Romansh language languages" and "official languages". The status of a national language was largely symbolic, whereas only official languages were to be used in official documents, a status reserved for German, French, and Italian. The recognition of Romansh as the fourth national language is best seen within the context of the "Spiritual defence" preceding World War II, which aimed to underline the special status of Switzerland as a multinational country. Additionally, this was supposed to discredit the efforts of Italian nationalists to claim Romansh as a dialect of Italian and establish a claim to parts of Grisons. The Romansh language movement led
Romansh language is found only in Samedan, Pontresina, and Ilanz/Schnaus. In 15 municipalities, German is the sole medium of instruction as of 2001, with Romansh being taught as a subject. Outside of areas where Romansh is traditionally spoken, Romansh is not offered as a subject and as of 2001, 17 municipalities within the historical language area of Romansh do not teach Romansh as a subject. On the secondary level, the language of instruction is mainly German, with Romansh as a subject in Romansh-speaking regions. Outside of the traditional Romansh-speaking areas, the capital of Grisons, Chur, runs a bilingual Romansh-German elementary school. On