| Romansch Rumantsch |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: |  Switzerland |
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| Region: | Graubünden | |
| Total speakers: | 35,095 (Swiss federal census 2000)[1] | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Western Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Gallo-Rhaetian Rhaetian Romansch |
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | Switzerland |
|
| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | rm | |
| ISO 639-2: | roh | |
| ISO 639-3: | roh | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Graubünden or Grisons ( German:, gʁaʊˈbyndən Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Gallo-Romance languages Gallo-Italic languages Lombard Western Lombard Eastern The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French, Occitan, Arpitan, and several other languages spoken in modern France Rhaeto-Romance languages are a Romance language sub-family which includes multiple languages spoken in North-Eastern Italy and Switzerland. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's | ||
Romansh (also spelled Rumantsh, Rumantsch, Romansch, or Romanche) is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian and French. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. 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 It is one of the Rhaeto-Romance languages, believed to have descended from the Vulgar Latin variety spoken by Roman era occupiers of the region, and, as such, is closely related to French, Occitan and North Italian, as well as other Romance languages to a lesser extent. Rhaeto-Romance languages are a Romance language sub-family which includes multiple languages spoken in North-Eastern Italy and Switzerland. Vulgar Latin (in Latin sermo vulgaris, "folk speech" is a Blanket term covering the popular Dialects and Sociolects of the Latin The Roman Era is a period in Western history when Ancient Rome was the centre of power of the world around the Mediterranean Sea, where Latin was the 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 Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Lombard is a language spoken mainly in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions notably the eastern side of Piedmont As of the 2000 Swiss Census, it is spoken by 35,095[1] residents of the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) as the language of "best command", and 60,815 in the "best command" plus "most spoken" categories[2]. Graubünden or Grisons ( German:, gʁaʊˈbyndən Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost Spoken now by around 0. 9% of Switzerland's 7. 5 million inhabitants, it is Switzerland's least-used national language in terms of number of speakers.
Contents |
Dialects
Romansh is an umbrella term covering a group of closely-related dialects, spoken in southern Switzerland and all belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance language family. An umbrella term is a word that provides a Superset or grouping of related concepts also called a Hypernym. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Rhaeto-Romance languages are a Romance language sub-family which includes multiple languages spoken in North-Eastern Italy and Switzerland. The other members of this language family are from northern Italy: Ladin, with which Romansh is more closely related, is spoken by some 22,550 in the Dolomite mountains of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, and Friulian is spoken by around 550,000–595,000 people in northeastern Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Ladin ( Ladino in Italian Ladin in Ladin Ladinisch in German is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains The Dolomites (Dolomiti Dolomiten Dolomitis are a section of the Alps. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol ( Italian: Trentino-Alto Adige; German: Trentino-Südtirol; Ladin: Trentin-Adesc Aut Friulian ( or affectionately marilenghe in Friulian friulano in Italian) (also Eastern Ladin) is a Romance language belonging
The five largest dialects in the Romansh family are:
- The Rhine Dialects
- Sursilvan — in the Vorderrhein (Rain anteriur), including Lumnezia, Foppa, Cadi (Surselva)
- Sutsilvan — in the Hinterrhein (Rain posteriur), including Plaun, Tumliasco, Schons (Sutselva)
- Surmiran — in the Julia and Albula valleys, including Surses, Sutses (Surmeira)
- The Engadine or Ladin Dialects
- Puter — the upper Engadine valley (Engiadin' Ota)
- Vallader — the lower Engadine valley (Engiadina Bassa) and the Mustair valley (Val Müstair)
Puter and Vallader are sometimes referred to as one specific variety known as ladin, as they have retained this word to mean Romansh. The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge Foppa is a given name or surname and may refer to Peter Forsberg 's nickname a Swedish ice hockey player who has returned to play for the Colorado Avalanche Surselva is an administrative district in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Hinterrhein is an administrative district in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. Julia ( Romansh: Gelgia) is a River in the Grisons canton eastern Switzerland. Albula is a River of Switzerland, a Tributary of Hinterrhein (near Thusis) However, ladin is primarily associated with the closely related language in Italy's Dolomite mountains also known as Ladin. Ladin ( Ladino in Italian Ladin in Ladin Ladinisch in German is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains The ISO 639 language codes are rm and roh. ISO 639 is the set of international standards that lists short codes for Language names
Romansh is spoken in the Swiss canton of Grisons or Graubünden, "the Grey League", which preserves the name of the self-defense organization of Romance speakers set up in the 15th century. It became part of Switzerland in 1803. Germans once called this language Chur-Wälsch, "foreign speech of Chur", for Chur was once the center of Romansh. CHUR may refer to CHUR-FM, a radio station in North Bay Ontario Canada Chur, is a city in Switzerland This is cited as one possible explanation of the origin of the modern term "Kauderwelsch" meaning gibberish. Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but has no actual meaning However, most of Grisons, including Chur and even its cross-river suburb of Wälschdorfli ("foreign-language-speaking village"), now speak German; Romansh survives only in the upper valleys of the Rhine and the Inn.
Standardisation
Romansh was nationally standardised in 1982 by Zürich-based linguist Heinrich Schmid. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Heinrich Schmid ( Zurich, 6 April 1921 — Zurich 23 February 1999 was a Swiss Linguist and “father” of the Rhaeto-Romance Dachsprachen The standardised language, called Rumantsch Grischun, has been slowly accepted. On the orthographic level, Schmid sought to avoid all "odd-looking" spellings, in order to increase general acceptability of the new idiom and its spelling. The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific Writing system to write the language Therefore, words with /tɕ/ followed by /a/, /o/, /u/ have <ch> (for example chalanda) as both speakers of Engadin (chalanda) and the Rhine territory (calanda) expect a spelling with <c>. However, <che> and <chi> are pronounced /ke/ and /ki/, <k> being a grapheme deemed unfit for a Romance language such as Romansh; therefore, words with /tɕ/ plus /e/ or /i/ have <tg> (for example tgirar) instead of <ch>. The use of <sch> for both /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, and of <tsch> for /tʃ/ is taken over from German, making Romansh spelling a compromise between Romance (Italian, French) and German spelling. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. 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
The Lia Rumantscha is the umbrella organization for all Romansh associations. For the fictional company set in the Resident Evil videogame series see Umbrella Corporation.
Official status in Switzerland
Romansh has been recognised as one of four "national languages" by the Swiss Federal Constitution since 1938. The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 (Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft Constitution fédérale de la Confédération suisse Constituzione federale della Confederazione It was also declared an "official language" of the Confederation in 1996, meaning that Romansh speakers may use their Romansh idiom for correspondence with the federal government and expect to receive a Romansh response – in Rumantsch Grischun, because the federal authorities use the standardised idiom exclusively. However, the Constitution specifies that only native Romansh speakers can claim this privilege. [3]
In what the Federal Culture Office itself admits is "more a placatory and symbolic use" of Romansh, the federal authorities occasionally translate some official texts into Romansh. In general, though, demand for Romansh-language services is low, because according to the Federal Culture Office, Romansh speakers may either dislike the official Rumantsch Grischun idiom or prefer to use German in the first place, as most are perfectly bilingual.
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.
Literature
The emergence of Romansh as a literary language is generally dated to the mid-16th century. There is no such thing as a Swiss national Vernacular literature, properly speaking The Engadine dialect was first printed as early as 1552 in Jacob Bifrun's Christiauna fuorma, a catechism; a translation of the New Testament followed in 1560.
Phonology
Consonants
The consonant phonemes of Romansh (Rumantsch Grischun) are set out in the following chart:
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental and alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | t d | k g | ||||
| Affricate | ts | tɕ dʑ | tʃ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ||||
| Approximant | r | j | |||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ʎ |
Vowels
The vowel phonemes of Romansh are shown in the table below:
| Monophthongs | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | ə | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
| Diphthongs | Closer component is front |
Closer component is back |
|---|---|---|
| Closing | ai | au |
| Opening | ie |
Schwa /ə/ occurs only in unstressed syllables. In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets In Phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) Consonants are palatalized postalveolar Fricatives articulated with In Phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) Consonants are palatalized postalveolar Fricatives articulated with Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both A monophthong ( Greek μονόφθογγος "monophthongos" = single note) is a "pure" Vowel sound one whose articulation at A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as A mid vowel is a Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an The open-mid vowels make a class of Vowel sounds used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word A syllable ( Greek:) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds Vowel length is predictable:
- Unstressed vowels are short. In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound
- Stressed vowels in closed syllables (those with a coda) are:
- long before /r/
- short elsewhere
- Stressed vowels in open syllables are:
- short before voiceless consonants
- long elsewhere
Lexis
Examples of Common Vocabulary
| English | Surselvisch | Sutselvisch | Surmeirisch | Puter | Vallader | Rumantsch Grischun | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gold | aur | or | or | or | or,aur,ar | aur | aurum |
| hard | dir | dir | deir | dür | dür | dir | dūrus |
| eye | egl | îl | îgl | ögl | ögl | egl | oculus |
| light, easy | lev | leav | lev | liger | leiv | lev | levis |
| three | treis | tres | treis | trais | trais | trais | trēs |
| snow | neiv | nev | neiv | naiv | naiv | naiv | nive- |
| wheel | roda | roda | roda | rouda | rouda | roda | rota |
| cheese | caschiel | caschiel | caschiel | chaschöl | chaschöl | chaschiel | caseolus |
| house | casa | tgeasa | tgesa | chesa | chasa | chasa | casa |
| dog | tgaun | tgàn | tgang | chaun | chan | chaun | canis |
| leg | comba | tgomba | tgomma | chamma | chomma | chomma | camba |
| hen | gaglina | gagliegna | gagligna | gillina | giallina | giaglina | gallīna |
| cat | gat | giat | giat | giat | giat | giat | cattus |
| all | tut | tut | tot | tuot | tuot | tut | tōtus |
| shape | fuorma | furma | furma | fuorma | fuorma | furma | fōrma |
| I | jeu | jou | ja | eau | eu | jau | ego |
Writing system
Romansh alphabet
L'alfabet rumantsch
| Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | X | Z | |
| Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | x | z | |
| Names | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | be | tse | de | e | ef | ghe | ha | i | jot/i lung | el | em | en | o | pe | ku | er | es | te | u | ve | iks | tset | |
The letters k (ka), w (ve dubel), and y (ipsilon or i grec) are used only in words borrowed from foreign languages — for example: kilogram, ski, kino, kiosc, kilo, kilowat, Washington, western, stewardess, whisky, hockey, happy end. In Phonology, a syllable coda comprises the Consonant sounds of a Syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a Vowel Voice or voicing is a term used in Phonetics and Phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Capital letters or majuscules pronunciation /məˈdʒʌskyuls ˈmædʒəˌskyuls/ in the Roman alphabet A, B, C, D, The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled bee or occasionally be (biː plural bees. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː D is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled dee or occasionally de (diː E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ef or eff (ɛf G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled gee or occasionally ge (dʒiː I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled em (ɛm N is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled en (ɛn O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. Its name in English is spelled o (oʊ plural usually o's or os; sometimes P is the sixteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled pee or occasionally pe (piː Q is the seventeenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cue (kjuː R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ar (ɑr pronounced or) S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee or occasionally te (tiː U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled vee or occasionally ve (viː X is the twenty-fourth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ex or occasionally ecks (ɛks plural exes Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Lower case (also lower-case or lowercase) minuscule, or small letters are the smaller form of letters as opposed to upper
Because most Romansh-speaking people are familiar with German spelling, Romansh orthography borrows from that language, rather than Italian: The "sh" sound, for example, is written in the Germanic fashion, "sch" (see "rumantsch"), not "sc" as in Italian, and one will find ä, ö and ü in Romansh words. This practice, however, does not work in all cases, so other forms are used; for example, tsega,
Pronunciation
Consonants Vowels
Some common expressions
- Allegra. - Hello or welcome
- Co vai? - How are you?
- Fa plaschair. - Pleased to meet you.
- Bun di. - Good morning.
- Buna saira. - Good evening.
- Buna notg. - Good night.
- A revair. - Goodbye.
- A pli tard. - See you later.
- Perstgisai. - I beg your pardon.
- I ma displascha. - I'm sorry.
- Perdunai. - Excuse me.
- Per plaschair. - Please.
- Grazia fitg. - Thank you very much.
- Anzi. - You're welcome.
- Gratulazions. - Congratulations.
- Bun cletg. - Good luck.
- Ils quants è oz? - What's the date today?
- Quants onns has ti? - How old are you?
- Viva! - Cheers!
See also
- German Wikipedia entry on Heinrich Schmid, the linguist whose work on standardization of the language resulted in Rumantsch Grischun. The German Wikipedia (Deutschsprachige Wikipedia is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online Encyclopedia. Heinrich Schmid ( Zurich, 6 April 1921 — Zurich 23 February 1999 was a Swiss Linguist and “father” of the Rhaeto-Romance Dachsprachen
Footnotes
- ^ a b Swiss federal census 2000
- ^ http://www.liarumantscha.ch/Linguistic_geography.352.0.html?&L=2
- ^ See art. 4 and 70 of the 1999 Swiss Federal Constitution. On the legal status of Romansh generally, see Isobel Leybold-Johnson. "Official Romansh still has some way to go", Swissinfo, September 21, 2006. swissinfo is a nine-language news and information platform produced by SRG SSR idée suisse, the Swiss public broadcasting corporation Retrieved on 2006-09-21. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights.
External links
- Romansh language, alphabet and pronunciation
- Grammatica d'instrunziun dal rumantsch grischun
- Information about the Romansh language
- Ethnologue report for Romansch
- Website of the Lia Rumantscha organization
- Dictionaries
- An Account of the Romansh Language by Joseph Planta FRS, originally published in the 1776 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
- Series of articles about Romansh from swissinfo
- Introduction to the Romansh language in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
- Google Directory - about the Romansh language
- Content
- Radio Televisiun Rumantscha
- Lexicon Istoric Retic (LIR) - Encyclopedia about Switzerland. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, or Phil Trans The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland is an Encyclopedia on the History of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research Partial translation of the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland in Romansh with additional articles. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland is an Encyclopedia on the History of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research
- Google Rumantsch
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