Switzerland is best known to many people as the land of chocolate and watches, and Liechtenstein is barely within their knowledge. Yet these two countries are home to one of the most interesting official languages in the world, Romansch, also known as Rhaeto-Rumantsch, or Rumantsch Grischun, as the written language is called. Although the language is used by only a very small number of people, it still remains an important part of life for people in both Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Rumantsch in the Linguistic Diversity of Switzerland
The SwissWorld website lists Rumantsch (also called Rhaeto-Rumantsch or Rumantsch Grischun) as occurring only in the canton of Graubünden, where German and Italian are also commonly spoken. Altogether, only about .5% of the population of Switzerland speaks Rumantsch, with over 63% speaking German, over 20% speaking French, 6% speaking Italian, and 9% speaking other languages such as English or Serbo-Croatian, brought by immigrants moving into the county. Despite all of this social change, Rumantsch has managed to continue on, although in greatly diminished numbers.
Part of the language’s durability might relate to its striking similarity to other languages spoken in the region. According to the Ethnologue website of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), Rumantsch is a Romance language, indicating that it originated from Latin, and it still retains many of the features of languages in the same family. SIL indicates that 78% of the vocabulary in the language is similar to the words of Italian and French, 76% is like a language of Spain called Catalan, 74% is connected to Spanish, Sardinian, and Portuguese, and 72% is similar to Romanian. Like languages such as French and English, the language uses the Latin script for writing.
Preserving the Rumantsch language
Despite the small number of people using Rumantsch, it still remains an official language in Switzerland and is used in newspapers, as well as being taught in elementary schools. The reason for attempting to retain the language could lie in the country’s history, when Rumantsch was far more commonly spoken than it is now. Perhaps the government is attempting to keep the language from disappearing as many other languages have over the centuries and knows that keeping it as an official language could aid the process.
An official language taught in schools and used in newspapers and other publications has far greater stability than an unofficial one, which might be used only at home and is prone to die out when younger generations become more comfortable with other languages. By giving it official protection, the Swiss are attempting to keep the language alive. Languages change, grow, and sometimes disappear, but the Rumantsch language of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, although a minor tongue in the midst of the German, Italian, and French used in the region, still reminds people of their linguistic past. With help, the language could survive for centuries to come.
Susan Huebert - My name is Susan Huebert, and I'm a writer and editor from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've always enjoyed words, and I graduated with a Bachelor ...
