Swiss (people)

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Main languages in Switzerland^[1]:
German (63.7%),
French (20.4%),
Italian (6.5%),
Romansh (0.5%)

The Swiss (German die Schweizer, French les Suisses, Italian gli Svizzeri) form a nationality, and although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, it is not a nation-state, and the Swiss do not form a single ethnic group but a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice"), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the ethnic sense of the term.^[2]

The Swiss have grown in number from 1.7 million in 1815 to 6.5 million in 2006, 91% of them living in Switzerland. About 60% of those living abroad reside in the European Union (170,000, in France, 70,000 in Germany), the largest overseas community is in the USA (71,000).

The demonym derives from the toponym of Schwyz (see there) and has been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century.

The traditional ethnic composition of the territories of modern Switzerland includes the following components

speakers of Swiss German, i.e. Alemannic German, historically amalgamated from the Gallo-Roman population and the Alemanni, including subgroups such as the Walser. "Swiss" from the 16th to 18th centuries referred to this group exclusively, and only with the expansion of the Swiss confederacy following the Congress of Vienna was the term applied to non-Alemannic territories. Closely related German-speaking peoples are the Germans (especially the Swabians) and the Austrians (especially the Vorarlbergians).
the Romands, traditionally speaking Francoprovençal dialects, today largely assimilated to the standard French language (Swiss French), amalgamated from the Gallo-Roman population and Burgundians (the historical Upper Burgundy). They are closely related to the French (especially those of Franche-Comte).
the Ticinesi, traditionally speakers of Lombardic dialects (Ticinese) today mostly assimilated to the standard Italian language, amalgamated from Raetians and Lombards. They are closely related to the Italians (especially Lombardians and Piedmontese).
The Rumantsch, speakers of the Rumantsch language, settling in parts of the Grisons, historically of Raetic stock.

With worldwide human migration, there is an increasing number of Swiss not descended or only partially descended from the core ethnic groups listed above. Naturalized Swiss citizens will be linguistically oriented according their canton of residence. In 2003, 35,424 residents were naturalized, a number exceeding net population growth. Similarly, differences between the several regions of Switzerland are increasingly levelled as a consequence of increased mobility, so that the Swiss as a whole may be argued to be in the process of undergoing ethnogenesis.

[edit] Notes

^ Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Federal Population Census 2000
^ Dissent to the effect that the state should be re-oriented along ethnic lines is constrained to far-right and völkisch circles such as the PNOS and remains a fringe position (held by far below 1% of Swiss citizens) in direct opposition to the letter and spirit of the Swiss Constitution.