Abstract:
The identity of la Suisse romande, the French-speaking region of Switzerland, is one characterised strongly by conceptions of the French language in the francophone social imaginary, and by the will to affirm an identity separate to that of the country's dominant, German-speaking majority. This identity simultaneously forms, and is formed by, a complex set of ideologies unique to this imagined community. These ideologies on the French language, on language and identity, and on language's relationship with reality, implicit and explicit, reveal themselves most clearly when examined through the lens of feminist language policy in the region. In this thesis, I therefore analyse official feminist language policy documents available at three levels of Switzerland's political structure. At a federal level, comparative analysis of official French- and German-language documents exposes a marked disparity between the policies of the two communities - a concrete manifestation of their socially perceived linguistic and cultural differences. At a regional level, the official feminist language guide of la Suisse romande reveals consistent Romand adhesion to France, rather than to other, non-francophone Swiss communities, in the social imaginary. Lastly, at a cantonal level, the bilingual canton of Bern issues near-identical feminist language guides for official governmental policy, but comparative analysis of policies published by tertiary institutions illustrates the francophone tendency to linguistic conservatism and the community's potential alienation from feminist language planning initiatives conceived of from a germanephone perspective, these attempts being perceived as not adequately taking into account the unique francophone identity. Federally, regionally, and cantonally, these policies illustrate the significance of the French language and its cultural-historical conceptions in the social imaginary of la Suisse romande, as well as the effect of their status as a linguistic minority on the French-speaking Swiss' alignment with France and distancing from the perceived threat of the germanophone linguistic majority in their own country. At all levels, la Suisse romande reveals itself to be less engaged with and committed to the issue of feminist language planning than la Suisse alémanique, and it is only close, comparative policy analysis that reveals precisely the ideological factors underlying this.