Welcome to What's up, Switzerland?, a university project financed by the SNSF. The project is non-commercial and not affiliated to WhatsApp and Facebook. 

Some key figures about our project:

• Project sum: CHF 1'597'904 (SNSF, Sinergia: CRSII1_160714) plus ~180'000 CHF for the extension
• Project leader: Elisabeth Stark (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Involved Universities:
  • Zurich: Elisabeth Stark, Christa Dürscheid
  • Bern: Crispin Thurlow, Silvia Natale
  • Neuchâtel: Federica Diémoz
  • Leipzig: Beat Siebenhaar
• Project duration: 36 months (1/1/2016 – 31/12/2018) plus an extension until early 2020
• Overall Research Questions:
  1. What do Swiss WhatsApp messages look like? What has changed overall between Swiss SMS and Swiss WhatsApp messages, and why (as regards linguistic structures, use of images in a broad sense, spelling, register-specific style, individualization vs. accommodation).
  2. What is said / done by the individual users and the media in/on WhatsApp messages and chats, in relation to the findings for question 1? 
• Subprojects: The project consists of four subprojects: 
  • Language(s) of WhatsApp: Verbal Periphrases and Argument Drop
  • Language Design in WhatsApp: Icono/Graphy
  • Individuals in WhatsApp
  • The Cultural Discourses and Social Meanings of Mobile Communication

The whole project at a glance.

Quoting the project

If you want to quote the project or the corpus, please use the following quotation style:

When quoting the project:

• Overview article: Ueberwasser, Simone/Stark, Elisabeth (2017). What’s up, Switzerland? A corpus-based research project in a multilingual country. Linguistik online  84/5, 105-126. https://bop.unibe.ch/linguistik-online/article/view/3849/5834.
• Mainproject: Stark, Elisabeth (2016-2018). SNSF project  "What’s up, Switzerland?" (Sinergia: CRSII1_160714). University of Zurich. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch.
• Subproject A: Stark, Elisabeth; Natale, Silvia (2016-2018). Subproject A  "Language(s) of WhatsApp: Verbal Periphrases and Argument Drop" of the  SNSF project  "What’s up, Switzerland?" (Sinergia: CRSII1_160714). Universities of Zurich and Bern. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch.
• Subproject B: Dürscheid, Christa; Diémoz, Federica (2016-2018). Subproject B "Language Design in WhatsApp: Icono/Graphy" of the  SNSF project  "What’s up, Switzerland?" (Sinergia: CRSII1_160714). Universities of Zurich and Neuchâtel. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch.
• Subproject C: Siebenhaar, Beat (2016-2018). Subproject C "Individuals in WhatsApp" of the  SNSF project  "What’s up, Switzerland?" (Sinergia: CRSII1_160714). Universities of Zurich and Leipzig. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch.
• Subproject D: Thurlow, Crispin (2016-2018). Subproject D "The Cultural Discourses and Social Meanings of Mobile Communication" of the  SNSF project  "What’s up, Switzerland?" (Sinergia: CRSII1_160714). Universities of Zurich and Bern. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch. 

When quoting the corpus:

• Stark, Elisabeth; Ueberwasser, Simone; Göhring, Anne (2014-). Corpus "What’s up, Switzerland?". University of Zurich. www.whatsup-switzerland.ch.