Romansh language: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>John Stephenson
(Some de-linking and rearrangment)
imported>John Stephenson
(several additions and corrections; rearrangement; photo)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{subpages}}
{{subpages}}
'''Romansh''' is a [[Romance languages|Romance language]] spoken in the [[Graubünden]] [[canton]] of eastern [[Switzerland]], and is one of the [[official language]]s of the country. It is the [[native language]] of about 40,000 [[Swiss people]]<ref>See [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=roh Ethnologue].</ref> and, of the major Romance languages, is most closely related to [[French language|French]]. However, the [[accent]] and [[writing system]] of its speakers appear to the casual observer to more closely resemble [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[German language|German]] – a significant fact in historical conflicts over the region.
[[Image:Romansh-german-sign.jpg|right|thumb|350px|{{#ifexist:Template:Romansh-german-sign.jpg/credit|{{Romansh-german-sign.jpg/credit}}<br/>|}}Romansh and [[German language|German]] are widely used in eastern [[Switzerland]]. Romansh is closer to [[French language|French]] than [[Italian language|Italian]], though speakers of the latter live closer to the Romansh area; here, the Romansh for 'goodbye' appears similar to the French ''au revoir''.]]
 
'''Romansh''' is a [[Romance languages|Romance language]] spoken in the [[Graubünden]] [[canton]] of eastern [[Switzerland]], and is one of the [[official language]]s of the country. It is the [[native language]] of about 40,000 [[Swiss people]],<ref>See [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=roh Ethnologue].</ref> but the name is actually an [[umbrella term]] for several [[dialect]]s, with each [[speech community]] in the region using different names for them. The word 'Romansh' is itself an [[anglicisation]] of the various local language names, including ''Romansch'' in German, and ''Rumantsch'' in Romansh itself. It is most closely related to [[Ladin language|Ladin]] and [[Friulian language|Friulian]], [[language]]s spoken in northern [[Italy]], and together these form the [[Rhaeto-Romance]] sub-family of [[Gallo-Romance]], a larger group that includes French (the closest major Romance language to Romansh) and - controversially - various other varieties spoken in northern Italy.<ref>These are only distantly related to standard Italian.</ref> 'Rhaeto-Romance' is sometimes wrongly assumed to be a single language; on occasions, 'Ladin' has been used to mean any or all of these.
Romansh is actually an [[umbrella term]] for several [[dialect]]s, with each [[speech community]] in the region using different names for them. The term 'Romansh' is itself an [[anglicisation]] of the various local language names, including 'Romansch' in German, and 'Rumantsch' in Romansh itself. It is most closely related to [[Ladin]] and [[Friulian]], varieties spoken in northern Italy, and together these form the [[Rhaeto-Romance]] sub-family of [[Gallo-Romance]], a larger group that includes French and various varieties of northern Italy. These are only distantly related to standard Italian. 'Rhaeto-Romance' is sometimes considered a single language, and its three varieties dialects, and on occasions, 'Ladin' has been used to mean any or all of these.


==History==
==History==
'Rhaeto-Romance' is the term sometimes applied to the Romansh language, but more usually it is used to describe a distinct sub-family of Gallo-Romance, comprising Romansh, Ladin and Friulian. These came about through contact with the [[Rhaetian people]], who spoke an [[Etruscan]] or [[Indo-European]] tongue<ref>No-one is too sure, as Billigmeier (1979: 10) explains.</ref> and the conquering [[Anicent Romans|Romans]], who introduced their subjects to [[Latin language|Vulgar Latin]]. The Rhaetians developed some [[multilingualism|bilingualism]] and this is a trend which continues in the Romansh areas even today, although many speakers are effectively monolingual.
'Rhaeto-Romance' is a term occasionally applied incorrectly to the Romansh language itself, but is actually a distinct sub-family of Gallo-Romance, comprising the Romansh, Ladin and Friulian languages. These came about through contact between the [[Rhaetian people]], who spoke an [[Etruscan]] or [[Indo-European]] tongue<ref>Which is uncertain, as Billigmeier (1979: 10) explains.</ref> and the conquering [[Anicent Romans|Romans]], who introduced their subjects to [[Latin language|Vulgar Latin]]. The Rhaetians developed some [[multilingualism|bilingualism]] and this is a trend which continues in the Romansh areas even today, although many speakers are not fluent in German or other languages.


To the west of the Rhaetian area lived the [[Helevetian]]s, a [[Celtic]] people, and later the Germanic [[Alemanni]] tribes conquered the area. This led to Romansh being forged in a melting pot of different language families, as multilingual speakers lived alongside each other. Germanic influence continues on Romansh today as the language is characterised by heavy borrowing from [[Swiss German]];<ref>Haiman (1998: 351).</ref>; its own influence on German is minimal and this is very indicative of the one-way process of [[germanisation]] in the region.
To the west of the Rhaetian area lived the [[Helevetian]]s, a [[Celtic]] people, and later the Germanic [[Alemanni]] tribes conquered the area. This led to Romansh being forged in a melting pot of different language families, as multilingual speakers lived alongside each other. Germanic influence continues on Romansh today as the language is characterised by heavy borrowing from [[Swiss German]];<ref>Haiman (1998: 351).</ref> its own influence on German is minimal and this is very indicative of the move towards German in the region.


The use of Romansh was restricted in the past, as only Latin and German were used in [[religion|religious]] documents until the seventeenth century. Though this restricted Romansh, it also allowed a high degree of local autonomy for Romansh communities, as knowledge of other languages was only required if Romansh speakers intended to leave their birthplace or travel elsewhere.<ref>See Head (1995: 42-43) for a historical account of cultural divisions in Graubünden.</ref>
The use of Romansh was restricted in the past, as only Latin and German were used in [[religion|religious]] documents until the [[seventeenth century]]. Though this restricted Romansh, it also allowed a high degree of local autonomy for Romansh communities, as knowledge of other languages was only required if Romansh speakers intended to leave their birthplace or travel elsewhere.<ref>See Head (1995: 42-43) for a historical account of cultural divisions in Graubünden.</ref>


==Classification==
==Classification==
The evidence of Romansh, Ladin and Friulian as separate languages has not stopped some scholars labelling them as part of larger languages such as Italian and French, or classifying them as 'dialects' of Rhaeto-Romance. However, despite some comprehensibility with Ladin and Friulian, Romansh is not actually intelligible with either of them.<ref>Ethnologue: Switzerland; Haiman & Beninca (1992: 20).</ref> In addition, Romansh is a language in social and political terms as it is recognised as such by the Swiss nation. Claims that speakers of these languages can often understand each other are inconsistent<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 4).</ref> and this seems to be no more a case of mutual comprehensibility than the similarities between for example, modern French and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].
The evidence of Romansh, Ladin and Friulian as separate languages did not stop some scholars from labelling them as part of larger languages such as Italian and French, or classifying them as 'dialects' of Rhaeto-Romance. However, despite some comprehensibility with Ladin and Friulian, Romansh is not actually intelligible with either of them.<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=ch Ethnologue: Switzerland]; Haiman & Beninca (1992: 20).</ref> In addition, Romansh is a language in social and political terms as it is recognised as such by the Swiss nation. Claims that speakers of these languages can often understand each other are inconsistent<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 4).</ref> and this seems to be no more a case of mutual comprehensibility than the similarities between for example, modern French and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].
 
There are at least five distinct spoken varieties of Romansh - Surselvan, Sutselvan, Surmeiran, Putèr and Vallader, each of which have several names and their own writing conventions (distinct [[orthography|orthographies]]). Scholars have not considered Romansh to be a language in its own right due to this autonomy. However, despite sometimes considerable differences, they are mostly [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]], so Romansh speakers of different backgrounds can still understand each other. The dialects are grouped together as a distinct language more on cultural and historical rather than linguistic grounds, as it is difficult to point to many shared features of these varieties; they differ in both [[phonology]] and [[syntax (linguistics)|syntax]], with differences becoming more prominent with geographical distance.<ref>Harris (1988: 21) argues that the Rhaeto-Romance forms are "characterised more by their differences from the major Romance language groups than by a set of shared features common only to themselves," and "it is not possible to point to a common substrate... which would justify the tradition of treating these dialects together."</ref>
 
===Romansh scholarship===
Research into Romansh has often been highly erroneous and politicised. The most accurate work was not produced until the late [[nineteenth century]], when studies went beyond noting vague relations between the 'dialects' (actually the Romansh, Ladin and Friulian languages).
 
In 1832, J. Haller tried to link Romansh, Ladin and Friulian as an exclusive group of Gallo-Romance, as they are seen today. His method was the well-used process of comparing written texts of various dialects, including Surselvan and Vallader, and noting the presence of related features.<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 21).</ref> Also, C. Schneller in 1870 used grammatical criteria in a ground-breaking study to show Rhaeto-Romance as a sub-family rather than a single language with three main dialects: "We have a separate and independent branch of the Romance languages, granting even that its speakers have no common written language or even any consciousness of its inner unity."<ref>Schneller (1870: 9); quoted in Haiman & Beninca (1992: 21).</ref>


There are at least five distinct spoken varieties of Romansh - Surselvan, Sutselvan, Surmeiran, Putèr and Vallader, each of which have several names and their own writing conventions (distinct [[orthography|orthographies]]). Scholars have not considered Romansh to be a language in its own right due to this autonomy. However, despite sometimes considerable differences, they are mostly [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]], so Romansh speakers of different backgrounds can still understand each other.  
Schneller’s evidence comprised one particular fundamental feature - the [[palatalization|palatalisation]] of velar stops ([k], [g]) before /a/, e.g. [k] becomes [c]. In 1873, [[Graziadio Isaia Ascoli]] went even further, noting more important shared features of 'Ladin' (Rhaeto-Romance), but never had the chance to prove that this evidenced more than a "linguistic family" rather than a new set of languages. Problematically, many of these shared features, and others subsequently discovered, do not apply to every language and dialect of Rhaeto-Romance.<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 20-25).</ref>


The dialects are grouped together as a distinct language more on cultural and historical rather than linguistic grounds, as it is difficult to point to many shared features of these varieties; they differ in both [[phonology]] and [[syntax]], with differences becoming more prominent with geographical distance.<ref>Harris (1988: 21) argues that the Rhaeto-Romance forms are "characterised more by their differences from the major Romance language groups than by a set of shared features common only to themselves," and "it is not possible to point to a common substrate... which would justify the tradition of treating these dialects together."</ref>
[[Carlo Battisti]]’s twentieth-century surveys suggested that the Rhaeto-Romance family was really a branch of the northern Italian dialects. Battisti’s view suggests [[fascism|fascist]] interests, in line with Italian claims on several Swiss regions at the time (see ''[[Romansh language#Politics|politics]]'' below). However, it seems that this was always Battisti’s belief; he very much favoured this view while still an [[Austria|Austrian]] citizen twenty years earlier.<ref>Haiman & Beninca 1992: 20-25).</ref>


===Standard Romansh===
===Standardisation of Romansh===
There is no spoken standard language;<ref>This was enough for the early Romanist Diez to dismiss it as a Romance language (Haiman & Beninca 1992: 3).</ref> neither is there a dialect used for interdialectal communication, despite Surselvan speakers accounting for nearly half of the Romansh population.<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 29).</ref>
There is no standard spoken variety of Romansh;<ref>This was enough for the early Romanist [[Friedrich Christian Diez]] to dismiss it as a Romance language (Haiman & Beninca 1992: 3).</ref> neither is there a dialect used for interdialectal communication, despite Surselvan speakers accounting for nearly half of the Romansh population.<ref>Haiman & Beninca (1992: 29).</ref>


Romansh has the usual collection of grammars, dictionaries and the Bible, often created by language enthusiasts, and even an invented Romansh writing system, Rumantsch Grischun, which, it is hoped, will become the written standard.<ref>Rash (1998: 51).</ref> This is optimistic, as every previous attempt to create a standard has failed, due to the large differences between dialects.<ref>Haiman (1988: 352).</ref> Rumantsch Grischun is not a spoken dialect, and previous systems already exist to write the different dialects.
Romansh has the usual collection of [[linguistic prescriptivism|grammar]]s, [[dictionary|dictionaries]] and the [[Bible]], often created by language enthusiasts, and even a specially-devised Romansh writing system, ''Rumantsch Grischun'', which, it is hoped, will become the written standard.<ref>Rash (1998: 51).</ref> However, every previous attempt to create a standard has failed, due to the large differences between dialects.<ref>Haiman (1988: 352).</ref> Rumantsch Grischun is not a spoken dialect, and previous systems already exist to write the different dialects.


==Multilingualism==
==Multilingualism==
Native speakers of Romansh have to learn another of Switzerland’s languages, as is the case for Swiss citizens of other backgrounds. However, as they comprise a small minority in Switzerland, they may face what has been called an "enforced bilingualism";<ref>Rash (1998: 45).</ref> most visitors to the region cannot communicate in Romansh, and many occupations entail learning another language, when speakers of the more widely-spoke tongues benefit from services in their own language.<ref>One example of this is in the army, where minority soldiers must learn German whilst others are instructed in their own languages - see Rash (1998: 69).</ref> To compound matters, Swiss German is widely spoken in Graubünden, so Romansh-speaking children must also learn this language before moving to standard German.<ref>Swiss German and standard German are very different dialects, with low mutual intelligibility.</ref> Later, another Swiss language is mandatory.<ref>Rash (1998: 45-46).</ref> [[Education]] begins in Romansh but soon switches to standard German only in most subjects. In [[higher education]], no Swiss university has Romansh as a working language, meaning that speakers must learn another language to seek graduate careers.<ref>Until 1996, when a university opened in Italian-speaking [[Ticino]], all universities used either German or French.</ref>  The Romansh are the most mobile of all the Swiss peoples and over half settle outside Graubünden, whereas 96% of German Swiss occupy German-speaking areas.<ref>Rash (1998: 29).</ref> Even [[Chur]], Graubünden’s main city, has been germanised since the 15th century when a fire destroyed much of it and the German-speaking workers sent to rebuild it never left (Rash 1998: 190). To further restrict Romansh, [[geography|geographical]] boundaries limit the integration of Romansh areas.
Native speakers of Romansh have to learn another of Switzerland’s languages, as is the case for Swiss citizens of other backgrounds. However, as they comprise a small minority in Switzerland, they may face what has been called an "enforced bilingualism";<ref>Rash (1998: 45).</ref> most visitors to the region cannot communicate in Romansh, and many occupations entail learning another language, when speakers of the more widely-spoke tongues benefit from services in their own language.<ref>One example of this is in the army, where Romansh-speaking soldiers must learn German whilst others are instructed in their own languages - see Rash (1998: 69).</ref>


Recent studies have consistently dismissed the idea of the existence of Romansh monolinguals,<ref>Harris (1988: 22); Haiman (1988: 352).</ref> but this is at odds with the 1990 Swiss census, which recorded several hundred of them.<ref>Rash 1998: 44-45.</ref> Undeniably however, most Romansh speakers have varying degrees of bilingualism with Swiss German.
The Romansh are the most mobile of all the Swiss peoples and over half settle outside Graubünden, whereas 96% of German Swiss occupy German-speaking areas.<ref>Rash (1998: 29).</ref> [[Chur]], Graubünden’s main city, has been part of a German region since the [[fifteenth century]] when a fire destroyed much of it and the German-speaking workers sent to rebuild it never left.<ref>Rash (1998: 190).</ref> To further restrict Romansh, [[geography|geographical]] boundaries limit the integration of Romansh areas.
 
Recent studies have consistently dismissed the idea of the existence of Romansh monolinguals,<ref>Harris (1988: 22); Haiman (1988: 352).</ref> but this is at odds with the 1990 Swiss census, which recorded several hundred of them.<ref>Rash 1998: 44-45.</ref> Many Romansh speakers today are bilingual to various degrees with Swiss German.
==Education==
The [[education]] of children begins in Romansh but soon switches to standard German only in most subjects. Swiss German is widely spoken in Graubünden, so Romansh-speaking children must also learn this before moving to standard German.<ref>Swiss German and standard German are very different varieties, with low mutual intelligibility.</ref> Later, another Swiss language is mandatory.<ref>Rash (1998: 45-46).</ref> In [[higher education]], no Swiss university has Romansh as a working language, meaning that speakers must learn another language to seek graduate careers.<ref>Until 1996, when a university opened in Italian-speaking [[Ticino]], all universities used either German or French.</ref>


==Politics==
==Politics==
Romansh was awarded the status of a ''[[national language]]'' in 1938 - recognised and supported but not used in government or bureaucracy. This was granted not out of a desire to maintain the language, but to frustrate the Italian [[dictatorship|dictator]] [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]. Throughout the 1930s, [[fascism in Italy|Italian fascists]] claimed that Romansh was no more than an Italian dialect and therefore the Romansh-speaking Swiss territories should become part of Italy, along with the Italian-speaking areas. The Swiss rejected Mussolini's designs by recognising Romansh for the first time.<ref>Rash (1998: 33).</ref>
Romansh was awarded the status of a '[[national language]]' in 1938 - recognised and supported but not used in [[government]] or bureaucracy. This was granted not out of a desire to maintain the language, but to frustrate the Italian [[dictatorship|dictator]] [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]. Throughout the 1930s, [[fascism in Italy|Italian fascists]] claimed that Romansh was no more than an Italian dialect and therefore the Romansh-speaking Swiss territories should become part of Italy, along with the Italian-speaking areas. The Swiss rejected Mussolini's designs by recognising Romansh for the first time.<ref>Rash (1998: 33).</ref>


In March 1996, a plebiscite accepted Romansh as an 'official' language, allowing its use in government. This victory was rather less important in practice, as ministries only had to use Romansh to deal with its speakers, and none of Switzerland's senior ministers were required to know the language.<ref>Rash 1998: 30.</ref>
In March 1996, a plebiscite accepted Romansh as an 'official language', allowing its use in government. This victory was rather less important in practice, as ministries only had to use Romansh to deal with its speakers, and none of Switzerland's senior ministers were required to know the language.<ref>Rash 1998: 30.</ref>


==Media==
==Media==
In [[broadcasting]] and the [[media]], Romansh has stronger support, though only at a regional level. In practice, coverage of national and international affairs has appeared most often in German-language publications - another example of Romansh speakers needing a thorough knowledge of a second language. There are some radio and television broadcasts in Romansh, but channels using other languages predominate.<ref>Billigmeier (1979: 373-374).</ref>
In [[broadcasting]] and the [[media]], Romansh has stronger support, though only at a regional level. In practice, coverage of national and international affairs has appeared most often in German-language publications - another example of Romansh speakers requiring knowledge of a second language. There are some radio and television broadcasts in Romansh, but channels using other languages predominate.<ref>Billigmeier (1979: 373-374).</ref>


==Footnotes==
==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}
==See also==
*[[Rhaeto-Romance]]
*[[Ladin language]]
*[[Friulian language]]
*[[Romance languages]]
*[[Graubünden]]

Revision as of 17:54, 27 August 2008

This article is developed but not approved.
 Main Article
 Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Romansh_language&printable=yes
This editable, developed Main Article is subject to a disclaimer.
(CC) Photo: Jean-Christophe Wüthrich
Romansh and German are widely used in eastern Switzerland. Romansh is closer to French than Italian, though speakers of the latter live closer to the Romansh area; here, the Romansh for 'goodbye' appears similar to the French au revoir.

Romansh is a Romance language spoken in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland, and is one of the official languages of the country. It is the native language of about 40,000 Swiss people,[1] but the name is actually an umbrella term for several dialects, with each speech community in the region using different names for them. The word 'Romansh' is itself an anglicisation of the various local language names, including Romansch in German, and Rumantsch in Romansh itself. It is most closely related to Ladin and Friulian, languages spoken in northern Italy, and together these form the Rhaeto-Romance sub-family of Gallo-Romance, a larger group that includes French (the closest major Romance language to Romansh) and - controversially - various other varieties spoken in northern Italy.[2] 'Rhaeto-Romance' is sometimes wrongly assumed to be a single language; on occasions, 'Ladin' has been used to mean any or all of these.

History

'Rhaeto-Romance' is a term occasionally applied incorrectly to the Romansh language itself, but is actually a distinct sub-family of Gallo-Romance, comprising the Romansh, Ladin and Friulian languages. These came about through contact between the Rhaetian people, who spoke an Etruscan or Indo-European tongue[3] and the conquering Romans, who introduced their subjects to Vulgar Latin. The Rhaetians developed some bilingualism and this is a trend which continues in the Romansh areas even today, although many speakers are not fluent in German or other languages.

To the west of the Rhaetian area lived the Helevetians, a Celtic people, and later the Germanic Alemanni tribes conquered the area. This led to Romansh being forged in a melting pot of different language families, as multilingual speakers lived alongside each other. Germanic influence continues on Romansh today as the language is characterised by heavy borrowing from Swiss German;[4] its own influence on German is minimal and this is very indicative of the move towards German in the region.

The use of Romansh was restricted in the past, as only Latin and German were used in religious documents until the seventeenth century. Though this restricted Romansh, it also allowed a high degree of local autonomy for Romansh communities, as knowledge of other languages was only required if Romansh speakers intended to leave their birthplace or travel elsewhere.[5]

Classification

The evidence of Romansh, Ladin and Friulian as separate languages did not stop some scholars from labelling them as part of larger languages such as Italian and French, or classifying them as 'dialects' of Rhaeto-Romance. However, despite some comprehensibility with Ladin and Friulian, Romansh is not actually intelligible with either of them.[6] In addition, Romansh is a language in social and political terms as it is recognised as such by the Swiss nation. Claims that speakers of these languages can often understand each other are inconsistent[7] and this seems to be no more a case of mutual comprehensibility than the similarities between for example, modern French and Spanish.

There are at least five distinct spoken varieties of Romansh - Surselvan, Sutselvan, Surmeiran, Putèr and Vallader, each of which have several names and their own writing conventions (distinct orthographies). Scholars have not considered Romansh to be a language in its own right due to this autonomy. However, despite sometimes considerable differences, they are mostly mutually intelligible, so Romansh speakers of different backgrounds can still understand each other. The dialects are grouped together as a distinct language more on cultural and historical rather than linguistic grounds, as it is difficult to point to many shared features of these varieties; they differ in both phonology and syntax, with differences becoming more prominent with geographical distance.[8]

Romansh scholarship

Research into Romansh has often been highly erroneous and politicised. The most accurate work was not produced until the late nineteenth century, when studies went beyond noting vague relations between the 'dialects' (actually the Romansh, Ladin and Friulian languages).

In 1832, J. Haller tried to link Romansh, Ladin and Friulian as an exclusive group of Gallo-Romance, as they are seen today. His method was the well-used process of comparing written texts of various dialects, including Surselvan and Vallader, and noting the presence of related features.[9] Also, C. Schneller in 1870 used grammatical criteria in a ground-breaking study to show Rhaeto-Romance as a sub-family rather than a single language with three main dialects: "We have a separate and independent branch of the Romance languages, granting even that its speakers have no common written language or even any consciousness of its inner unity."[10]

Schneller’s evidence comprised one particular fundamental feature - the palatalisation of velar stops ([k], [g]) before /a/, e.g. [k] becomes [c]. In 1873, Graziadio Isaia Ascoli went even further, noting more important shared features of 'Ladin' (Rhaeto-Romance), but never had the chance to prove that this evidenced more than a "linguistic family" rather than a new set of languages. Problematically, many of these shared features, and others subsequently discovered, do not apply to every language and dialect of Rhaeto-Romance.[11]

Carlo Battisti’s twentieth-century surveys suggested that the Rhaeto-Romance family was really a branch of the northern Italian dialects. Battisti’s view suggests fascist interests, in line with Italian claims on several Swiss regions at the time (see politics below). However, it seems that this was always Battisti’s belief; he very much favoured this view while still an Austrian citizen twenty years earlier.[12]

Standardisation of Romansh

There is no standard spoken variety of Romansh;[13] neither is there a dialect used for interdialectal communication, despite Surselvan speakers accounting for nearly half of the Romansh population.[14]

Romansh has the usual collection of grammars, dictionaries and the Bible, often created by language enthusiasts, and even a specially-devised Romansh writing system, Rumantsch Grischun, which, it is hoped, will become the written standard.[15] However, every previous attempt to create a standard has failed, due to the large differences between dialects.[16] Rumantsch Grischun is not a spoken dialect, and previous systems already exist to write the different dialects.

Multilingualism

Native speakers of Romansh have to learn another of Switzerland’s languages, as is the case for Swiss citizens of other backgrounds. However, as they comprise a small minority in Switzerland, they may face what has been called an "enforced bilingualism";[17] most visitors to the region cannot communicate in Romansh, and many occupations entail learning another language, when speakers of the more widely-spoke tongues benefit from services in their own language.[18]

The Romansh are the most mobile of all the Swiss peoples and over half settle outside Graubünden, whereas 96% of German Swiss occupy German-speaking areas.[19] Chur, Graubünden’s main city, has been part of a German region since the fifteenth century when a fire destroyed much of it and the German-speaking workers sent to rebuild it never left.[20] To further restrict Romansh, geographical boundaries limit the integration of Romansh areas.

Recent studies have consistently dismissed the idea of the existence of Romansh monolinguals,[21] but this is at odds with the 1990 Swiss census, which recorded several hundred of them.[22] Many Romansh speakers today are bilingual to various degrees with Swiss German.

Education

The education of children begins in Romansh but soon switches to standard German only in most subjects. Swiss German is widely spoken in Graubünden, so Romansh-speaking children must also learn this before moving to standard German.[23] Later, another Swiss language is mandatory.[24] In higher education, no Swiss university has Romansh as a working language, meaning that speakers must learn another language to seek graduate careers.[25]

Politics

Romansh was awarded the status of a 'national language' in 1938 - recognised and supported but not used in government or bureaucracy. This was granted not out of a desire to maintain the language, but to frustrate the Italian dictator Mussolini. Throughout the 1930s, Italian fascists claimed that Romansh was no more than an Italian dialect and therefore the Romansh-speaking Swiss territories should become part of Italy, along with the Italian-speaking areas. The Swiss rejected Mussolini's designs by recognising Romansh for the first time.[26]

In March 1996, a plebiscite accepted Romansh as an 'official language', allowing its use in government. This victory was rather less important in practice, as ministries only had to use Romansh to deal with its speakers, and none of Switzerland's senior ministers were required to know the language.[27]

Media

In broadcasting and the media, Romansh has stronger support, though only at a regional level. In practice, coverage of national and international affairs has appeared most often in German-language publications - another example of Romansh speakers requiring knowledge of a second language. There are some radio and television broadcasts in Romansh, but channels using other languages predominate.[28]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ See Ethnologue.
  2. ↑ These are only distantly related to standard Italian.
  3. ↑ Which is uncertain, as Billigmeier (1979: 10) explains.
  4. ↑ Haiman (1998: 351).
  5. ↑ See Head (1995: 42-43) for a historical account of cultural divisions in Graubünden.
  6. ↑ Ethnologue: Switzerland; Haiman & Beninca (1992: 20).
  7. ↑ Haiman & Beninca (1992: 4).
  8. ↑ Harris (1988: 21) argues that the Rhaeto-Romance forms are "characterised more by their differences from the major Romance language groups than by a set of shared features common only to themselves," and "it is not possible to point to a common substrate... which would justify the tradition of treating these dialects together."
  9. ↑ Haiman & Beninca (1992: 21).
  10. ↑ Schneller (1870: 9); quoted in Haiman & Beninca (1992: 21).
  11. ↑ Haiman & Beninca (1992: 20-25).
  12. ↑ Haiman & Beninca 1992: 20-25).
  13. ↑ This was enough for the early Romanist Friedrich Christian Diez to dismiss it as a Romance language (Haiman & Beninca 1992: 3).
  14. ↑ Haiman & Beninca (1992: 29).
  15. ↑ Rash (1998: 51).
  16. ↑ Haiman (1988: 352).
  17. ↑ Rash (1998: 45).
  18. ↑ One example of this is in the army, where Romansh-speaking soldiers must learn German whilst others are instructed in their own languages - see Rash (1998: 69).
  19. ↑ Rash (1998: 29).
  20. ↑ Rash (1998: 190).
  21. ↑ Harris (1988: 22); Haiman (1988: 352).
  22. ↑ Rash 1998: 44-45.
  23. ↑ Swiss German and standard German are very different varieties, with low mutual intelligibility.
  24. ↑ Rash (1998: 45-46).
  25. ↑ Until 1996, when a university opened in Italian-speaking Ticino, all universities used either German or French.
  26. ↑ Rash (1998: 33).
  27. ↑ Rash 1998: 30.
  28. ↑ Billigmeier (1979: 373-374).

See also

Retrieved from "https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Romansh_language&oldid=188494"