Do French-speaking Swiss people consider themselves French?

[Albion]

The fact is that ''french'' swiss is, in reality, Arpitan

If it's easily mutually intelligible with French then it is just French. Continentals are far too generous when it comes to designating dialects as languages.
What's that spot in the centre of Italy anyway?

[Peyrol]

If it's easily mutually intelligible with French then it is just French. Continentals are far too generous when it comes to designating dialects as languages.
What's that spot in the centre of Italy anyway?

It isn't, because is the intermediate language between occitan and french.
Arpitan linguistic island in southern Italy are two villages which were populated with savoyarde colonist during norman rule of Apulia. The language is still alive.

[le penalty]

French suisse don't like french so ...

[Albion]

It isn't, because is the intermediate language between occitan and french.
Arpitan linguistic island in southern Italy are two villages which were populated with savoyarde colonist during norman rule of Apulia. The language is still alive.

Then a dialect continuum, either way I don't regard it as a separate language. The dialects should classified as French or Occitan based on which they most closely resemble. It won't be obvious for some, but the world has many linguists that can settle it.

[Comte Arnau]

Things don't work like that in linguistics. If we distinguished languages and dialects by the 'mutual intelligibility' factor, each one of us would have a different opinion.

If it's got a series of phonological isoglosses, basic distinct grammar traits and a core lexicon which show an evolution of its own from Vulgar Latin, then it is a distinct linguistic system, that is, a language.

I'm no expert in Arpitan, but from what it seems, it's a Northern Gallo-Romance language close to the Oil languages but apart from them. Probably the Northern Gallo-Romance branch had an early split between two important centers, Paris and Lyon, North-Eastern Gallo-Romance around Lyon evolving into modern Arpitan. Which now seems to be bordering extinction, except perhaps for the variety in the Aosta Valley, in Italy. The start of the decay was when the Duchy of Savoy adopted French for legal things in the 16th century.

[Peyrol]

Then a dialect continuum, either way I don't regard it as a separate language. The dialects should classified as French or Occitan based on which they most closely resemble. It won't be obvious for some, but the world has many linguists that can settle it.

Things don't work like that in linguistics. If we distinguished languages and dialects by the 'mutual intelligibility' factor, each one of us would have a different opinion.

If it's got a series of phonological isoglosses, basic distinct grammar traits and a core lexicon which show an evolution of its own from Vulgar Latin, then it is a distinct linguistic system, that is, a language.

I'm no expert in Arpitan, but from what it seems, it's a Northern Gallo-Romance language close to the Oil languages but apart from them. Probably the Northern Gallo-Romance branch had an early split between two important centers, Paris and Lyon, North-Eastern Gallo-Romance around Lyon evolving into modern Arpitan. Which now seems to be bordering extinction, except perhaps for the variety in the Aosta Valley, in Italy. The start of the decay was when the Duchy of Savoy adopted French for legal things in the 16th century.

Arpitòn is also quite mutually intelligible with piemontese, and not only with french or occitan...and yes, is a proper language.
Is understandable for a catalan?

[Rudel]

I thought Beligians and French hated each other.

The Flemish are butthurt as hell. I've never head or Walloon vs French hate. Wouldn't make sense.

The fact is that ''french'' swiss is, in reality, Arpitan

French from Switzerland is just French. There isn't much dialect left, like in France. That's the complete opposite of Allemanic Switzerland (we makes me think both population are more deeply like their parent groups than they think).
And don't call it "Arpitan", for God's sake. The word is retarded as hell.

French-speaking Swiss live in a separate world and would never refer to themselves as French.

[Visitor_22]

Indeed. Plus Rhaeto-Romance. All above three languages are almost totally unintelligible from their official "version". Allemannic is as similar to standard German as Dutch (almost intelligible when written, not intelligible in spoken form). German is a macro-ethnicity, united by a common history, a common name, what used to be a common consciousness and of course West Germanic "dialects".

Bullshit let be honest. All high german languages are based on Alemannic dialects.

While northern Low German/Low Saxon are totally different languages that don't that relate to High German that much.

[aherne]

Bullshit let be honest. All high german languages are based on Alemannic dialects.

While northern Low German/Low Saxon are totally different languages that don't that relate to High German that much.

Your knowledge of linguistics is zero:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germanic_languages

[Shuffle]

Well, swiss dialects are difficult to understand if you are not used to hear it, but once used to hear it, they're not too hard to understand and closer to standard-german than dutch. The dialects spoken in the south of Baden-Württemberg and in the south-west of Bavaria don't differ too much from northern- and eastern-swiss dialects, people there easily understand the swiss. It is a recent developpement that swiss don't see themselves as part of germans as cultural group, didn't start before the end of WWII, and very recently became somehow dominant in swiss minds.