continuing education. The natural sciences are the most clearly English dominated ones in Bern, though not in Lausanne. In Bern there are very few links to alternative pages in German. Computer Science, there, is the only branch that shows exemplary Swiss links: the page opens in English, but then one may be taken to German, French or Italian. The Natural Sciences at the University of Lausanne open consistently in French, and only a third have alternative pages in English. A cursory check of the webpages of the Universities of Basel (www.unibas.ch) and Geneva (www.unige.ch) confirms the following observations: 1) The Swiss National Languages (German, French, Italian) are found at the level of the universities only. Rheto-Romance is never included. English always is. 2) Faculties, departments and institutes are monolingual or bilingual, offering webpages in either the local territorial language or in English or in both. 3) In Italian speaking Switzerland (Universita della Svizzera Italiana: www.unisi.ch) only Italian is used. In French speaking Switzerland French is frequently the only language offered: it is domiant even in the Natural Sciences. In German speaking Switzerland, German and English have about an equal share 4) The choice of the language of the webpage is left to the departments and institutes.

3 English for Research Proposals and Publications

In the Humanities, publications are mainly in the local national languages (except for departments of English that would publish in English as a rule). Publications by staff/affiliates of the Department of History, University of Basel for 1994, counted a total of 79, of which 70 were in German, and only three in English. A similar ratio applies to the Bern Dept. of History publications. In 1997 there were 100 "recent' publications, of which 83 were in German, seven in English. Other parts of the Humanities may have more English language publications, e.g. ethnology (UBern), where a quarter of the publications are in English. Similarly, in Linguistics, a quarter of the publications are in English, including two dissertations.

University of Bern Linguistics Publications (since 1970)

Total German English French Other 37 22 8 7 0

What is interesting here is that since 1988 the French-English ratio has changed: while from 1970 to 1987 there were 6 items in French and 1 in English, from 1988 to 1997 there are now 7 English and just one French items.

In Economics, both in German (Bern) and French speaking Switzerland (Lausanne), most publications are in English. And in Medicine and the Natural Sciences English appears as the language of choice for publications: At the University of Bern, in Neurology, of the publications for 1996, 45 are in English, 17 in German, 1 in French, 1 in Italian. In Visceral Surgery, there are 110 publications in English, 27 in German. In Internal Medicine, there are 24 publications in English, 5 in German. Applied Physics, Laser department, lists 243 publications in English, 33 in German. Microwave Physics lists149 publications in English, 9 in German. These statistics are in tune with the results reported by Murray & Dingwall (1997), who did a survey involving 110 junior and senior researchers at five Swiss universities in both French- and German speaking Switzerland: There is a much higher number of English publications in the natural sciences and medicine than in the humanities and social sciences. "The average percentage of papers and talks in English reported by researchers in the humanities and social sciences was 32%, and in the natural sciences, 57%. Swiss biomedical researchers reported the highest proportional use of English, with an average of 79%" (55) Murray&Dingwall also followed up the language used in project proposals selected for financial support by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 1975, 1985, and 1995. They found a dramatic increase in the use of English over those twenty years. However, it was above all the life sciences that had switched almost completely to English (from 14% to 91%); the natural sciences went up from 2% to 58%; and the humanities, which were at 0% in 1975, moved up to 6%. (1997:55). That, overall, the local national languages, are still slightly in the lead is confirmed by the University of Bern data on the financing of research projects for 1997. Out of 529 proposals 287 were titled and described in German, 238 in English. It was only in Medicine that English clearly outdid German, while in the Natural Sciences (which, in Bern includes the Earth Sciences) German and English had roughly the same share.

Total G E F

Theology 3 3 Law/Economics 36 33 3 Medecine 235 86 148 1 Veterinary 42 25 17 Humanities 69 62 6 1 Nat. Sciences 132 67 63 2 TeacherTraining 1 1 Interdisc. 11 11

TOTAL 529 287 238 4

Financing of Research Projects University of Bern as listed for 1997: Titles/Descriptions in Language

Increasingly, research proposals and reporting of research results in papers and other publications tend to be written In English rather than in the local languages. As most of these items come from the natural sciences and from medicine, one might get the impression that in the field of research Academia is dominated by English. Indeed, also Psychology and Economics have largely switched to English. However, in Language and Literature Studies, in History and the Social Sciences, in Art and Music, in Theology and Law the local territorial languages do not appear to be seriously challenged.

4 English in Graduate and Post-GraduateTeaching

Generally, teaching is in the local national languages, i.e. in German (at the Universities of Basel, Bern, St.Gall, Zurich in German-speaking Switzerland), French (at the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne Neuchatel in French-speaking Switzerland), German and French at the University of Fribourg/Freiburg in the bilingual canton of FribourFreiburg, and Italian at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana). In the Humanities, the various language and literature departments will use their subject languages also as mediums of instruction, not only for the Swiss national languages in areas where they are not L1s, but also in the case of Spanish and English. Further languages and literatures may be taught, partially or entirely, in the local national languages. Officially, then, English is not a medium of instruction at Swiss universities. Where it is, the subject-matter - courses in English language and literature - dictates its use. Nevertheless, a few English course names appear in the official listings published by the universities in fields not related to the teaching of English language and literature. This is the case in Law and Economics and in the Natural Sciences. These courses appear as exceptions to the rule. However, if one turns to the detailed programs made available by the departments themselves, many more course titles and course descriptions appear, now above all in the natural sciences and in medicine. What the course catalogue of the university does not say is that many courses in graduate and postgraduate education are held in English. This is typical for the natural sciences and medicine. At Swiss universities, undergraduate students are instructed in in the local territorial languages in all disciplines, i.e. also in the natural sciences and in medicine. English is used in undergraduate teaching only if exceptional circumstances apply: new faculty or visiting faculty from abroad, short courses instructed by visitors. And it may be used in reading assignments also in the Humanities and in the Social Sciences. E.g., the ratio of English to German in the reading lists posted for proseminars, seminars and lectures in politology (UBE) is 5 to 3. On the other hand, many advanced courses and seminars are taught in English, one reason being that this is often the only common language considering the relatively large number of graduate students, post docs, and visiting scientists from abroad, another reason being that English is indeed the only generally accepted common language of the scientific community and the language in which reasearch is discussed. In many fields the most significant international science journals publish in English and just about all international meetings use the English language almost exclusively. A third reason for the choice of English in graduate courses is that English can also serve as a lingua franca not only within the international scientific community, but also for Swiss students. Close collaboration in graduate and postgraduate teaching between the Universities of Bern (German speaking), Neuchatel (French speaking) and Fribourg/Freiburg (both German and French speaking) as well as between all the French speaking Universities and the University of Bern favor the use of English as a language of instruction again. For such courses, not only the students at Bern, where there is no detectable reluctance to make use of English as a language of instruction, but also the students at the French speaking universities - where the general use of English is not always welcomed - are addressed in English, and in English only (e.g. Coordination Committee of the Suisse Romande for doctoral students in biological sciences) and they are clearly warned that "This course will be taught in English" (e.g. Geochemical Modeling of Natural and Contaminated Groundwaters, BeNeFri 7350, 1997/98). There is also collaboration between Swiss universities and neighboring French universities. Although, on the one side, French is a Swiss national language spoken either as L1 or L2 by the students involved in these programs and, on the other side, French language policy actively discourages the use of English instead of French, English is the language used in the lecture cyles for French and Swiss doctoral students ( cross-border University Convention of the Rhône-Alpes Region of 1990). English also makes participation by foreign students from other countries possible. Their contributions would be in English, and very frequently the Swiss students and instructors would then also switch to English. (Pluess 2/98, personal communicaton). Apart from oral presentations and discussions also reporting of research in dissertations may be in English. In Mathematics, e.g., the majority of doctoral dissertations are written in English (Adler 2/98, personal communication), while in computer science this is not the case (Pluess 2/98, pers. comm.). Outside Medicine and the Natural Sciences, where English is the rule for dissertations, a dissertation in English is still an exception. Murray/Dingwall (1997:56) noticed that the number of dissertaions written in English at Swiss universities had more than tripled between 1975 and 1991, from 135 to 422, or from 8% to 20% of all dissertations. Their findings confirm that this trend is particularly strong in the natural sciences - in 1996 61% of all natural science dissertations written at the University of Zurich were in English. The comparison with the University of Lausanne for the same year and the same field - 39% of the natural science dissertations written in English - once more points to the smaller popularity of English in French speaking academic Switzerland . A closer look at some departments shows that the use of English as the language of reporting and discussing research has affected the choice of the languages of instruction at higher levels. As graduate and especially post-graduate students are involved in ongoing research, English quite often takes the place of the local Swiss language as the language in which courses are taught. At the Institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Petrology, University of Bern, e.g., there are currently (1998) three advanced seminars that are instructed exclusively in English. In three other seminars the speakers can choose their language of preference (German, English, or French). Several graduate courses are also instructed in English. Contributions to graduate and postgraduate seminars and colloquia are posted in English. The clearly Swiss names of the presenters are paired with English titles. Talks will be given in English, and the discussion will be in English, even if everyone present is a speaker of English as a second language only. According to professors responsible for such seminars and colloquia, there does not seem to be a problem with the use of English as a second language, neither for the instructors, nor for the students. Students are reported to participate without any problems, choosing English over German or French also where using one of the Swiss languages might be possible (Pluess, computer science, 2/98, personal communication). The level of proficiency in English is said to be satisfactory in all cases, and quite good in most cases. French speaking students, however, or visitors from France, are reported to often lack adequate knowledge and usage of the English language (Maeder, Earth Science, pers.comm.2/98).

5 Conclusions

The spread of English has not stopped at the doors of the Swiss universities. As this spread is largely due to the increasing use of ESP varieties in a large number of fields, it is not surprising that English also appears as the language of choice in certain academic disciplines. There, English has definitely become the language of research. As research is an integral part of graduate and especially postgraduate education, English quite naturally also is the language used for presentations, for discussions, and for written reports. Which means that, quite often, English is also used for degree required work, such as the writing of theses and dissertations, and, more rarely, in oral examinations, and it means that where a course is devoted to the discussion of research, particularly ongoing research, the language chosen for the course is English as well. The academic disciplines, within which English is used in this way, are first of all the medical and natural sciences, then, disciplines like psychology, parts of the social sciences and economics; theology, law, and most disciplines in the humanities can still do without English most of the time. The use of English at the Swiss universities differs from discipline to discipline. It depends on whether English is already established as the language of that discipline outside the Swiss universities. Where it is and where there is a need to participate in the international scientific discussion, English will be used without reservations. Where English is only one among several languages serving a discipline, as in history, the pressure to use it is much smaller. Here, the decision seems to be up to the researchers/professors.

Although, in Switzerland, the universities are state institutions, they do not appear to be under any obligation to follow a particular state policy regarding the use of languages. All of them have accepted the language of the territory within which they are situated as their prime language. However, they do not control whether the local territorial languages are used by all the departments and institutes without exception. That is why the languages of the webpages depend on whoever takes the responsibility in these departments and institutes. It appears that the webmasters are autonomous with regard to the languages they use on their sites. There are, however, certain attitudinal differences with regard to making use of English. In German speaking Switzerland, there are no reservations with regard to using English. Pragmatism rules, what counts is easy exchange of information and the productive dialogue across language boundaries. English is accepted as a lingua franca, and as the language of the club. If you can express yourself in scientific English, you belong. In this way, English has the same function as did Latin in the Middle Ages, giving access to the community of scholars and maintaining partisanship within it. In French speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, and especially, in Italian speaking Switzerland, there is more hesitation to write websites and to teach courses in English, or, to put it differently, the bond between the universities and the territorial languages is stronger. One is tempted to establish a correlation between the relative openness towards English and the minority/majority status of the territorial language:

openness towards English a size of language territory

The larger the language territory is and the more speakers of the national Swiss language it has, the more open it is to allow English in. And the smaller the territory is, the less likey it is that English will be used the by the university. For publications and research proposals, however, this correlation is not valid. Nor is it for teaching graduate and postgraduate students in in the medical and natural sciences. Where the goal is to reach the international community of scholars, also the representatives of French speaking Switzerland will use English. And where students and scholars meet to discuss research written up in English, also the French speakers will switch to English. The spread of English in Switzerland has made Grin (1997) look at the languages taught in the Swiss universities and the economical and political benefits of knowing languages in general and English and the Swiss national languages in particular. He acknowledges the material benefits that come along with English language competence in Switzerland. He is able to quantify the financial benefits of a quasi native-speaker competence: If you are proficient in English, you can earn up to a fifth more than a person who isn't. Some financial benefits are also attributed to proficiency in German and French, though they are clearly much smaller (Grin & Sfreddo, 1996). For Italian, Rheto-Romance and further, non-Swiss, languages these benefits are negative. Grin forgets to mention that the motivation for Swiss citizens to acquire a good, even excellent competence in English is not simply material. There are cultural benefits also in the case of English, not only in that of knowing additional Swss languages, as he suggests. And what seems to be especially relevant for Academia, there is a motivation for mastering English which is linked to the ego: Swiss academics who publish their research results in English, who address an international audience in English get recognition, are quoted, and can become members of the international academic community. Researchers interviewed by Murray/Dingwall indicated that "not using English would lead to exclusion from international scientific forums, to a lowering of regard for their research, as well as to a loss of recognition for Swiss science in general." English, Murray/Dingwall conclude, is thus viewed "not so much as a matter of preference but as a communicative necessity in the academic world" (1997:56). This is recognized by those institutes/departments that consider themselves part of the international community of scientists: "I think it is important for students to be very familiar with scientific English. For graduate students it is a must. If possible, also undergraduate students should get exposed to the English technical terms."(B. Stadler, biology, pers. comm. 2/98)

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References

Durmuller, Urs. 1992. The Changing Status of English in Switzerland. Status Change of Languages. Ed. U. Ammon & M. Hellinger. Berlin/New York: W. de Gruyter. Pp. 335-370.

Durmuller, Urs. 1997. Changing Patterns of Multilingualism. From quadrilingual to multilingual Switzerland. Zurich. Pro Helvetia.

Grin, Francois, 1997. "Enseignement des languages à l'université: critères politiques ou économiques?", Babylonia 4/97:60-64

Murray, Heather and Silvia Dingwall. 1997. English for scientific communication at Swiss universities: "God helps those who help themselves", Babylonia 4/97: 54-59