Romansh people Romansh people The Romansh people (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; Romansh: , "rumàntsch", or ) are a Romance ethnic group of Switzerland, native speakers of the Romansh language. They are usually multilingual, also speaking German (both the standard variety and the local Swiss German) and sometimes Italian, which are the other official languages of Graubünden, the canton where they are concentrated. They make up about 1% of Switzerland's population and 15% of Graubünden's. The Romansh people began advocating for an end to German dominion over them starting with World War I. In 1937 the Swiss government recognized the Romansh
Romansh language languages of the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, which by the 5th century AD replaced the Celtic and Raetic languages previously spoken in the area. Romansh retains a small number of words from these languages. Romansh has also been strongly influenced by German in vocabulary and morphosyntax. The language gradually retreated to its current area over the centuries, being replaced in other areas by Alemannic and Bavarian dialects. The earliest writing identified as Romansh dates from the 10th or 11th century, although major works did not appear until the 16th century, when several regional written varieties began to