Romansh

Where it’s spoken

Romansh (Rumantsch) is one of Switzerland’s four national languages, spoken in the alpine canton of Graubünden by about 60,000 people. Five major dialects exist — Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, and Vallader — historically each with its own written tradition. In 1982, a unified literary standard called Rumantsch Grischun was developed to enable pan-Romansh administration.

What it sounds like

Romansh has a rich consonant inventory including affricates (tg, ch, c) and front rounded vowels (ü, ö). Different dialects differ in vowel quality and consonant lenition patterns. It is non-tonal. Stress generally follows Romance patterns.

How it’s written

Romansh uses the Latin alphabet with circumflex and grave accents in some dialects. Each of the five dialects has its own historical orthographic norms; Rumantsch Grischun provides a unified standard for federal use, though many municipalities continue to use the older idiom-specific spellings.

History

Romansh descends from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman province of Raetia. Switzerland made Romansh a national language in 1938 (the only addition to the 1848 federation’s three) and an official language for communication with Romansh speakers in 1996.