In Switzerland, Francoprovençal is still spoken in parts of the cantons of Fribourg and Valais, but has (almost) vanished from other cantons. The archives of the Journal de Genève (JdG) elucidate the development of glottonyms and linguistic representations, ranking from admission of the dying out of patois to upkeep attempts, and, more recently, to revival expectations. This assay is based on two corpora organized around 1909, consisting of texts including respectively at least one incident of the keywords “patois” (1826–1909) and “franco-provençal” (1909–1998). These corpora also reflect identity construction based on language at a regional, national or transnational level. In the 19th century, the imagined language community applied to “little fatherlands” (cantons), to Romandie or to a cross-border space limited to Geneva and Savoy. In the 20th century, the emergence of the word “Franco-Provençal” led some people to expand the symbolic space to the whole FP area, particularly to the Aosta Valley. Even though the “FP cause” stays secondary in the JdG and the discourse on “Harpetan” appears anecdotal, the paper discerns some signs of “proto-national” construction.