Romansh language become part of wider German usage. Such words include "Gletscher" 'glacier' or "Murmeltier" 'marmot' (derived from Romansh "murmunt"), as well as culinary items such as Maluns or Capuns. The Romansh influence is much stronger in the German dialects of Grisons. It is sometimes controversially suspected that the pronunciation /k/ or /h/ in words such as "Khind" and "bahe", as opposed to /x/ in other Swiss German dialects ("Chind" and "bache"), is an influence of Romansh. In morphosyntax, the use of the auxiliary verb "kho" 'to come' as opposed to "wird" 'will' in phrases such as "leg di warm a, sunscht
Romansh language around them remained Romansh-speaking longer. The shift to German was caused in particular by the influence of the local German-speaking élites and by German-speaking immigrants from the north, with the lower and rural classes retaining Romansh longer. In addition, beginning around 1270, the German-speaking Walser began settling in sparsely populated or uninhabited areas within the Romansh-speaking heartland. The Walser sometimes expanded into Romansh-speaking areas from their original settlements, which then often became German-speaking, such as Davos, Schanfigg, the Prättigau, Schams, and Valendas, which became German-speaking by the 14th century. In rare cases, these Walser settlements were eventually assimilated by their