Bibliography Review on English as a Lingua Franca in Switzerland

Bibliography:

Andres, F. & Watts, R. 1993. English as a lingua franca in Switzerland: Myth or reality?” Bulletin CILA 58, 109-128.

In their article, Andres and Watts question the status of English as a lingua franca in Switzerland. They use Philipson’s work on the use of English in non-native language settings, to determine if Switzerland is more an EFL than an ESL country. It is the first article on this question since 1989 on a large scale, and their data come from “a small-scale pilot project involving a number of Swiss firms and businesses.” (p.110). Like other studies, they notice that Switzerland is an ELF country at the academic level, like other countries, because of the benefit of sharing the same conventions and having access to all the literature written in English. Watts and Andres also note that in business, English is used as an Elf within and among Swiss companies and their branches in different regions of the country. They come to the conclusion that on Philipson’s cline, Switzerland is more an EFL than an ESL country. This research will be useful for our study, because it questions the status of English as a lingua franca in Switzerland.  

Brunelière, J.F. 2016. English as an intra-national language in Switzerland. English Today 32.3, 61-62.

In his review of Agniezska Stępkowska’s book, Jean-François Brunelière chose to take aim on the question of “English as an intranational language in Switzerland.”  All his data come from Stępkowska’s book. To write chapter 3, she based her data on “400 computer-assisted telephone interviews in the Canton of Zurich […]” (p.61). Brunelière selected the chapter 3 of her book, which focuses on the conceptualization of the role of English in Switzerland. He inspects the circumstances that allowed the English language to become a language that is used a lot in Switzerland. He notices that Swiss people like the English language and that sometimes it is even preferred as other official languages depending the canton. Linked with the fact that English is used a lot in Switzerland, the educational system has raised the level of proficiency, and that it is taught has an L2 before the other official languages, which shows the importance of English in Switzerland. But even if English is important in Switzerland, the country is able to use it in many contexts without losing its own identity. This article is useful because it shows the opinions from a German part of the Switzerland on the English language.  Considering that it was published only one year ago, we will be able to make comparisons between our results for the French and Italian part with the results of this article.  

Davidson, K. April 1995. Is English a Swiss language? English Today 11. 2, 40-44.

In this article, Davidson sheds light on the role of English in the different regions of Switzerland. He takes his data from different sources who already handled the topic. He notices that the different parts of Switzerland use English to communicate with each other, and that it has become the second preferred language of each region. It appears as a solution for the cantons because it is not possible for every part to know all the official languages of the country. In his research, Davidson notes that there is a great interest in learning English in Switzerland. Finally, the author remarks that the details on the Swiss passports are written in the four official languages and English, which according to him, proves the importance of English as a lingua franca and as a global language used to communicate internationally. This article will be useful for our study, because it takes into account that Switzerland is a multilinguistic country, and the difficulties of communication that can happen between the different parts of the nation.

Davidson, K. March 2010. Language and identity in Switzerland. English Today 26.1, 15-17.  

In this article, Davidson focuses on the position of the English language in Switzerland. For his data, he uses statistics from Swiss people living abroad who speak English as their first language and based on that, he asks the question of what is the Swiss identity. Even if the English language is not accepted by the Swiss government as an official language, its importance is still considerable in the private sector. Davidson concludes that identity does not only rely on language but also on traditions, and compared to the four historical national languages, English has no role in representing these traditions. Unfortunately, he does not go further into the analysis of other elements that could be part of the Swiss identity. For our research, we can use Davidson’s paper to highlight the question that English may take over the Swiss official languages, and the role that has a historical language in the country’s traditions.

Dingwall, S. & Murray, H. 1999. The future of English in Switzerland: a majority/minority problem? Bulletin suisse de linguistique appliquée 2.69/2, 189-206.

In their study, Dingwall and Murray study the role of English in Switzerland, and how it could evolve in the decades to come. Their data come from various sources, for example they look at the number of paper that are written in English at the University of Zurich. The two researchers argue about the importance of being able to speak English in Switzerland, especially if you want to have a scientific carrier. Their data illustrate that people think English is indispensable if you want to be an academic. Like other studies, they agree this is not specific to Switzerland because English is the standard language to use to write an academic paper. They also focus on the different uses of English in everyday life, and its use as a “neutral language.” Dingwall and Murray conclude by asking if one day, English is going to be a national language in Switzerland. This paper will be really important for our study, because it shows how important English has become in Switzerland and what its future might be.  

Durham, M. 2016. English as a Lingua Franca: Forms and Features in a Swiss Context. Cahiers de l’ILSL 48, 107-118

In this article, Durham studies the topic of how English is being used and taught in Switzerland, and how it affects the language itself. He takes his data from other sources, and use it to illustrate his arguments. Like other studies, he recognizes that English is used as a lingua franca in Switzerland, and that in some cantons, it is preferred to second official languages. Furthermore, he shows the importance of English in Switzerland with some data: 13% of the population speaks English at work (p.109). Durham also explains that English is used as a lingua franca in Switzerland when two Swiss people do not speak the same mother tongue. Moreover, he shows that ELF is less institutionalized because speakers tend to be less precise with grammar and formal rules since they do not speak with native speakers most of the time. He also illustrates the linguistics variations in Switzerland from one region to another using other studies, to raise the hypothesis of a “Swiss English” that varies according the regions. For our study, Durham’s paper will be important for the characteristics of English as a lingua franca, and for the question of the existence of a “Swiss English.”

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