Romansh language Romansh language Romansh (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; Romansh: , "rumàntsch", or ) is a Romance language spoken predominantly in the southeastern Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden), where it has official status alongside German and Italian. It is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. Romansh has also been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language since 1996, along with German, French and Italian. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin and Friulian as a Rhaeto-Romance language, though this is disputed. Romansh is one of the descendant
Romansh language Friulan and Ladin were not separate languages but rather Italian dialects. They used this as an argument to claim the territories for Italy where these languages were spoken. From a sociolinguistic perspective, however, this question is largely irrelevant. The speakers of Romansh have always identified as speaking a language distinct from both Italian and other Romance varieties. Romansh comprises a group of closely related dialects, which are most commonly divided into five different varieties, each of which has developed a standardized form. These standardized regional standards are referred to as "idioms" in Romansh to distinguish them from the local vernaculars,