Romansh people language for the first time as one of Switzerland's four national languages, though only for use within the canton, not at the federal level. The Romansh people appeared to be mostly satisfied with this status until the 1980s when debate arose over Switzerland's relationship with the greater European continent and the concept of the European Union began to form. The Romansh people advocated heavily for Switzerland's membership in the Union, but the referendum to join it was narrowly defeated in 1992 by the German majority and Switzerland remained a nation apart with the Romansh people a nation apart within it
Romansh language habitually in 2000. Within the traditional Romansh-speaking areas, where 56.1% (33,991) of all speakers lived in 2000, it is the majority language in 66 municipalities. The status of Romansh differs widely within this traditional area however. Whereas in some areas Romansh is used by virtually the entire population, in others the only speakers are people who have moved there from elsewhere. Overall, Romansh dominates in most of the Surselva and the Lower Engadine as well as parts of the Surses, whereas German is the dominant daily language in most other areas, though Romansh is often still used and transmitted in