Sursilvan

Liver 2009, p. 137 The influence of German is generally strongest in the Rhenish varieties Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, and Sursilvan, where French loanwords (frequently not borrowed directly but transmitted through German) are also more numerous.

A second edition, published in 1615, is closer to Sursilvan, however, and writings in Sutsilvan do not appear again until the 20th century.

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.

In Sursilvan, masculine nouns are sometimes irregular, with the stem vowel alternating: *il mir 'the wall' – ils mirs 'the walls'.

Liver 2009 p. 137 Especially noticeable and often criticized by language purists are particles such as aber, schon, halt, grad, eba, or zuar, which have become an integral part of everyday Romansh speech, especially in Sursilvan.

Liver 2009, pp. 137 Romansh linguist Ricarda Liver also notes that an influence of Swiss German on intonation is obvious, in particular in the Sursilvan dialect, even though this has so far not been linguistically studied.

Liver 2009, pp. 138 In contemporary spoken language, adjective forms are often not distinguished from adverbs, as in Sursilvan Jeu mon direct 'I am going directly', rather than Jeu mon directamein.

Morphology The following description deals mainly with the Sursilvan dialect, which is the most well-studied so far.

Most of these are confined to Ladin, with some exceptions such as Sursilvan magari, duront, and malgrad.

Overall however, the Central Romansh varieties do not share many unique features, but rather connect Sursilvan and Ladin through a succession of numerous small dialect differences from one village to the next.

Since the cantonal constitution explicitly named Sursilvan and Engadinese as the language of ballots, a referendum was launched to amend the relevant article.

Sursilvan was then definitely standardized through the works of Gion Cahannes, who published Grammatica Romontscha per Surselva e Sutselva in 1924, followed by Entruidament devart nossa ortografia in 1927.

The federal government did finance a translation of the constitution into the two Romansh varieties Sursilvan and Vallader in 1872, noting however that these did not carry the force of law.

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 Surmiran region began developing its own variety in the early 18th century, with a catechism being published in 1703, though either the Catholic variety of Sursilvan or Putèr was more commonly used there until the 20th century.

When new bills were again introduced in 1976/77, a Romansh version was added by finding a compromise between the two largest varieties Sursilvan and Vallader, which read "Banca naziunala svizra".