Journal of Danubian Studies and Research, Vol 9, No 1 (2019)

Abstract

The question of the presence of the Swiss diaspora in the Bessarabian territory can be attributed today to poorly researched scientific problems. In Soviet times, these issues were suppressed or falsified for political and ideological reasons. At the present stage of development of the Ukrainian polyethnic state, an in-depth study of the role played by the Swiss community of Shabo in the socio-cultural life of Bessarabia in the 19th and 20th centuries becomes extremely important. In addition, these issues were and still remain relevant for the preservation of the national memory of the descendants of French-speaking Swiss colonists, who from 1822 to 1940 (and some even later) lived on the territory of Bessarabia in isolation from the main mass of their ethnic group, but made a significant contribution to the development of their new homeland. The purpose of this study is to analyze the discourse of the French-speaking Swiss settlers of Bessarabia in terms of its ethnolinguistic and sociocultural specificity.