Romansh language

Not to be confused with Romand, which is another term for the Franco-Provençal language.

Romansh
Rumantsch, Romontsch, Rumauntsch, Rumàntsch
Sursilvan house inscription in Trun
Pronunciation	[rʊˈmantʃ], [ʁoˈmɔntʃ], [rʊˈmɛntʃ], [rʊˈmaʊ̯ntʃ], [rʊˈmœntʃ]
Spoken in	Switzerland
Region	Grisons
Ethnicity	Romansh Swiss
Native speakers	35,000 (language of best command)  (2000) 60,000 (regular speakers)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Gallo-Romance Rhaeto-Romance Romansh
Standard forms	Rumantsch Grischun Putèr Sutsilvan Surmiran Sursilvan Vallader
Dialects	Sursilvan Vallader Surmiran Putèr Sutsilvan Jauer Tuatschin
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Switzerland
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	rm
ISO 639-2	roh
ISO 639-3	roh
Linguasphere	51-AAA-k
The traditional Romansh-speaking parts of Switzerland (dark green)

Romansh (also spelled Romansch, Rumants(c)h, or Romanche; Romansh: rumantsch/rumauntsch/romontsch; German: Rätoromanisch; Italian: Romancio) is one of the four national languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian and French. It is one of the Rhaeto-Romance languages, believed to have descended from the Vulgar Latin variety spoken by Roman era occupiers of the region, and, as such, is closely related to French, Occitan and Lombard, as well as other Romance languages to a lesser extent.

As of the 2000 Swiss Census, it is spoken by 35,095 residents of the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) as the language of "best command", and 61,815 in the "best command" plus "most spoken" categories. Spoken now by around 0.9% of Switzerland's 7.7 million inhabitants, it is Switzerland's least-used national language in terms of number of speakers.

Dialects

Historical distribution of the dialects of Romansh, German, and Italian in Grisons:
  Sursilvan   Tuatschin

  Sutsilvan

  Surmiran

  Putèr

  Vallader   Jauer

Romansh is an umbrella term covering a group of closely related dialects spoken in southern Switzerland and all belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance language family. These dialects are most commonly divided into five different varieties, all of which have developed a standardized form:

• Sursilvan (rm.  sursilvan ; derived from the name of the Surselva-region, which itself is derived from sur ‘above’ and selva ‘forest’) – spoken in the Vorderrhein (Rain anteriur) valley, including the Val Lumnezia, Foppa, and Cadi. It is the most widely spoken variety, with 17,897 people within the Surselva region (54.8%) naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the Swiss census of 2000.
• Sutsilvan (derived from sut ‘below’ and selva ‘forest’) - spoken in the Hinterrhein (Rain posteriur) valley, including Plaun, Tumliasco, Schons. It is the least widely spoken Romansh variety, with 1,111 people within its historical area (15.4%) 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 (derived from sur ‘above’ and meir ‘wall’) - spoken in in the Julia and Albula valleys, including Surses and Sutses
• Putèr (rm.  putèr ; probably originally a nickname derived from put ‘porridge’, meaning ‘porridge-eaters’.) – spoken in the upper Engadine valley (Engiadin' Ota) west of Zernez. Romansh was named by 5,497 people within the upper Engadine valley (30%) as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000.
• Vallader (derived from val ‘valley’) – is spoken in the lower Engadine valley (Engiadina Bassa) and the Val Müstair. It is the second most commonly spoken variety of Romansh, with 6,448 people in the lower Engadine valley (79.2%) naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000.

Aside from these five major dialects, two additional varieties are often distinguished. One is the dialect of the Val Müstair, which is closely related to Vallader but often separately referred to as Jauer (derived from the personal pronoun jau ‘I’, i.e. ‘the jau-sayers’). Less commonly distinguished is the dialect of Tujetsch and the Val Medel, which is markedly different from Sursilvan and is referred to as Tuatschin. Additionally, the standardized variety Rumantsch Grischun intended for pan-regional use has been introduced since 1982.

These dialects form a dialect continuum with no clear-cut divisions between them. This continuum has now been ruptured by the spread of German however, so that Romansh is now geographically divided into at least two non-adjacent parts. As there are no clear-cut divisions, several classifications are used. Putèr and Vallader are sometimes referred to as one specific variety known as Ladin (rm.  ladin ), as they have retained this word to mean Romansh; not to be confused with the closely related language in Italy's Dolomite mountains also known as Ladin. Sursilvan is often grouped by itself and Sutsilvan and Surmiran are referred to as Central Romansh (rm. Grischun central). Other classifications group Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, and Surmiran together as Rhenish varieties. Surmiran in particular often forms a transition zone between the dialects of the Engadine and the Rhine valley.

For example, the Ladin varieties Putèr and Vallader retain the rounded front vowels /y/ un /ø/ (written ü and ö), which have been derounded to /i/ and /e/ in the other dialects. Compare Putèr  mür to Sursilvan  mir ‘wall’ and Putèr  chaschöl to Sursilvan  caschiel ‘cheese’. Another difference involves the extend of the palatalization of Latin K in front of A, which is rare in Sursilvan but common in the other varieties: Sursilvan  casa , Surmiran tgesa, and Putèr  chesa ‘house’.

The different dialects of Romansh are not always mutually comprehensible. Speakers of Sursilvan and of the Ladin varieties Vallader and Putèr in particular, are usually initially not able to understand each other. Since 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 of intellectual circles, even though this has been changing among the younger generation.

As Chur was once the centre of Romansh, Germans once called this language Chur-Wälsch, "foreign speech of Chur". (The word "Welsh" had the same etymon: Walh.) This is a possible origin of the term Kauderwelsch, meaning "gibberish". However, Chur and even its cross-river suburb of Welschdörfli ("little foreign-language-speaking village"), now speak German.

Standardisation

Romansh was nationally standardised in 1982 by Zürich-based linguist Heinrich Schmid. The standardised language, called Rumantsch Grischun ("Romansh of Grisons") is promoted by the Lia Rumantscha, the umbrella organization for all Romansh associations.

On the orthographic level, Schmid sought to avoid all "odd-looking" spellings, in order to increase general acceptability of the new idiom and its spelling. Therefore, words with /tɕ/ followed by /a/, /o/, /u/ have <ch> (for example chalanda) as both speakers of Engadin (chalanda) and the Rhine territory (calanda) expect a spelling with <c>. However, <che> and <chi> are pronounced /ke/ and /ki/, <k> being a grapheme deemed unfit for a Romance language such as Romansh; therefore, words with /tɕ/ plus /e/ or /i/ have <tg> (for example tgirar) instead of <ch>. The use of <sch> for both /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, and of <tsch> for /tʃ/ is taken from German, making Romansh spelling a compromise between Romance (Italian, French) and German spelling.

Rumantsch Grischun has been slow to find acceptance in Grisons. The cantonal and national government have adopted it for government texts and since 2003 for schoolbooks, and the local media use it alongside the traditional spelling. But the opposition to what traditionalists consider a "bastard language", lacking the emotional appeal of the older dialects, remains substantial. Many municipalities, who are responsible for choosing the language of instruction in the public schools, continue to use the local spelling. In 2011, a group, Pro Idioms, was founded to lobby for the reintroduction of schoolbooks in the traditional dialects.

Official status in Switzerland

Romansh has been recognised as one of four "national languages" by the Swiss Federal Constitution since 1938. It was also declared an "official language" of the Confederation in 1996, meaning that Romansh speakers may use Romansh for correspondence with the federal government and expect to receive a response in Rumantsch Grischun, because the federal authorities use only the standardised dialect. However, the Constitution specifies that only native Romansh speakers can claim this privilege.

In what the Federal Culture Office itself admits is "more a placatory and symbolic use" of Romansh, the federal authorities occasionally translate some official texts into Romansh. In general, though, demand for Romansh-language services is low because, according to the Federal Culture Office, Romansh speakers may either dislike the official Rumantsch Grischun idiom or prefer to use German in the first place, as most are perfectly bilingual.

On the cantonal level, Romansh is an official language only in the trilingual canton of Graubünden, where the municipalities in turn are free to specify their own official languages.

Distribution of languages in Graubünden canton (2000).

  Romansh speaking

  German speaking

  Italian speaking

Literature

See also: Romansh branch of Swiss literature

The emergence of Romansh as a literary language is generally dated to the mid-16th century. The Engadine dialect was first printed as early as 1552 in Jacob Bifrun's Christiauna fuorma, a catechism; a translation of the New Testament followed in 1560.

The first verse of a three verse poem by Peider Lansel (1863–1943), translated by M.E. Maxfield:

MASSA BOD! (TOO SOON!)

O sblacha fluoretta, (O, pale little flow'ret,)

tu vainsch massa bod! (Too soon thou art here!)

amo be suletta (Alone in the wildwood)

at dervasch nil god. (And full of vague fear.)

First printed Romansh Bible

New Testament

Translated by Jachiam Bifrun:

L’g Nuof Sainc Testamaint da nos Signer Jesu Christi / prais our delg latin & our d’oters launguax & huossa da noef mis in Arumaunsch tres Jachiam Bifrun d’Agnedina [cited from Kantonsbibliothek Graubünden, Sig. KBG 1007:A:220], Basel, 1560.

First (surviving) complete Bible. The citation is of a self-described 2nd edition, augmented by Nott da Porta and others on the basis of an earlier, no longer surviving translation by Jacob Anton Vulpius and others going back to at least 1660, when a partial Old Testament was published.

La sacra Biblia : quai ais tuot la Sonchia Scrittüra dal Vegl et Nouf Testamaint cun l’agiunta dall’apocrifa / vert. è stamp. ... in lingua romontscha d’Engiadina bassa tras comün cuost è lavur da Jacobo Antonio Vulpio & Jacob Dorta et ... Men Andrea Wilhelm Rauch, Nuot Nuot Schucan & Men Not Dorta,

Published in Scuol in the Lower Engadine, 1743. [Exemplar located at SILS/E-Biblioteca Engiadinaisa, Kasten. Sign.: BES 22].

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant phonemes of Romansh (Rumantsch Grischun) are set out in the following chart:

	Labial	Labio- dental	Dental and alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n			ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p  b		t  d				k  ɡ
Affricate			ts	tɕ  dʑ	tʃ
Fricative		f  v	s  z		ʃ  ʒ
Approximant			ɹ			j
Lateral			l			ʎ

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Romansh are shown in the table below:

Monophthongs	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open	a

Diphthongs	Closer component is front	Closer component is back
Closing	ai	au
Opening	ie

Schwa [ə] occurs only in unstressed syllables. Vowel length is predictable:

• Unstressed vowels are short.
• Stressed vowels in closed syllables (those with a coda) are:

  long before /r/

  short elsewhere

• Stressed vowels in open syllables are:

  short before voiceless consonants

  long elsewhere

Lexis

Examples of Common Vocabulary:

English	Surselvisch	Sutselvisch	Surmeirisch	Puter	Vallader	Rumantsch Grischun	Latin	Nones	Italian	Lombard	French	Portuguese	Spanish	Romanian
gold	aur	or	or	or	or, aur, ar	aur	aurum	or	oro	òr	or	ouro	oro	aur
hard	dir	dir	deir	dür	dür	dir	dūrus	dur	duro	dür	dur	duro	duro	dur
eye	egl	îl	îgl	ögl	ögl	egl	oculus	ocel	occhio	öcc	œil	olho	ojo	ochi
light, easy	lev	leav	lev	liger	leiv	lev	levis	ligér	lieve, leggero	legér	léger	leve, ligeiro	leve, ligero	lejer
three	treis	tres	treis	trais	trais	trais	trēs	trei	tre	trii	trois	três	tres	trei
snow	neiv	nev	neiv	naiv	naiv	naiv	nivem (acc. of nix)	neu	neve	néf	neige	neve	nieve	nea
wheel	roda	roda	roda	rouda	rouda	roda	rota	rueda	ruota	röda	roue	roda	rueda	roată
cheese	caschiel	caschiel	caschiel	chaschöl	chaschöl	chaschiel	caseolus/fōrmāticum	formai	formaggio	furmàcc	fromage	queijo	queso	caş
house	casa	tgeasa	tgesa	chesa	chasa	chasa	casa	ciasa	casa	cà	chez	casa	casa	casă
dog	tgaun	tgàn	tgang	chaun	chan	chaun	canis	ciagn	cane	can	chien	cão	perro/can	câine
leg	comba	tgomba	tgomma	chamma	chomma	chomma	camba/perna	giamba	gamba	gàmba	jambe	perna	pierna	picior
hen	gaglina	gagliegna	gagligna	gillina	giallina	giaglina	gallīna	gialina	gallina	gaìna	poule	galinha	gallina	găină
cat	gat	giat	giat	giat	giat	giat	cattus	giat	gatto	gat	chat	gato	gato	pisică
all	tut	tut	tot	tuot	tuot	tut	tōtus	tut	tutto	tüt	tout	tudo	todo	tot
shape	fuorma	furma	furma	fuorma	fuorma	furma	fōrma	forma	forma	fùrma	forme	forma	forma	formă
I	jeu	jou	ja	eau	eu	jau	ego	mi	io	mì	je	eu	yo	eu

Writing system

Romansh alphabet

L'alfabet rumantsch

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

X

Z

Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

x

z

Names

a

be

tse

de

e

ef

ghe

ha

i

jot/i lung

el

em

en

o

pe

ku

er

es

te

u

ve

iks

tset

The letters k (ka), w (ve dubel), and y (ipsilon or i grec) are used only in words borrowed from foreign languages, such as: kilogram, ski, kino, kiosc, kilo, kilowat, Washington, western, stewardess, whisky, happy, or hockey.

Because most Romansh-speaking people are familiar with German spelling, Romansh orthography borrows from German: The "sh" sound, for example, is written in the German fashion, "sch" (see "rumantsch"), not "sc" as in Italian, and ö and ü are used.

Pronunciation

Consonants

Orthography	IPA	Notes
⟨b⟩	[b]	Except as below
	[p]	At the end of a word and before a voiceless consonant
⟨c⟩	[k]	Before ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩ and consonants
	[ts]	Before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩
⟨ch⟩	[tɕ]	Before ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩
	[k]	Before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩
⟨d⟩	[d]	Except as below
	[t]	At the end of a word and before a voiceless consonant
⟨f⟩	[f]
⟨g⟩	[ɡ]	Before ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩ and voiced consonants
	[dʑ]	Before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩; the ⟨i⟩ is silent in ⟨gia⟩, ⟨gio⟩, and ⟨giu⟩
	[k]	At the end of a word and before a voiceless consonant
⟨gh⟩	[ɡ]	Before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩ (appears nowhere else)
⟨gl⟩	[ɡl]	Before ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩, and ⟨u⟩
	[ʎ]	Before ⟨i⟩; the ⟨i⟩ is silent in ⟨glia⟩, ⟨glie⟩, ⟨glio⟩, and ⟨gliu⟩
⟨gn⟩	[ɲ]
⟨h⟩	(silent)	In most cases; see also ⟨ch⟩, ⟨gh⟩, and ⟨sch⟩
	[h]	In some interjections and loanwords
⟨j⟩	[j]
⟨k⟩	[k]	Occurs only in foreign words
⟨l⟩	[l]
⟨m⟩	[m]
⟨n⟩	[n]	Except as below
	[ŋ]	Before [k] and [ɡ]
⟨p⟩	[p]
⟨qu⟩	[ku̯]
⟨r⟩	[r]
⟨s⟩	[s]	Usually at the beginnings of words and after consonants; always in ⟨ss⟩ and always at the end of a word
	[z]	Usually between vowels; sometimes after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨r⟩; sometimes at the beginning of a word
	[ʃ]	Before a voiceless consonant; at the beginning of a word before ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨r⟩
	[ʒ]	Before a voiced obstruent
⟨sch⟩	[ʃ]	In all positions
	[ʒ]	In all positions except at the end of a word
⟨t⟩	[t]
⟨tg⟩	[tɕ]
⟨tsch⟩	[tʃ]
⟨v⟩	[v]	Except as below
	[f]	At the end of a word and before a voiceless consonant
⟨w⟩	[v]	Occurs only in foreign words
⟨x⟩	[ks]
⟨y⟩	(Depends on pronunciation in original language)	Occurs only in foreign words
⟨z⟩	[ts]

Vowels

Orthography	IPA	Notes
⟨a⟩	[a]	In stressed syllables
	[ɐ]	In unstressed syllables
⟨ai⟩	[ai̯]
⟨au⟩	[au̯]
⟨e⟩	[ɛ]	In stressed syllables
	[ə]	In unstressed syllables
⟨i⟩	[i]	But see above for ⟨gi⟩ and ⟨gli⟩
⟨ie⟩	[ie̯]
⟨ieu⟩	[i̯ɛu̯]
⟨o⟩	[ɔ]
⟨u⟩	[u]
⟨uai⟩	[u̯ai̯]

Some common expressions

• Allegra. – Hello or welcome
• Co vai? – How are you?
• Fa plaschair. – Pleased to meet you.
• Bun di. – Good morning.
• Buna saira. – Good evening.
• Buna notg. – Good night.
• A revair. – Goodbye.
• A pli tard. – See you later.
• Perstgisai. – I beg your pardon.
• I ma displascha. – I'm sorry.
• Perdunai. – Excuse me.
• Per plaschair. – Please.
• Grazia fitg. – Thank you very much.
• Anzi. – You're welcome.
• Gratulazions. – Congratulations.
• Bun cletg. – Good luck.
• Ils quants è oz? – What's the date today?
• Quants onns has ti? – How old are you?
• Viva! – Cheers!

See also

• Heinrich Schmid, the linguist whose work on standardization of the language resulted in Rumantsch Grischun.
• Romansh people
• Dicziunari Rumantsch Grischun
• Societad Retorumantscha

Literature

Arquint, Jachen Curdin, Vierv Ladin: Grammatica Elementara dal Rumantsch d'Engiadina Bassa. Lia Rumantscha, Coira. 1964.

Billigmeier, Robert H.: A Crisis in Swiss Pluralism: The Romansh and their Relations with German- and Italian-Swiss in the Perspective of a Millenium. The Hague: Mouton 1979

External links

• In Multilingual Switzerland, One Tongue Struggles, NewYorkTimes September 28, 2010
• Romansh language, alphabet and pronunciation
• Grammatica d'instrunziun dal rumantsch grischun
• Information about the Romansh language
• Ethnologue report for Romansch
• Website of the Lia Rumantscha organization
• Dictionaries
  • Romansh-English
  • Romansh-English, with different Romansh dialects
  • Romansh-German/German-Romansh
• An Account of the Romansh Language by Joseph Planta FRS, originally published in the 1776 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This paper was read to the Royal Society on 10 November 1775.
• Series of articles about Romansh from swissinfo
• Introduction to the Romansh language in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Content
  • Radio Televisiun Rumantscha
  • Lexicon Istoric Retic (LIR) - Encyclopedia about Switzerland. Partial translation of the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland in Romansh with additional articles.
  • Google Rumantsch