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 as in Sursilvan "Jeu mon direct" 'I am going directly', rather than "Jeu mon directamein". This usage is rare in most other Romance languages with a few sporadic exceptions as in French "parler haut" or Italian "vosà fort" 'speak aloud', and the common usage in colloquial Romansh is likely an influence from German. Especially noticeable and often criticized by language purists are particles such as "aber", "schon", "halt", "grad", "eba", or "zuar", which have become an integral part of everyday Romansh speech, especially in Sursilvan. Negation was originally formed by a double negative in all Romansh dialects. Today, this usage