Diglossia and Multilingualism in Swiss Hospitals: Language Use and Linguistic Practices
Half-time seminar with Lea Späti, doctoral student in German, who will present the current status of her doctoral research project. All interested are welcome!
Diglossie und Mehrsprachigkeit im Schweizer Spital: Sprachgebrauch und sprachliche Praktiken
The half-time seminar will present and discuss the current status of the dissertation project.
The seminar will begin with a brief overview of the project as a whole and its four studies. This overview will outline the substantive and methodological focus of each study and their interconnections within the broader dissertation project. In addition, a preliminary synopsis of the planned kappa (the introductory synthesis of the dissertation) will be presented, with particular emphasis on the project’s theoretical foundations and on how the four studies can be integrated into an overarching theoretical and substantive synthesis.
The main part of the seminar will be devoted to a more detailed presentation of the first study, which examines subjective language use, attitudes and the management of diglossia and multilingualism in the hospital context of German-speaking Switzerland. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews, the study investigates how medical professionals with different linguistic biographies evaluate Swiss German, Standard German, and other languages, and what functions they attribute to these languages and varieties in relation to mutual understanding, professional confidence, social belonging, and integration. The presentation will be followed by a discussion in which selected questions will be posed to the audience. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments and feedback on the study.
This will be followed by a shorter presentation of the second study, which uses conversation analysis to examine actual language use in anesthesia consultations. The study focuses on how language and language varieties are negotiated and how different linguistic resources are used situationally in interactions between multilingual physicians and patients. This part of the seminar will also be followed by a Q&A and discussion.
The final part of the seminar will be reserved for an open discussion. This will provide an opportunity to address broader questions concerning the dissertation project and the planned kappa, as well as theoretical, methodological, and substantive aspects of the individual studies.
The final part of the seminar will be reserved for an open discussion. This will provide an opportunity to address broader questions concerning