Standardised Romansh a failure in everyday life, says report

Romansh Grischun, the artificially created, standardised form of Switzerland’s fourth national language, has not been widely adopted by citizens who speak different idioms.    According to a study commissioned by the federal government, Romansh Grischun has failed in its role as a bridge between different idioms of Romansh spoken in the southeastern Swiss canton of Graubünden. The report, prepared by the Centre for Democracy Aarau on behalf of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and released on Friday, examined the utility of measures intended to promote Romansh in Switzerland’s largest canton.  Like other Romance languages, Romansh actually comes from a mixture of Vulgar Latin and local languages – in this case Celtic and Rhaetian languages. Romansh is partially endangered because of its fragmentation. Graubünden’s remote valleys have given rise to numerous Romansh dialects and five different written languages (idioms), making it difficult to preserve a single ...