- Official language in
- Switzerland
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
Romansh is one of the four national languages of Switzerland, together with German, French and Italian. The official languages of the Swiss Confederation are German, French and Italian, and Romansh is also an official language of the Confederation when communicating with persons who speak Romansh. In the canton of Graubünden, Romansh is one of three equivalent cantonal and official languages, together with German and Italian, and the municipalities of Graubünden may determine their own administrative language and school language.
The Lia Rumantscha describes the traditional Romansh territory as comprising the Surselva, parts of the Sutselva, the Surses and Val d'Alvra (Surmeir), the Upper Engadine, the Lower Engadine and the Val Müstair. The inhabitants of these regions each speak their own idiom, which is also written: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader.
Rumantsch Grischun is a standard written language developed by Heinrich Schmid in the second half of the twentieth century on behalf of the Lia Rumantscha. It is based mainly on Sursilvan, Vallader and Surmiran, following the majority principle: where possible, the written form shared by the majority of those three idioms is used. Organisations, authorities and private persons decide for themselves whether to use Rumantsch Grischun instead of one of the idioms. This app's cards show Rumantsch Grischun, while, according to the cards, speakers use their own local idiom day to day.
Sources
Script & pronunciation
The Lia Rumantscha prints a sample fable in the five idioms and in Rumantsch Grischun; the sample texts on the page are printed in Latin letters, and the Rumantsch Grischun text includes accented vowels such as è and à, for example in uschè and pensà.
This app's Romansh cards are written in Latin letters only and have no separate romanization line. Where a sentence depends on the speaker's gender, the card writes both forms separated by a slash, as in Jau sun giapunais / giapunaisa. ("I'm Japanese"), where the card says that men say giapunais and women giapunaisa.
Sources
Grammar essentials
In this app's cards, negation is written with na before the verb and betg after it. Pledari Grond, the Lia Rumantscha's Rumantsch Grischun dictionary, lists betg as an adverb meaning "nicht" (German for "not"). In this app's card Jau na discur betg rumantsch. ("I can't speak Romansh"), na stands before the verb discur and betg follows it. The card for the bare answer "No" is Na, the same form as the negation placed before the verb.
Adjectives change with the gender and number of the noun or person they describe. Pledari Grond gives the adjective bel in four forms: bel (masculine singular), bella (feminine singular), bels (masculine plural) and bellas (feminine plural). This app's card Ti es fitg bel / bella. ("You are very beautiful / handsome") offers bel for a man and bella for a woman.
In this app's cards, questions of the kind "may one" and "can one" use ins. Pledari Grond lists ins as an indefinite pronoun with the German gloss "man" (English "one"). In this app's card Dastga ins fotografar qua endadens? ("Is photography allowed inside?"), the card describes dastga as the third person singular of dastgar ("may") and places it before ins.
In this app's cards, requests use Jau vuless followed by an infinitive. Pledari Grond lists vuless as the first-person singular conditional of vulair (German "wollen"), and this app's card Jau vuless prelevar daners. ("I'd like to withdraw money.") follows the pattern Jau vuless plus an infinitive.
Sources
- Pledari Grond (Lia Rumantscha), Rumantsch Grischun dictionary — entry "betg"
- Pledari Grond (Lia Rumantscha), Rumantsch Grischun dictionary — entry "ins"
- Pledari Grond (Lia Rumantscha), Rumantsch Grischun dictionary — entry "bel"
- Pledari Grond (Lia Rumantscha), Rumantsch Grischun dictionary — entry "vulair"
Politeness & etiquette
Pledari Grond lists the capitalised pronoun Vus with the German gloss "Sie" and marks it as a polite form (Höflichkeitsform), while the lower-case vus is glossed "ihr". This app's cards write the polite Vus with a capital letter, as in Danunder essas Vus oriund / oriunda? ("Where are you originally from?"), where oriund or oriunda agrees with the gender of the person addressed.
For a person you are on familiar terms with, the cards use ti instead; the card Ti es fitg bel / bella. describes ti es as the informal "you are".
Requests for attention use the plural or polite imperative: the card Perstgisai! ("Excuse me") is described as the plural or polite imperative of perstgisar, and the card gives Perstgisa as the singular form for a friend.
Sources
- Pledari Grond (Lia Rumantscha), Rumantsch Grischun dictionary — entries "Vus" and "vus"