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Language Information By Source

Romansh Facts & Figures
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Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

~60,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

All speakers of Romansh are multilingual

More about speakers

According to the 2000 Swiss census, 35,095 speakers reported that Romansh was the language over which they had the "best command." 27,038 of these were in Canton Graubünden. In total the census reports 60,816 speakers of Romansh.

Year of info

2004

Location and Context

Countries

Switzerland, most notably in Canton Graubünden

Coordinates

No data

Location description

In Canton Graubünden, the territory in which Romansh has traditionally been spoken is comprised of five regions. Surselva occupies the large sector in the northwest of the canton. In Central Graubünden, Romansh used to be spoken in the Domleschg/Tumleastga and Heinzenberg/Mantogna regions and is still spoken today in parts of the Val Schons (Schams), Surmeir (Oberhalbstein) and the Albula Valley. The Engadin and the Val Müstair (Münstertal) form the southeastern Romansh language territory.

Government support

Official language

Institutional support

In Graubünden, the communes have the autonomy to determine their own administrative and school languages. Romansh may be either a language of tuition or a subject taught.

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

In Canton Graubünden, the territory in which Romansh has traditionally been spoken is comprised of five regions. Surselva occupies the large sector in the northwest of the canton. In Central Graubünden, Romansh used to be spoken in the Domleschg/Tumleastga and Heinzenberg/Mantogna regions and is still spoken today in parts of the Val Schons (Schams), Surmeir (Oberhalbstein) and the Albula Valley. The Engadin and the Val Müstair (Münstertal) form the southeastern Romansh language territory.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

German, Italian, French, and various other non-national languages

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

In 1938, Romansh was recognised as a national language in addition to French, German and Italian. With the recognition of Romansh as a partially official language in 1996, it has now been placed on the same footing as Switzerland’s other three official languages as far as certain matters are concerned.

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

35,095

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

46.5777,9.6954

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

35,100

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

Data for the number of native speakers comes from the 2000 census.

Year of info

2009

Location and Context

Countries

Switzerland;

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Threatened

Native Speakers Worldwide

65,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

Perhaps little more than half of the official number of 65,000 speakers use the language actively.

Year of info

2007

Location and Context

Countries

Switzerland

Coordinates

No data

Location description

Spoken in Graubunden (Grischun), mainly in Surselva, Seumeir, and Unterengadin.

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

Spoken in Graubunden (Grischun), mainly in Surselva, Seumeir, and Unterengadin.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

German

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2004

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

German; Italian

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2005

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

46.6666666667,8.83333333333

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Vulnerable

Native Speakers Worldwide

40,000

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers’s attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Media Resources

No resources

No resources

No resources

Filter By

No programs

  1. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
    Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)
    http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas
  2. World Oral Literature Project
    "World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.
    http://www.oralliterature.org
  3. Europe and North Asia
    Salminen, Tapani. 2007. "Europe and North Asia." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 211-282. London & New York: Routledge.
  4. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)
    Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)
    http://www.ethnologue.com/
  5. The World Atlas of Language Structures
    2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.
  6. Romansch Facts & Figures
    Manfred Gross. 2004. "Romansch Facts & Figures." 31-44. Online: http://www.liarumantscha.ch/data/media/pdf/facts_figures/facts_figures_english.pdf.
    http://www.liarumantscha.ch/data/media/pdf/facts_figures/facts_figures_english.pdf
  7. Romansh Facts & Figures
    2004. "Romansh Facts & Figures." edited by Manfred Gross. Online: http://www.liarumantscha.ch/data/media/pdf/facts_figures/facts_figures_english.pdf.
    http://www.liarumantscha.ch/data/media/pdf/facts_figures/facts_figures_english.pdf
  8. Romanisch im Domleschg
    Solèr Clau and Theodor Ebneter. 1988. "Romanisch Im Domleschg." 3: Phonogrammarchiv der Universität Zürich.
  9. Supra-segmental Structures in a Rhaeto-Romance Dialect: A Case Study in Metrical and Lexical Phonology
    Kamprath, C. 1987. "Supra-segmental Structures in a Rhaeto-Romance Dialect: A Case Study in Metrical and Lexical Phonology."
  10. Romontsch sursilvan: grammatica elementara per emprender igl idiom sursilvan
    Candinas, Theo. 1982. "Romontsch Sursilvan: Grammatica Elementara Per Emprender Igl Idiom Sursilvan." s.n.
  11. Rhaeto-Romance
    Haiman, John. 1988. "Rhaeto-Romance." In The Romance Languages, edited by Martin Harris and Nigel Vincent. 351-390. Croom Helm.