In Italy they speak Italian, in France - in French, in Bulgaria - in Bulgarian … but Switzerland does not fit into this picture. It cannot be said that they speak Swiss there, since such a language does not exist.
Switzerland is a federal state. The core of the future federation was the Swiss Union, which in 1291 united 3 cantons - Schwyz, Unterwalden and Uri. By 1513, this union already included 15 cantons.
Modern Switzerland consists of 26 state-territorial units called cantons. In accordance with the federal structure, each of them has its own laws and its own constitution. The cantons also differ in language.
State languages
On the territory of Switzerland, 4 languages have an official status: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The prevalence of these languages is not the same.
Most of the inhabitants of Switzerland - 67, 3% - speak German, these are 17 cantons out of 26. French is in second place, it is spoken in 4 cantons - these are Geneva, Vaud, Jura and Nesttval, the speakers of this language are 20, 4 % of the population. There are also bilingual cantons, where both languages are accepted: Wallis, Friborg and Bern.
In the south of the canton of Graubünden, as well as in Ticino, Italian is spoken, which accounts for 6.5% of Swiss citizens.
The smallest linguistic group is the people who speak Romansh, only 0.5%. It is an archaic language from the Romance group. It received the status of the state language relatively late - in 1938, while German, French and Italian have been such since 1848. Romance speakers live in the highlands of Grabünden.
These 4 languages are official for the whole of Switzerland, but at the end of the 20th century. the cantons were given the right to independently choose an official language from the list of national ones.
The remaining 9% are other languages that immigrants bring with them, these languages have no official status.
Relationships between language groups
A sense of national unity is almost non-existent in Switzerland. They value their historical originality very much, and every citizen of this country feels himself, first of all, not a Swiss, but a Bernese, a Genevan, etc.
The most significant difference is between the two most numerous linguistic groups, the German-speaking and the French-speaking Swiss. The former live mainly in the eastern part of the country, the latter in the western part. The conditional border between these regions partially coincides with the river, which in German is called Zaane, and in French - Sarin. This border is called "Restigraben" - "potato moat". The name comes from the word "resti", which is the name of the traditional potato dish in Bern.
None of the official languages of Switzerland is the language of inter-ethnic communication in the country. Most of the residents speak German, French and Italian.
