Lost in diglossia? (Un-)doing difference by dealing with language variations in Swiss kindergartens

Abstract

AAM Bibliography Postprint versionLanguage policy in German-speaking Swiss kindergartens recently has been subject to change. While dialect traditionally was spoken to kindergartners, the use of High German has been established to promote the integration of migrant children and equality of opportunity. In this contribution, we look at how kindergarten teachers translate the new diglossic language policy into language practices. Drawing on data from an ongoing ethnographic study, we examine four logics of language use concerning when to speak dialect or High German. As teachers' use of language differs not only according to situations and pedagogical sequences but also due to children's social and migrant backgrounds, we askdrawing on the theoretical concept of (un-)doing difference -how different linguistic addressing reflects (and affects) children's positions in the social order.

Establishing multiple languages in early childhood. Heritage languages and language hierarchies in German-English daycare centers in Switzerland.

“…In Switzerland, the few relevant studies primarily focus on kindergarten, which is part of the school system (e.g. Künzli, Isler, and Leemann 2010); children's HLs remain practically excluded in daily interactions (Knoll and Jaeger 2020;Krompàk 2015), and promoting multilingualism takes the form of an educational ritual instead of multilingual practice (cf. Neumann et al 2016).…”

“…Another common context is emotionality: Teachers were observed to switch codes when consoling or disciplining children (cf. Knoll and Jaeger 2020).…”

“…2. To reduce complexity, we do not systematically examine the distinction between High German and 'Swiss German', a group of dialectal varieties used in a diglossic situation in all of German-speaking Switzerland (for their use in kindergarten, see for example Knoll 2016;Knoll and Jaeger 2020). In all three daycare centers we investigated, Swiss German was predominant among teachers and children, while High German was used by (some) native speakers (teachers and children) and by teachers with poor knowledge of Swiss German.…”

Vom Schweizer Kindergarten ins Außerschulische, nach Ghana, und wieder zurück: Wenn Kinder und eine Ethnografin gemeinsam ‚Grenzen‘ überschreiten

“…Bis zu zwanzig Stunden die Woche verbrachte ich so in der Anfangszeit des Schuljahres im KiGa Wiesengrund, radelte mit vollem Kopf und Blättern voller Feldnotizen wieder ins Büro und hämmerte in die Tasten, was ich durch teilnehmende Beobachtung erlebte; im Team trugen wir zusammen, wie sich die drei für die Studie erforschten Kindergärten in Hinblick auf pädagogische Differenzierungspraktiken vergleichen und kontrastieren ließen (vgl. Knoll & Jaeger 2019;Sieber Egger & Unterweger 2019). Für die als Erweiterung des Projekts konzipierte Promotion plante ich allerdings, den Fokus von den Lehrpersonen zu lösen und vor allem die Kinder und deren Aushandlungen von Gleichheit 1 Im unter #159328 geförderten und von A. Sieber Egger, G. Unterweger & C. Maeder geleiteten SNF-Projekt "Kinder, die auffallen.…”

Diglossia as a Symbolic Capital in Bangladesh: A Bourdieun Analysis

“…The co-existence of higher domain and lower domain of the same language in the same community has specific implications -its use seemingly organizes and navigates diversity in everyday life, and corresponds to social and political debate on language policies (Knoll and Jaeger, 2019). Diglossia refers to the situations when two distinct codes exist in the same speech community, and these two codes are kept apart in their functions.…”