Sursilvan dialects (Romansh) Sursilvan dialects (Romansh) Sursilvan ( or "romontsch sursilvan" [ʁoˈmɔntʃ suʁsilˈvan]) is a group of dialects of the Romansh language spoken in the Swiss district of Surselva. It is the most widely spoken variety of Romansh with 17,897 people within the Surselva District (54.8%) naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the Swiss census of 2000. The most closely related variety is Sutsilvan, which is spoken in the area located to the east of the district. The name of the dialect and the Surselva District is derived from "sur" 'above' and "selva" 'forest', with the forest in question being the
Romansh language Engadine, many of these Italian words fell out of usage (such as "contadin" 'farmer' instead of "paur", "nepotin" 'nephew' rather than "abiadi", "ogni" 'everyone' instead of "inmincha", "saimper" 'always' instead of "adüna", and "abbastanza" 'enough' instead of "avuonda"), while others persisted as synonyms of more traditional Ladin words (such as "tribunal" 'court' alongside "drettüra", "chapir" alongside "incleger", and "testimoni" 'witness' alongside "perdütta"). Aside from the written language, everyday Romansh was also influenced by Italian through the large number of emigrants, especially from the Engadine, to Italy, the so-called Randulin. These emigrants often returned with their Romansh speech influenced by Italian.