Romansh language Romansh language Romansh (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; Romansh: , "rumàntsch", or ) is a Romance language spoken predominantly in the southeastern Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden), where it has official status alongside German and Italian. It is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. Romansh has also been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language since 1996, along with German, French and Italian. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin and Friulian as a Rhaeto-Romance language, though this is disputed. Romansh is one of the descendant
Romansh language earlier, pre-literature tradition of using Romansh in administrative and legal situations, of which no evidence survives. In their prefaces, the authors themselves often mention the novelty of writing Romansh, and discuss an apparently common prejudice that Romansh was a language that could not be written. The first writing in the Sursilvan and Sutsilvan dialects appears in the 17th century. As in the Engadine, these early works usually focused on religious themes, in particular the struggles between Protestants and Counter-Reformers. Daniel Bonifaci produced the first surviving work in this category, the catechism "Curt mussameint dels principals punctgs della Christianevla Religiun", published