Editing Romansh language (section)

=== Romansh during the 19th and 20th centuries ===
With the [[Act of Mediation]], the Grisons became a canton of Switzerland in 1803. The constitution of the canton dates from 1892. When the Grisons became part of Switzerland in 1803, it had a population of roughly 73,000, of whom around 36,600 were Romansh speakers—many of them monolingual—living mostly within the Romansh-speaking valleys.{{sfn|Furer|2005|p=9}} The language border with German, which had mostly been stable since the 16th century, now began moving again as more and more villages shifted to German. One cause was the admission of Grisons as a Swiss canton, which brought Romansh-speakers into more frequent contact with German-speakers. Another factor was the increased power of the central government of the Grisons, which had always used German as its administrative language.{{sfn|Furer|2005|p=23}} In addition, many Romansh-speakers migrated to the larger cities, which were German-speaking, while speakers of German settled in Romansh villages. Moreover, economic changes meant that the Romansh-speaking villages, which had mostly been self-sufficient, engaged in more frequent commerce with German-speaking regions. Also, improvements in the infrastructure made travel and contact with other regions much easier than it had been.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|pp=109–110}}

Finally, the rise of tourism made knowledge of German an economic necessity in many areas, while the agricultural sector, which had been a traditional domain of Romansh, became less important. All this meant that knowledge of German became more and more of a necessity for Romansh speakers and that German became more and more a part of daily life. For the most part, German was seen not as a threat but rather as an important asset for communicating outside one's home region.{{sfn|Coray|2008|p=95}} The common people frequently demanded better access to learning German.{{sfn|Furer|2005|p=23}} When public schools began to appear, many municipalities decided to adopt German as the medium of instruction, as in the case of Ilanz, where German became the language of schooling in 1833, when the town was still largely Romansh-speaking.{{sfn|Coray|2008|p=97}}

Some people even welcomed the disappearance of Romansh, in particular among progressives. In their eyes, Romansh was an obstacle to the economic and intellectual development of the Romansh people.{{sfn|Coray|2008|p=96}} For instance, the priest Heinrich Bansi from [[Ardez]] wrote in 1797: "The biggest obstacle to the moral and economical improvement of these regions is the language of the people, Ladin [...] The German language could certainly be introduced with ease into the Engadine, as soon as one could convince the people of the immense advantages of it".<ref>{{harvp|Coray|2008|p=95}}; {{lang|de|"Am meisten steht der sittlichen und ökonomischen Verbesserung dieser Gegenden die Sprache des Volkes, das Ladin entgegen...Die deutsche Sprache lässt sich gewiss leicht ins Engadin einführen, sobald man das Volk nur einmal von den daraus entspringenden grossen Vortheilen überzeugt hätte."}}</ref> Others, however, saw Romansh as an economic asset, since it gave the Romansh an advantage when learning other Romance languages. In 1807, for example, the priest Mattli Conrad wrote an article listing the advantages and disadvantages of Romansh: {{Quote|The Romansh language is an immense advantage in learning so much more rapidly the languages derived from Latin of France, Italy, Spain etc, as can be seen with the Romansh youth, which travels to these countries and learns their language with ease. [...] We live in between an Italian and a German people. How practical is it, when one can learn the languages of both without effort?<ref>{{harvp|Kundert|2007|p=134}}; Original: {{lang|de|"Ist die Romansche Sprache ungemein vortheilhaft, um deste geschwinder die von der Lateinischen abstammenden Sprachen Frankreichs, Italiens, Spaniens etc. zu erlernen, wie wir an der Romanschen Jugend sehen, welche in jene Länder reiset, und ihre Sprachen sehr schnell erlernt. ... Leben wir zwischen einem Italiänischen und Deutschen Volk, wie bequem ist es nun, wenn man mit geringer Mühe die Sprachen beyder erwerben kann?"}}</ref>|Mattli Conrad – 1807}}
In response, the editor of the newspaper added that:

<blockquote>According to the testimony of experienced and vigilant language teachers, while the one who is born Romansh can easily learn to understand these languages and make himself understood in them, he has great difficulties in learning them properly, since precisely because of the similarity, he mixes them so easily with his own bastardized language. [...] in any case, the conveniences named should hold no weight against all the disadvantages that come from such an isolated and uneducated language.<ref>{{harvp|Kundert|2007|p=134}}; Original: {{lang|de|"Nach dem Zeugniß erfahrner und aufmerksamer Sprachlehrer wird es dem Romanisch Geborenen zwar leicht, jene Sprachen zu verstehen, und sich darin verständlich zu machen, aber äußerst schwer, sie richtig zu erlernen, weil er, eben wegen der Ähnlichkeit, seine Bastard-Sprache so leicht hinein mengt.[...]überhaupt aber möchten die erwähnten Erleichterungen von keinem Gewicht seyn, gegen die Nachtheile, die aus einer isolirten und ganz ungebildeten Sprache erwachsen."}}</ref></blockquote>

According to Mathias Kundert, this quote is a good example of the attitude of many German-speakers towards Romansh at the time. According to Mathias Kundert, while there was never a plan to Germanize the Romansh areas of Grisons, many German-speaking groups wished that the entire canton would become German-speaking. They were careful, however, to avoid any drastic measures to that extent, in order not to antagonize the influential Romansh minority.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=134}}

The decline of Romansh over the 20th century can be seen through the results of the Swiss censuses. The decline in percentages is only partially due to the Germanization of Romansh areas, since the Romansh-speaking valleys always had a lower overall population growth than other parts of the canton.{{sfn|Furer|2005|p=21}}
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Number of Romansh speakers in the Grisons 1803–1980{{sfn|Coray|2008|p=86}}
! year
! Romansh <br/> (absolute number)
! Romansh %
! German %
! Italian %
|-
|1803
|36,700
|{{c.|50%}}
|{{c.|36%}}
|{{c.|14%}}
|-
|1850
|42,439
|47.2%
|39.5%
|13.3%
|-
|1880
|37,794
|39.8%
|46.0%
|13.7%
|-
|1900
|36,472
|34.9%
|46.7%
|16.8%
|-
|1920
|39,127
|32.7%
|51.2%
|14.8%
|-
|1941
|40,187
|31.3%
|54.9%
|12.8%
|-
|1960
|38,414
|26.1%
|56.7%
|16.1%
|-
|1980
|36,017
|21.9%
|59.9%
|13.5%
|}
Starting in the mid-19th century, however, a revival movement began, often called the "Rhaeto-Romansh renaissance". This movement involved an increased cultural activity, as well as the foundation of several organizations dedicated to protecting the Romansh language. In 1863, the first of several attempts was made to found an association for all Romansh regions, which eventually led to the foundation of the {{lang|it|Società Retorumantscha}} in 1885.{{sfn|Liver|1999|p=82}} In 1919, the [[Lia Rumantscha]] was founded to serve as an umbrella organization for the various regional language societies. Additionally, the role of Romansh in schooling was strengthened, with the first Romansh school books being published in the 1830s and 1840s. Initially, these were merely translations of the German editions, but by the end of the 19th century teaching materials were introduced which took the local Romansh culture into consideration. Additionally, Romansh was introduced as a subject in teacher's college in 1860 and was recognized as an official language by the canton in 1880.{{sfn|Liver|1999|p=82}}

[[File:Pallioppi Ortografia et Ortoepia.jpg|thumb|upright=0.68|left|Cover page of {{lang|rm|Ortografia et ortoëpia del idiom romauntsch d'Engiadin'ota}}]]

Around the same time, grammar and spelling guidelines began to be developed for the regional written dialects. One of the earliest was the {{lang|rm|Ortografia et ortoëpia del idiom romauntsch d'Engiadin'ota}} by [[Zaccaria Pallioppi]], published in 1857. For Sursilvan, a first attempt to standardize the written language was the {{lang|it|Ortografia gienerala, speculativa ramontscha}} by Baseli Carigiet, published in 1858, followed by a Sursilvan-German dictionary in 1882, and the ''Normas ortografias'' by Giachen Caspar Muoth in 1888. Neither of these guidelines managed to gather much support. At the same time, the Canton published school books in its own variety. Sursilvan was then definitely standardized through the works of [[Gion Cahannes]], who published ''Grammatica Romontscha per Surselva e Sutselva'' in 1924, followed by ''Entruidament devart nossa ortografia'' in 1927. The Surmiran dialect had its own norms established in 1903, when the Canton agreed to finance the school book ''Codesch da lectura per las scolas primaras de Surmeir'', though a definite guideline, the ''Normas ortograficas per igl rumantsch da Surmeir'', was not published until 1939. In the meantime, the norms of Pallioppi had come under criticism in the Engadine due to the strong influence of Italian in them. This led to an orthographic reform which was concluded by 1928, when the {{lang|it|Pitschna introducziun a la nouva ortografia ladina ufficiala}} by Cristoffel Bardola was published. A separate written variety for Sutsilvan was developed in 1944 by [[Giuseppe Gangale]].

[[File:Rückgang des Bündnerromanischen Neuzeit.PNG|thumb|Loss of the Romansh-speaking majority in modern times according to the Swiss censuses<br />
{{Legend|#91FF7D|before 1860}}
{{Legend|#FFFF80|1870–1900}}
{{Legend|#FFFF00|1910–1941}}
{{Legend|#FF8000|1950–1960}}
{{Legend|#FF0080|1970}}
{{Legend|#FF0000|1980–2000}}
{{Legend|#0000FF|Romansh majority in 2000}}]]

Around 1880, the entire Romansh-speaking area still formed a continuous geographical unit. But by the end of the century, the so-called "Central-Grisons language bridge" began to disappear.<ref>Kraas (1992). p. 151</ref> From [[Thusis]], which had become German-speaking in the 16th/17th century, the [[Heinzenberg GR|Heinzenberg]] and [[Domleschg valley]]s were gradually Germanized over the next decades. Around the turn of the century, the inner Heinzenberg and [[Cazis]] became German-speaking, followed by [[Rothenbrunnen]], [[Rodels]], [[Almens]], and [[Pratval]], splitting the Romansh area into two geographically non-connected parts. In the 1920s and 1930s the rest of the villages in the valley became mainly German-speaking, sealing the split.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=79}}

In order to halt the decline of Romansh, the Lia Rumantscha began establishing Romansh day care schools, called {{lang|rm|Scoletas}}, beginning in the 1940s with the aim of reintroducing Romansh to children. Although the {{lang|rm|Scoletas}} had some success – of the ten villages where Scoletas were established, the children began speaking Romansh amongst themselves in four, with the children in four others acquiring at least some knowledge of Romansh – the program ultimately failed to preserve the language in the valley.

A key factor was the disinterest of the parents, whose main motivation for sending their children to the Scoletas appears to have been that they were looked after for a few hours and given a meal every day, rather than an interest in preserving Romansh.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=99}} The other factor was that after entering primary school, the children received a few hours a week of Romansh instruction at best. As a result, the last Scoletas were closed in the 1960s with the exception of [[Präz]], where the Scoleta remained open until 1979.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=103}}

In other areas, such as the Engadine and the Surselva, where the pressure of German was equally strong, Romansh was maintained much better and remained a commonly spoken language. According to the linguist Mathias Kundert, one important factor was the different social prestige of Romansh. In the Heinzenberg and Domleschg valleys, the elite had been German-speaking for centuries, so that German was associated with power and education, even though most people did not speak it, whereas Romansh was associated with peasant life. In the Engadine and the Surselva by contrast, the elite was itself Romansh-speaking, so that Romansh there was "not only the language spoken to children and cows, but also that of the village notable, the priest, and the teacher."{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=123}} Additionally, Romansh schools had been common for several years before German had become a necessity, so that Romansh was firmly established as a medium of education.
Likewise, in the Upper Engadine, where factors such as increased mobility and immigration by German speakers were even stronger, Romansh was more firmly established as a language of education and administration, so that the language was maintained to a much greater extent. In the Central Grisons, by contrast, German had been a central part of schooling since the beginning, and virtually all schools switched entirely to German as the language of instruction by 1900, with children in many schools being punished for speaking Romansh well into the 1930s.{{sfn|Kundert|2007|p=141}}