Romansh

Gross (2004). p. 33 Outside of the traditional Romansh language area, Romansh is spoken by the so-called "Romansh diaspora", meaning people who have moved out of the Romansh-speaking valleys.

Even in villages where Romansh dominates, newcomers rarely learn Romansh however, as Sursilvan speakers quickly accommodate by switching to German, so that there is often little opportunity to practice Romansh even when people are willing to learn it.

The Swiss canton that is historically home to the Romansh people is called Grischun in Romansh but is better known by its German name, Graubünden.

Additionally, the role of Romansh in schooling was strengthened, with the first Romansh school books being published in the 1830s and 1840s.

Apart from place names throughout the former speech area of Romansh, only a handful of Romansh words have become part of wider German usage.

Attempts were made to form four entirely Romansh-speaking companies, but these efforts were abandoned in 1992 due to a lack of sufficient Romansh-speaking non-commissioned officers.

Common words of Romansh origin in Grisons-German include Schaffa (derived from Romansh scaffa 'cupboard'), Spus/Spüslig 'bridegroom' and Spus 'bride', Banitsch 'cart used for moving dung', and Pon 'container made of wood'.

Even though the city had long before ceased to be a cultural center of Romansh, the spoken language of the capital of the Diocese of Chur continued to be Romansh until the 15th century.

Furer (2005). p. 40 In what the Federal Culture Office itself admits is "more a placatory and symbolic use" citation of Romansh, the federal authorities occasionally translate some official texts into Romansh.

Gross (2004). pp. 33 Romansh is still acquired by most children in the Cadi and Gruob even in villages where Romansh speakers are in the minority, since it is usually the language of instruction in primary education there.

However, most children still acquire Romansh through the school system, which has retained Romansh as the primary language of instruction, even though Swiss German is more widely spoken inside the home.

In areas where Romansh either is still spoken or has disappeared recently, Romansh words are even more common in the local dialects of German.

In practice, the amount of Romansh schooling varies between half and 4/5 of the compulsory school term, often depending on how many Romansh-speaking teachers are available.

In these areas, many Romansh speakers only speak German with their spouses as an accommodation or because of a habit, though they sometimes speak Romansh to their children.

It is also assured that Romansh will continue to be transmitted for several more generations, even though each succeeding generation will be more and more rooted in German as well as Romansh.

Liver (1999). p. 101 In their prefaces, the authors themselves often mention the novelty of writing Romansh, and discuss an apparently common prejudice that Romansh was a language that could not be written.

On the secondary level, the language of instruction is mainly German, with Romansh as a subject in Romansh-speaking regions.

Romansh speaking German speaking Italian speaking further 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.

The decline in percentages is only partially due to the Germanization of Romansh areas, since the Romansh-speaking valleys always had a lower overall population growth than other parts of the canton.

The official languages are declared to be German, French, and Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansh is an official language for correspondence with Romansh-speaking people.