The Röstigraben Phenomenon in the French-Speaking Press in Switzerland

Abstract

Switzerland’s multilingualism is a rich material for geopolitical, regional studies, (socio) linguistic research. In particular, the notion of the border between the areas of the French and German languages, called “Röstigraben”, is a phenomenon that has been superficially covered in domestic and foreign literature. The article shows how “Röstigraben” is used in the French-speaking press in Switzerland, what image it has and for what purpose the French-speaking population of the country use this term.

The term “Röstigraben” means “Rösti foss”, where “Rösti” is a potato dish native to Bern, the German-speaking canton of Switzerland. Overcoming the boundaries of the German area “Röstigraben” is used by the Swiss people to ironically denote the border between French-speaking and German-speaking areas in the context of culture and language. “Röstigraben” is used by the Swiss people to ironically denote the border between French-speaking and German-speaking areas in the context of culture and language. However, the expansion of the meaning of the concept under study indicates that the “Röstigraben” also has political, economic and social components. “Röstigraben” is a popular lexeme in the French-speaking media in Switzerland, and in the process of semantic derivation it undergoes some changes, preserving the archiseme “border” and acquiring the additional meaning of “difference”.

References

1. Borodina M.A. 1974. Stanovlenie i funkcionirovanie mnogojazychija v Shvejcarii [Formation and functioning of multilingualism in Switzerland]. Lingvisticheskaja karta Shvejcarii. Leningrad, pp. 7–23. (In Russ.)

2. Voronko E.P., Nefedova L.A. 2018. Kul’turno-markirovannaja leksika shvejcarskogo varianta nemeckogo jazyka: diatopicheskoe izmerenie [Culturally marked vocabulary of the Swiss version of the German language: a diatopic dimension]. Verhnevolzhskij filologicheskij vestnik, no. 4(15), pp. 144–149. (In Russ.)

3. Dmitrieva E.G. 2008. Leksiko-semanticheskie i stilisticheskie osobennosti francuzskogo jazyka v Shvejcarii [Lexico-semantic and stylistic features of the French language in Switzerland]: avtoref. dis kand. filol. nauk: 10.02.05. Moscow. (In Russ.)

4. Domashnev A.I. 1990. Jazykovaja situacija v Shvejcarii [The language situation in Switzerland]. Jazyk i dialekty Shvejcarii. Leningrad, Nauka. (In Russ.)

5. Zhuravleva A.M. 2017. Jazykovye konflikty i puti ih reshenija: opyt Shvejcarii [Language conflicts and ways to resolve them: the experience of Switzerland]. Istoricheskij zhurnal: nauchnye issledovanija, no. 2, pp. 1–13. DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2017.2.21733. (In Russ.)

6. Zagrjazkina T.Ju. 2013. “Na granice tuchi hodjat hmuro ”, ili fenomen granicy v regional’nyh issledovanijah [“Clouds walk gloomy on the border ”, or the phenomenon of the border in regional studies]. Rossija i Zapad: dialog kul’tur, no. 2, pp. 8. (In Russ.)

7. Klokov V.T. 2009. Francuzskij jazyk v Shvejcarii [French in Switzerland]. Saratov, Izd-vo Sarat. un-ta. (In Russ.)

8. Ladygina E.V. 2014. Francuzskij jazyk v Shvejcarii [French in Switzerland]: dis. ... kand. filol. nauk: 10.02.05. Moscow. (In Russ.)

9. Pavlovskij I.V. 2021. S chego nachinaetsja Rodina: k voprosu o regional’nyh granicah Evropy [Where does the Motherland begin: on the question of the regional borders of Europe]. Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 19: Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, no. 1, pp. 128–140. (In Russ.)

10. Petrov I.A. 2006. Ocherki istorii Shvejcarii [Essays on the history of Switzerland]. Moscow, “Cirkon”. (In Russ.)

11. Petrov I.A. 2005. Separatizm po-shvejcarski [Separatism in Swiss]. Vestnik Evropy, no. 13. URL: https://magazines.gorky.media/vestnik/2005/13/separatizm-po-shvejczarski.html (accessed: 01.04.2021). (In Russ.)

12. Sokolova G.G. 1991. Francuzskij jazyk v Shvejcarii [French in Switzerland]. Chelovek i ego jazyk. Petrozavodsk. (In Russ.)

13. Bouffet J.Y. 2020. Les langues en Suisse: Un fonctionnement réglé comme une horloge ? Conflits. URL: https://www.revueconflits.com/suisse-langues-jean-yves-bouffet/ (accessed: 01.04.2021).

14. Iberg C. 2020. La presse francophone Suisse subit les lois d’un géant alémanique. Le Taurillon. URL: https://www.taurillon.org/la-presse-francophone-suisse-subit-les-lois-d-un-geant-alemanique?lang=fr (accessed: 01.04.2021).

15. Wimmer A. 2011. A Swiss anomaly? A relational account of national boundaryma k i ng. Nations and Nationalism, no . 17(4), pp. 718 –737. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2011.00517.x