The realization of the parity principle in the Swiss army (on the example of the Italian and the Rhaeto-Romance languages)

Smirnova Maria

The article examines the plurilingualism in the Swiss Armed Forces. According to the current Constitution and the provisions of the Army Regulations, the army guarantees linguistic parity for every native speaker among the personnel, but in practice the principle of linguistic parity is only advisory. The focus of the study is based on the Italian and the Rhaeto-Romance languages, which have the lowest representation within the population. The article analyses an initiative taken by the Swiss government to integrate Rhaeto-Romance into the Armed Forces and a field study of the linguistic usage in a military exercise situation.

Keywords:sociolinguistics, languages policy, language legislation, plurilingualism, Italian language, Rhaeto-Romance language.