Españoles ayer y americanos hoy en el paisaje lingüístico de bares y restaurantes de Suiza

Spanish in Switzerland began to appear in the urban landscape in the 1960s, through the Spanish immigrant community that arrived in the country following the signing of a bilateral immigration agreement between Spain and Switzerland in 1961. In those final years of the Franco regime and in the decades that followed, the vibrant Spanish associative movement in Switzerland took place in Spanish community centers, which in the new century have gradually been transformed into restaurants open to the general public or have largely closed their doors. The linguistic landscape still visible in the remaining centers allows us to observe the progressive dismantling of these spaces, while new Latin American bars and restaurants are emerging in Swiss cities, where Spanish is used toward the out-group with commercial and symbolic value. Researching the linguistic landscape in the context of countries and cities that host significant Spanish-speaking immigrant groups can be a valuable tool in building the memory of these diaspora communities.