The Romansh language (more precisely, languages) is spoken by a few on our planet. Some may even think that, like Latin, Romansh is dead, but it is not. It is quite possible to learn this archaic language, but first you need to understand the term, because this is not one language, but a whole group.
Areal union
The Romansh language is a group of Romance languages. Their distribution is in the Gallo-Italian language area, so they are not a genetic group.
The Friulian language takes its name from the Friuli region in Italy, where it was spoken. This area stretches north from Venice to the border with Austria, and east to the border with Slovenia.
Ladin also exists in northern Italy, east of the Dolomites, in the Alto Adige region.
Romansh is a Swiss Romansh language, which is distributed in the Rhine Valley and the canton of Graubünden.
Engadine dialect -also belongs to this group. It still exists in the Inn Valley in Switzerland.
Native speakers
The fate of these languages is interesting. Friulian is the most widely spoken at the moment, it is spoken by about three hundred thousand people. At the moment, all four languages are legally recognized as national languages, but Romansh acquired official status quite recently (it is spoken by several tens of thousands of people all over the planet). That is, even this Romansh language is alive, but in Swiss schools it is taught only in areas where direct speakers live. By the way, the inhabitants of the canton of Graubünden are not going to bury their language: some newspapers and magazines are published in it, signs and signs are made. Even the radio in the canton is in Romansh.
An interesting feature: Romansh (like Friulian) has several dialects. Upper Engadinsky and Surselva are the most important. With a frequency of one year, they replace each other as the national language of the canton.
In Latin
Archaic Romansh also has its roots. What language could form its basis? Of course, Latin. The ancient Romans conquered the Alpine lands, bringing their language along with weapons. The constant migrations of tribes and the past centuries have also contributed, but the inhabitants of the canton of Graubünden joke that if one of the Roman legionnaires suddenly returned from the dead and asked for a pack of cigarettes at the nearest kiosk, they would understand him.
In the 8th-9th centuriesSwiss Romansh is under heavy German pressure as the latter is given the status of an administrative language. Although documents and translations of religious texts were even published in the Romansh language, most of which were translations from Latin. The archaic "peasant" language steadfastly held on for almost ten centuries, and even in the middle of the 19th century, almost half of the inhabitants of the canton of Grisons called this Romansh language their mother tongue.
This century is said to have suffered its greatest blow, with unemployment reaching its limit and road development causing more and more native speakers to leave the canton. To find a good job in a new place, they needed to speak German.
After a while, local writers and cultural society sounded the alarm: the language was in danger of extinction. As a result of its advancement not only in the canton itself, but also in other areas, the Romansh language in Switzerland was elevated to the status of the national language of the country, but this happened not so long ago - in 1938.
Friuli
The most widely spoken Romansh language is Friulian. Although modern linguists dispute its relation to the Romance language group and tend to consider it as a separate language. There is still no consensus on this issue.
Friulian is in some respects close to the languages of northern Italy, but not close enough to be considered related. He is still included in the group of "rhetoromancers", although scientists call this classificationsomewhat dated.
In Friulian, a diphthong is retained, as well as a characteristic feature is the stunning of voiced consonants at the end of a word. There are also peculiarities in grammar: two types of plural formation and the use of special inflection when formulating a sentence with a question.
Unity of languages
Although the languages of the Romansh group have common features, they were conventionally combined into one group not so long ago. This was done by the Italian linguist G. Ascoli in 1873. He examined in detail the question of the linguistic unity of the so-called "Ladin dialects", that is, the Romansh, Ladin and Friulian languages, however, he also noted the isolation of the latter. The term "Romansh" itself was introduced by the German novelist T. Gartner ten years after the publication of Ascoli's work.
In addition to modern names in the works of linguists, such as "Alpine Romance", "Reto-Ladin", "Reto-Friulian" were used, and the whole group in some works (for example, H. Schneller) was called Friulo-Ladino- Kurval language union.
Neither Ascoli nor Gartner "officially" included Friulian in the group of Romansh languages, but for some reason, many researchers of Romance languages began to consider it as part of the Ladin area.
How to learn Romansh
This is a rare language, so find a teacher in linguistic centerscan be difficult (or expensive), but don't despair - everything you need can be found on the Internet. The first thing you need is a grammar book. Mastering any language is easiest to start with understanding its structure. The problem here is that the textbooks and dictionaries are mostly also in foreign languages: German, French, Italian. It will be much easier to deal with this language for those who speak Latin.
Native speakers are few, but they do exist. Therefore, you can study the language in the region of its distribution. If this is not possible, it is worth trying to find a carrier in video chats for those who are looking for an interlocutor to talk in a foreign language. In addition, there is also fiction in Romansh; these are mainly translations of classical ancient literature, for example, Aesop's fables. Reading not only helps to learn a language quickly, but also makes the process interesting.
