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Switzerland’s mysterious fourth language

Despite Romansh being one of Switzerland’s four national languages, less than 0.5% percent of Swiss can answer that question – “Do you speak Romansh?” – with a “yes”. Romansh is a Romance language indigenous to Switzerland’s largest canton, Graubünden, located in the south-eastern corner of the country. In the last one hundred years, the number of Romansh speakers has fallen 50% to a meagre 60,000. Travellers in the canton can still see Romansh on street signs, or hear it in restaurants when they’re greeted with “Allegra!” (Welcome in). But nearly 40% of Romansh speakers have left the area for better job opportunities and it’s rare that you will see or hear Romansh outside the canton. In such a small country, can a language spoken by just a sliver of the population survive, or is it as doomed as the dinosaur and dodo?

Language exists to convey a people’s culture to the next generation, so it makes sense that the Swiss are protective of Romansh. When the world loses a language, as it does every two weeks, we collectively lose the knowledge from past generations. “Language is a salient and important expression of cultural identity, and without language you will lose many aspects of the culture,” said Dr Gregory Anderson, Director of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages.

Without the Romansh language, who is to say if customs like Chalandamarz, an ancient festival held each 1 March to celebrate the end of winter and coming of spring, will endure; or if traditional local recipes like capuns – spätzle wrapped in greens – will be forgotten? “Romansh contributes in its own way to a multilingual Switzerland,” says Daniel Telli, head of the Unit Lingua. “And on a different level, the death of a language implies the loss of a unique way to see and describe the world.”

(Dena Roché. www.bbc.com, 28.06.2018. Adaptado.)