Romansh language everyday language. Romansh speakers have been in close contact with speakers of German dialects such as Alemannic and Bavarian for centuries, as well as speakers of various Italian dialects and Standard German more recently. These languages have influenced Romansh, most strongly the vocabulary, whereas the German and Italian influences on morphology and syntax are much more limited. This means that despite German influence, Romansh has remained a Romance language in its core structure. Romansh linguist Ricarda Liver also notes that an influence of Swiss German on intonation is obvious, in particular in the Sursilvan dialect, even though this has so
Romansh language objects and ideas were introduced. Romansh speakers often simply adopted the German words, such as "il zug" 'the train' or "il banhof" 'the train station'. Language purists attempted to coin new Romansh words instead, which were occasionally successful in entering popular usage. Whereas "il tren" and "la staziun" managed to replace "il zug" and "il banhof", other German words have become established in Romansh usage, such as "il schalter" 'the switch', "il hebel" 'the lever', "la schlagbohrmaschina" 'the hammer drill', or "in schluc" 'a sip'. Especially noticeable are interjections such as "schon", "aber" or "halt", which have become established in