16.1836, Media: AP: Google to offer Rumantsch service

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1836. Fri Jun 10 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1836, Media: AP: Google to offer Rumantsch service

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1)
Date: 10-Jun-2005
From: Stephen Anderson < stephen.anderson at yale.edu >
Subject: AP: Google to offer Rumantsch service

	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 18:07:51
From: Stephen Anderson < stephen.anderson at yale.edu >
Subject: AP: Google to offer Rumantsch service


The story below recently appeared on AP.  They don't say which of the
   five existing 'Romansch'  standards (six, if you count the cross-dialect
form 'Rumantsch Grischun') Google is using.  They also have the figures
wrong: the number of speakers is more like 60,000.  For more information on
the situation of the language, see

http://www.liarumantscha.ch/de/actualitads/rumantsch04_r.pdf

-- a brochure prepared by the Lia Rumantscha.

June 9, 2005  |  Bern, Switzerland -- Not many people have heard of
Romansch. But in the future, those looking for Web sites in Switzerland may
find themselves trying to decipher this Latin-linked  language.

That's because Google Inc., the Internet's leading search engine provider,
is now offering its service in Romansch, a language spoken by just 35,000
people in the mountains of southeastern Switzerland, the company said
Wednesday.

The Swiss government has passed laws to protect the minority Romansch
language, such as requiring its use in schools and on bank notes, but
speakers will now have the opportunity to 'tschertgar il web' -- or search
the Web -- in their native language.

Though the interface is in Romansch, results aren't limited to the
language. Nonetheless, the initiative has been welcomed by Romansch groups,
who have been seeking ways to keep their dwindling language alive.

Romansch, a direct descendant of Latin and one of Switzerland's four
official languages, has struggled to cope with encroachment of German.

--
Stephen R. Anderson
Professor of Linguistics, Psychology and Cognitive Science
Yale University


Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics





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