Sursilvan dialects (Romansh) Sursilvan dialects (Romansh) Sursilvan ( or "romontsch sursilvan" [ʁoˈmɔntʃ suʁsilˈvan]) is a group of dialects of the Romansh language spoken in the Swiss district of Surselva. It is the most widely spoken variety of Romansh with 17,897 people within the Surselva District (54.8%) naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the Swiss census of 2000. The most closely related variety is Sutsilvan, which is spoken in the area located to the east of the district. The name of the dialect and the Surselva District is derived from "sur" 'above' and "selva" 'forest', with the forest in question being the
Romansh language summed up by statistician Jean-Jacques Furer in 2005. In addition, linguist Regula Cathomas performed a detailed survey of everyday language use, published in 2008. Virtually all Romansh-speakers today are bilingual in Romansh and German. Whereas monolingual Romansh were still common at the beginning of the twentieth century, they are now only found among pre-school children. As Romansh linguist Ricarda Liver writes: The language situation today consists of a complex relationship between several diglossia, since there is a functional distribution within Romansh itself between the local dialect, the regional standard variety, and nowadays the pan-regional variety Rumantsch Grischun as well; and