Formulierungen von Normen kommunikativen Handelns in Biel/Bienne

In the bil.bienne project, people living in bilingual (German-French) Biel/Bienne were recorded in conversations dealing with their linguistic biographies, their experiences with bilingualism and their opinions about bilingualism. The conversations were transcribed thematically. On the basis of these transcripts, analyses of the norms of communcative behavior in Biel/Bienne were carried out. We were especially interested in norms concerning communication in public and semi-public places. There are a range of conflicting communicative norms: the customer has the right to choose the language of communication; in everyday conversations participants speak their own language; in conflict situations persons may insist on having the choice. Another range of expectations concerns bilinguality: who is to be considered bilingual? However, the overall image of bilinguality is also questioned, especially by speakers of the minority language French. Norms are often formulated indirectly in conversational narrations, but are also formulated in explicit normative statements.