Requiring English submissions for state-funded research in a German-writing country is more than strange but the argumentation of the text accompanying the petition appears to justify the use of a single language in the humanities when it claims that our mentality and even our argumentation is fundamentally influenced by language. The validity of the Sapir-Whorf (and Humboldt) hypothesis is not universally recognized and is not self-evident (especially for children of immigrants).
Bron: