Heinrich Schmid - Citizendia

Heinrich Schmid (Zurich, 6 April 1921 — Zurich, 23 February 1999) was a Swiss linguist and “father” of the Rhaeto-Romance Dachsprachen (‘umbrella languages’) Rumantsch Grischun and Ladin Dolomitan. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Rhaeto-Romance languages are a Romance language sub-family which includes multiple languages spoken in North-Eastern Italy and Switzerland. The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties Romansh (also spelled Romansch, Rumants(ch or Romanche) is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German,

Heinrich Schmid spent the whole of his life in the same house in Zurich in which he was born. Although he was born with a hearing impairment, he discovered a love for languages at a young age learning Greek alongside Latin and the Romance languages French, Italian, Spanish and the different varieties of Romansh. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Romansh or Romansch may refer to Romansh language Romansh people

After matriculating, he read Romance studies at the University of Zurich. Romance studies is an umbrella academic discipline that covers the study of the languages literatures and cultures of areas that speak a Romance language. The University of Zurich ( German: Universität Zürich) located in the city of Zurich, is the largest University in Switzerland He graduated with first class honours (summa cum laude) in 1946, the core theme of his studies being the History of Languages and the Geography of Languages. Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change Language geography is the branch of Human geography that studies the geographic distribution of language or its constituent elements

After a stay in Florence he returned to Switzerland where it was very difficult for him to find a suitable occupation due to his hearing impairment. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany He was eventually taken on as a co-worker for the Rhätisches Namenbuch (Rheatian Lexicon of Names) and contributed for 15 years to the Dicziunari Rumantsch Grischun.

In 1962 he qualified to work as professor at the University of Zurich. Within a short period of time he became an assistant professor and three years later was promoted to an associate professor position. A busy but less spectacular academic career followed.

Shortly before retiring from his teaching career in 1983, the Lia Rumantscha (Romansh League) asked him to create a common written language for the five main varieties of the Romansh language. In April 1982, after only six months of intense work, he presented his guidelines for the common written language. This was followed by lively discussions and journeys to the whole Romansh language area, where he tirelessly promoted the common written language and was able to allay many reservations. As a result the Romansh language has been publicly recognised to a much greater extent in Switzerland and a new vitality entered the Romansh-speaking area which also included Ladin. Ladin ( Ladino in Italian Ladin in Ladin Ladinisch in German is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains

In 1988 representatives from the Dolomite Ladins gave Heinrich Schmid the task of also creating a common written format of the Ladin language. Schmid accepted this challenge, overcame all the difficulties in his way and produced the long-awaited publication entitled “Wegleitung für den Aufbau einer gemeinsamen Schriftsprache der Dolomitenladiner” (Guidelines for the Development of a Common Written Language for the Dolomite Ladins). Unfortunately, he did not live to see the Italian publication of this fundamental work, as he suffered an unexpected heart attack in February 1999.

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