Romansh language
Romansh is a Romance language of the Gallo-Romance and/or Rhaeto-Romance branch of languages spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton of the Grisons. Romansh has been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language in correspondence with Romansh-speaking citizens since 1996, along with German, French, and Italian. It also has official status in the canton of the Grisons alongside German and Italian and is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin and Friulian as the Rhaeto-Romance languages, though this is disputed.
Romansh is one of the descendant languages of the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, which by the 5th century AD replaced the Celtic and Raetic languages previously spoken in the area. Romansh retains a small number of words from these languages. Romansh has also been strongly influenced by German in vocabulary and morphosyntax. The language gradually retreated to its current area over the centuries, being replaced in other areas by Alemannic and Bavarian dialects. The earliest writing identified as Romansh dates from the 10th or 11th century, although major works did not appear until the 16th century, when several regional written varieties began to develop. During the 19th century the area where the language was spoken declined due to the industrialization of Switzerland, but the Romansh speakers had a literary revival and started a language movement dedicated to halting the decline of their language.
In the 2000 Swiss census, 35,095 people indicated Romansh as the language of "best command", and 61,815 as a "regularly spoken" language. In 2010, Switzerland switched to a yearly system of assessment that uses a combination of municipal citizen records and a limited number of surveys. In 2019, 40,074 Swiss residents primarily spoke Romansh; in 2017, 28,698 inhabitants of the canton of the Grisons used it as their main language.
Romansh is divided into five different regional dialect groups, each with its own standardized written language. In addition, a pan-regional variety called Rumantsch Grischun was introduced in 1982, which is controversial among Romansh speakers.
Linguistic classification
Romansh is a Romance language descending from Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of the Roman Empire. Among the Romance languages, Romansh stands out because of its peripheral location. This has resulted in several archaic features. Another distinguishing feature is the centuries-long language contact with German, which is most noticeable in the vocabulary and to a lesser extent the syntax of Romansh. Romansh belongs to the Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages, which includes languages such as French, Occitan, and Lombard. The main feature placing Romansh within the Gallo-Romance languages is the fronting of Latin to or, as seen in Latin muru "wall", which is or in Romansh.The main features distinguishing Romansh from the Gallo-Italic languages to the south, and placing it closer to Ladin, Friulian and Franco-Provencal, are:
- Palatalization of Latin K and G in front of A, as in Latin canem "dog", which is in Sursilvan, tgang in Surmiran, and in Putèr and Vallader ; Lombard can, French chien. This sound change is partially absent in some varieties of Romansh, however, especially in Sursilvan, where it may have been reversed at some point: Sursilvan and Vallader "house".
- Pluralisation with -s suffix, derived from the Latin accusative case, as in buns chavals "good horses" as opposed to Lombard bon cavai; French bons chevaux, yet identical to Portuguese bons cavalos.
- Retention of L following : clav "key" from Latin clavem, as opposed to Lombard ciav; French clef.
File:Rhaeto-Romance languages.png|thumb|left|The three proposed Rhaeto-Romance languages: Romansh, Ladin, and Friulan
Whether or not Romansh, Friulan, and Ladin should compose a separate "Rhaeto-Romance" subgroup within Gallo-Romance is an unresolved issue, known as the Questione Ladina. Some linguists posit that these languages are descended from a common language, which was fractured geographically through the spread of German and Italian. The Italian linguist Graziadio Isaia Ascoli first made the claim in 1873. The other position holds that any similarities between these three languages can be explained through their relative geographic isolation, which shielded them from certain linguistic changes. By contrast, the Gallo-Italic varieties of Northern Italy were more open to linguistic influences from the South. Linguists who take this position often point out that the similarities between the languages are comparatively few. This position was first introduced by the Italian dialectologist Carlo Battisti.
This linguistic dispute became politically relevant for the Italian irredentist movement. Italian nationalists interpreted Battisti's hypothesis as implying that Romansh, Friulan, and Ladin were not separate Romance languages but rather Italian dialects. They used this hypothesis as an argument to claim the territories for Italy where these languages were spoken. From a sociolinguistic perspective, however, this question is largely irrelevant. The speakers of Romansh have always identified as speaking a language distinct from both Italian and other Romance varieties. Furthermore, unlike Friulian, Ladin, or Lombard, Romansh is located north of the German-Italian linguistic border, and German has influenced the language much more than Italian has.
Dialects
Romansh comprises a group of closely related dialects, which are most commonly divided into five different varieties, each of which has developed a standardized form. These regional standards are referred to as idioms in Romansh to distinguish them from the local vernaculars, which are referred to as dialects. These dialects form a dialect continuum without clear-cut divisions. Historically a continuous speech area, this continuum has now been ruptured by the spread of German, so that Romansh is now geographically divided into at least two non-adjacent parts.- Sursilvan – spoken in the Vorderrhein valley, including the Lumnezia, Foppa, and Cadi. It is the most widely spoken variety, with 17,897 people or 54.8% within its historical region naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the Swiss census of 2000.
- Sutsilvan – spoken in the Hinterrhein valley, including Schams/Schons, Domleschg/Tumleastga, and Heinzenberg/Mantogna. In Imboden/Plaun, with the exception of Sursilvan-speaking Flims/Flem, they speak Sutsilvan but write Sursilvan. Sutsilvan is the least widely spoken Romansh variety, with 1,111 people or 15.4% within its historical area naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language. It has become extinct across much of its historical area since the turn of the 20th century.
- Surmiran – spoken in the Gelgia and Albula/Alvra valleys, including Surses and Sutses. Romansh was named by 3,038 people within the historically Surmiran-writing area as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000.
- Putèr – spoken in the Upper Engadine, as well as in the village of Brail in Zernez, where they, however, write Vallader. Romansh was named by 5,497 people or 30% within the Upper Engadine and Bergün Filisur as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000.
- Vallader – spoken in the Lower Engadine, with the exception of Putèr-speaking Brail – where they nevertheless write Vallader – and in the Val Müstair. It is the second most commonly spoken variety of Romansh, with 6,448 people in the Lower Engadine and Val Müstair naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000.
Additionally, the standardized variety Rumantsch Grischun, intended for pan-regional use, was introduced in 1982. The dialect of the Val Bregaglia is usually considered a variety of Lombard, and speakers use Italian as their written language, even though the dialect shares many features with the neighboring Putèr dialect of Romansh.
As these varieties form a continuum with small transitions from each village to the next, there is no straightforward internal grouping of the Romansh dialects. The Romansh language area can be described best as consisting of two widely divergent varieties, Sursilvan in the west and the dialects of the Engadine in the east, with Sutsilvan and Surmiran forming a transition zone between them. The Engadinese varieties Putèr and Vallader are often referred to as one specific variety known as Ladin, which is not to be confused with the closely related language in Italy's Dolomite mountains also known as Ladin. Sutsilvan and Surmiran are sometimes grouped together as Central Romansh, and then grouped together with Sursilvan as "Rhenish Romansh".
One feature that separates the Rhenish varieties from Ladin is the retention of the rounded front vowels and in Ladin, which have been unrounded in the other dialects, as in Ladin, Sursilvan, Surmiran meir "wall" or Ladin to Rhenish "cheese". Another is the development of Latin -CT-, which has developed into /tɕ/ in the Rhenish varieties as in détg "said" or fatg "did", while developing into /t/ in Ladin. A feature separating Sursilvan from Central Romansh, however, involves the extent of palatalization of Latin /k/ in front of /a/, which is rare in Sursilvan but common in the other varieties: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan tgea, Surmiran tgesa, Putèr, and Vallader "house". Overall, however, the Central Romansh varieties do not share many unique features, but rather connect Sursilvan and Ladin through a succession of numerous small differences from one village to the next.
The dialects of Romansh are not always mutually comprehensible. Speakers of Sursilvan and Ladin, in particular, are usually unable to understand each other initially. Because speakers usually identify themselves primarily with their regional dialect, many do not take the effort to attempt to understand unfamiliar dialects, and prefer to speak Swiss German with speakers of other varieties. A common Romansh identity is not widespread outside intellectual circles, even though this has been changing among the younger generation.