Noëmi Crain Merz19.01.2024In the 1960s, Switzerland faced a dilemma regarding its Italian guest workers: their labour was desperately needed, their presence in society less so...
Karin Stüber14.12.2023Before the national languages established themselves across the territory of what is now Switzerland, its inhabitants spoke the Gaulish language, which later gave way to Latin. Inscriptions offer small insights into the language culture some 1800 years ago.
André Perler23.11.2023Sibirie, Afrika, Le Brésil, Himalaia – as toponyms go, none of these place names sounds particularly Swiss. And yet they are all to be found right here in Switzerland, where an estimated several hundred such ‘exotic’ names have been borrowed from elsewhere.
Birgit Huber18.10.2023The theory of a cultural divide running through Switzerland first emerged at the time of the “spiritual defence of the nation”, a time when academic research into folklore was being strongly promoted. This cultural boundary, which did not coincide with the language border, was supposed to provide evidence of national identity and cultural diversity.
Alexander Rechsteiner27.09.2023Dialects play different roles in Switzerland’s language regions: in German-speaking Switzerland they dominate everyday life, while in French-speaking Switzerland they have virtually disappeared, and in Italian-speaking Switzerland they are only spoken with close friends and family. The reasons behind these differences can be found in history.
James Blake Wiener19.09.2023Around 400 years ago, scholars began to address the education of deaf people and developed sign language for the first time. Switzerland played an interesting, complex and perhaps outsized role in this process.
André Perler23.05.2023Since they were founded centuries ago, place name have undergone constant change. Unsophisticated descriptions of the local landscape, or ownership, have morphed into abbreviations popular among the young. In Winterthur’s case, it has gone from ‘Uitoduro’ to ‘Winti’.
Peter Egloff21.03.2023In his ‘Rätoromanische Chrestomathie’, unconventional Graubünden politician and cultural scholar Caspar Decurtins (1855-1916) created the most important older source text on the Romansh culture of his home canton. And did so while accomplishing a great deal more.