LL-L "Language politics" 2008.08.29 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 29 August 2008 - Volume 02
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language politics

Dear Lowlanders,

Many, if not most, of you are interested in minority language issues, in
language planning and in education. Therefore, I'd like to draw your
attention to a very interesting non-Lowlands piece of information that is
food for thought in our own area:

A program presented by Radio e Televisiun Rumantsch of Switzerland:
"In A è in A – in onn rumantsch grischun en scola"
(An A is an A - A year of Rumantsch Grischun in school)
http://www.rtr.ch/xobix_media/rtr/podcast/cunt/2008/cunt_07062008.m4v

It is a pretty large file but very much worth downloading if you are
interested and can at least read German.

This program is almost entirely in Romansch (mostly *Rumantsch Grischun*)
with a little bit of Alemanic ("Swiss German") toward the end, and there are
Standard German subtitles throughout (yes, also for the Alemannic bits). I
wish this were available in English as well.

Setup:

The Romansh language (an officially recognized Romance language of
Switzerland, which is most closely related to Ladin and Friulian) has a good
number of "dialects" that some might consider "languages" (not unlike the
case of Frisian). The predominant "dialect" has been that of Canton Grischun
([griˈʒun], Italian *Grigione*, French *Grissons*, German *Graubünden*). It
is what you might want to call a "generalized" variety whose status in
interdialectical communication is being strengthened. So it is a partly
"tweaked" variety for the whole of Grischun and its three dialect groups:
Sursilvan, Surtsilvan and Surmiran (also known as the Rhenish groups). It is
now being farther strengthened by covering the Engadine Valley (*Engiadina*,
or "Ladin") groups as well: Puter and Vallader.

In order to strengthen the survival chances of this, the "smallest" language
of Switzerland, unification efforts are underway. Part and parcel of this is
the introduction of *Rumantsch (dal) Grischun* as a *de facto* standard
variety, or perhaps rather as a lingua franca in the Romansh-speaking world
which until now has had no lingua franca.

Teaching Romansh in schools is seen as very important, but dialect
fragmentation has prevented cohesion so far. Hence, *Rumantsch (dal)
Grischun* is being shown as an educational language in two elementary
schools, one in Trin and one in Müstair (formerly Münster), both in
Grischun.

The native type of Romansh of Trin is a Surselvan (and thus a Rhenish) one,
and that of Müstair is a Vallader dialect and thus belongs to the Lower
Engadine Valley (*Engiadina Bassa*) branch. There are considerable
differences between the two. Both use the *de facto* variety in school but
approach it from their own varieties. You will hear the teachers point out
the differences, mentioning a word in the local variety and its *Rumantsch
(dal) Grischun* equivalent if it is very different. Children are interviewed
and say things like "There are some really funny words in RG. I like it."
and they give examples. One child from each school is shown returning home
and doing homework with their parents. One child has a Romansh-speaking
parent and a "German"-speaking parent and uses both languages well. The
Romansh-speaking parent speaks to the reporter in Alemannic, which leads me
to believe that she and the reporter find it more convenient, but the
reporter speaks Romansh with all other interviewees. One of the teachers and
all the parents supports the language policy, although she speaks a
different variety at home. The other teacher anbd one parent are still
sceptical but consider language survival most important. One of the parents
took a *Rumantsch (dal) Grischun* immersion course himself.

Early results seem to show that children learn to use and enjoy the lingua
franca but retain their home varieties in everyday life. The only change is
that because of the policy and a plethora of new teaching materials new
learners -- namely German-speaking inhabitants that are now learning Romansh
-- tend to learn and use *Rumantsch (dal) Grischun* rather than the local
variety.

This may not be such a stretch for the people of those parts. They also
speak Alemannic ("Swiss German") and learn Swiss Standard German as well,
which is very much like knowing both Low Saxon and German, or both Scots and
English. The case of *Rumantsch (dal) Grischun* as well as their local
varieties of Romansh is very similar, probably not as "extreme".

This situation reminds me of that of Low Saxon of Northern Germany and the
popular resistence to the introduction of not only a generalized bridge
variety but even of a generalized system of spelling individual varieties.
In the case of Romansh, it seems that people want to retain their home
varieties but at the same time realize that a "native lingua franca" will
strengthen the language as a whole.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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