Integration Durch Sprache - Die Sprache der Integration

English summary: The discourse that language is the key to integration has gained momentum all over Europe, including in Switzerland, where language regulations have been introduced to integration policies, thus tightening conditions for migrants. This becomes evident in the legal materialization of the discourse in the form of "language articles" in the national law on the foreign population and in the cantonal law of integration in Basel-Stadt. This discourse, referred to as...
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English summary: The discourse that language is the key to integration has gained momentum all over Europe, including in Switzerland, where language regulations have been introduced to integration policies, thus tightening conditions for migrants. This becomes evident in the legal materialization of the discourse in the form of "language articles" in the national law on the foreign population and in the cantonal law of integration in Basel-Stadt. This discourse, referred to as "integration through language", is critically analyzed in this publication with the aim to understand its emerging conditions, its broader societal role and political function. The analysis is based on a critical sociolinguistic perspective and on a Foucauldian understanding of discourse. It draws 1) on documents and recordings related to the law drafting processes on the national level and on the cantonal level of Basel-Stadt, and 2) on interviews with experts and actors mainly from Basel-Stadt. It is shown how the discourse is based on ideologies of language and society, on the basis of which a discussion on the function of this very discourse is launched. German description: Welche gesellschaftspolitischen Interessen stehen hinter der prominenten Forderung Integration durch Sprache? Um diese Frage zu beantworten, zeigt Mi-Cha Flubacher die Entstehungsbedingungen und Konsequenzen dieses Diskurses in der Schweiz auf, den sie aus kritisch soziolinguistischer Perspektive und in Anlehnung an Foucaults Diskursverstandnis analysiert. Der Deutschschweizer Kanton Basel-Stadt dient dabei als Fallbeispiel foderaler Strukturen in der Integrationspolitik. Untersucht werden unter anderem die Entstehungsprozesse des nationalen sowie kantonalen Gesetzesartikels (Sprachartikel), in denen sich dieser Diskurs materialisiert, und Interviews mit ExpertInnen und AkteurInnen in Basel-Stadt. Die Analyse deckt die in Politik und Gesellschaft vorhandenen Ideologien zur Sprache und Gesellschaft auf und regt eine Diskussion zur Funktion dieses Diskurses und der damit zusammenhangenden Legislation an.