Romansh language take along' or Italian "andare via" 'to go away', the large number in Romansh suggests an influence of German, where this pattern is common. However, prepositional verbs are also common in the (Romance) Lombard language spoken in the bordering Swiss and Italian regions. The verbs "far cun" 'to participate' or "grodar tras" 'to fail' for example, are direct equivalents of German "mitmachen" (from "mit" 'with' and "machen" 'to do) and "durchfallen" (from "durch" 'through' and "fallen" 'to fall'). Less integrated into the Romansh verbal system are constructions following the pattern of "far il" ('doing the') + a German infinitive. Examples
Romansh language such as the Engadine and the Surselva, where the pressure of German was equally strong, Romansh was maintained much better and remained a commonly spoken language. According to the linguist Mathias Kundert, one important factor was the different social prestige of Romansh. In the Heinzenberg and Domleschg valleys, the elite had been German-speaking for centuries, so that German was associated with power and education, even though most people did not speak it, whereas Romansh was associated with peasant life. In the Engadine and the Surselva by contrast, the elite was itself Romansh-speaking, so that Romansh there was "not only the