Lost in Diglossia? (Un-)Doing Difference by Dealing with Language Variations in Swiss Kindergartens

Language 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 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 ask – drawing on the theoretical concept of (un-)doing difference – how different linguistic addressing reflects (and affects) children’s positions in the social order.+repphzhbib2019