"Climate youth" is the word of the year Switzerland 2019
Climate youth, vague verte, onda verde and luf are the words of the year Switzerland 2019. They show what society is thinking about and what moves it. ZHAW researchers used the largest text database in Switzerland as a basis, and the jury's feeling for language decided the choice.
In second and third place are OK Boomer and Flugscham for German, féminicide and flygskam for French, sciopero delle donne and 5G for Italian, and diaspora and unda verda for Romansh. "These words have shaped the discourse in Switzerland in 2019 - scientifically proven in the text database and confirmed by the choice of language creators," explains ZHAW linguist Marlies Whitehouse, operational head of the Word of the Year Switzerland project.
Romansh for the first time
In 2017, the ZHAW Department of Applied Linguistics took over responsibility for choosing the Word of the Year. Since then, the election has been multilingual, research-based and interactive. In collaboration with the Lia Rumantscha, the Word of the Year Switzerland in Romansh has been chosen for the first time in 2019.
For each language, the choice leads through three stages: Researchers analyze the Swiss discourse database Korpus Swiss-AL and determine for each language the twenty words that were used more frequently or significantly differently in 2019 than in previous years. Then a jury of language professionals selects the three most distinctive words from this list, from audience suggestions, and based on their own experience. Finally, the researchers show how these words developed in language use in Switzerland in 2019 and what social changes they represent.
The four juries each consist of around ten linguists from German-, French-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking Switzerland. The Department of Applied Linguistics at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW in Winterthur is responsible for the database and project management.
1st place: Climate Youth
In serious concern, young people in Switzerland are calling for something to finally be done about climate change. And they have bite, clout and stamina like Greta Thunberg: time and again, they bring tens of thousands onto the streets for a climate strike. Many of them want to initiate a rethinking process on a broad front and jointly find ways out of the climate crisis, together with politicians, scientists and the population. Because the young people know: The climate concerns us all and it determines what their future will look like.
2nd place: OK Boomer
Short and decisive. OK Boomer is the response to when a person from the baby boomer generation makes derogatory and condescending remarks about the opinion of a younger person. It has appeared sporadically in recent years and spread rapidly from October, triggered among other things by an interjection in a climate debate: a baby boomer interrupts a young speaker, who acknowledges with "OK boomer." Killing phrase or demand for respect? One thing is certain: Old and young want to be heard and taken seriously.
3rd place: Flight shame
To fly or not to fly? Flight shame will be a topic in 2019; the word describes the shame of not foregoing air travel despite climate change. The word "Flugscham" combines the desire to travel with the climate crisis, globalization sets its ecological footprint, and air miles bonuses interlock with remorse. The figures on travel above the clouds speak for themselves: the number of airline passengers is rising steadily worldwide. Meanwhile, flight shame is spreading everywhere, among baby boomers and climate youth.
