page_title: Romansh language
section_title: Literature, music and media
hierarchical_section_title: Romansh language / Literature, music and media
caption_attribution_description: Rumantsch: Posta Ladina, San Murezzan Deutsch: Engadiner Post, St. Moritz
context_page_description: Romansh is a Romance language spoken predominantly in the southeastern Swiss canton of Grisons. Romansh has been recognized as a national language of Switzerland since 1938, and as an official language in correspondence with Romansh-speaking citizens since 1996, along with German, French and Italian. It also has official status in the canton of Grisons alongside German and Italian and is used as the medium of instruction in schools in Romansh-speaking areas. It is sometimes grouped by linguists with Ladin and Friulian as a Rhaeto-Romance language, though this is disputed.
  Romansh is one of the descendant languages of the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, which by the 5th century AD replaced the Celtic and Raetic languages previously spoken in the area. Romansh retains a small number of words from these languages. Romansh has also been strongly influenced by German in vocabulary and morphosyntax. The language gradually retreated to its current area over the centuries, being replaced in other areas by Alemannic and Bavarian dialects.
context_section_description: Romansh had a rich oral tradition before the appearance of Romansh writing, but apart from songs such as the Canzun da Sontga Margriata, virtually none of it survives. Prior to the 16th century, Romansh writings are known from only a few fragments.
  The oldest known written records of Romansh dating from the period before 1500 are:
  the Würzburg manuscript (10th century);
  the Einsiedeln Homily dates from the early 12th century, discovered in 1907, and consists of a few lines, in an early form of the Romonsch dialect, of interlinear translation (with the original Latin text) of a sermon attributed to St Augustine;
  the Müstair linguistic monument dated 1389 and consisting of a fragment of a document about grazing rights on common land in the Val Müstair, it is a court testimony in Romansh attested in an otherwise Latin document:
  
  
   
  Introekk in sum la vall de Favergatscha et introekk eintt la vall da Vafergatscha; la e vcinn faitt una puntt chun dis punt alta
  e chun dis eintt feder Vinayr 
  As far up as the Favergatscha valley and into the Vafergatscha valley. There where they are building a bridge which they call punt alta
  and what they call eintt feder Vinayr". 
  The first substantial surviving work in Romansh is the Chianzun dalla guerra dagl Chiaste da Müs written in the Putèr dialect in 1527 by Gian Travers. It is an epic poem describing the First Musso war which Travers himself had taken part in.
  Subsequent works usually have religious themes, including Bible translations, manuals for religious instructions, and biblical plays. In 1560, the first Romansh translation of the New Testament: L'g Nuof Sainc Testamaint da nos Signer Jesu Christ by Giachem Bifrun, was published. Two years later, in 1562, another writer from the Engadine, Durich Chiampel, published the Cudesch da Psalms, a collection of Romansh church songs in the Vallader dialect. In the Sursilvan dialect, the first surviving works are also religious works such as catechism by Daniel Bonifaci, and in 1611 Ilg Vêr Sulaz da pievel giuvan ("The true joys of young people"), a series of religious instructions for Protestant youths was published by Steffan Gabriel. Four years later in 1615, a Catholic catechism Curt Mussament was published in response, written by Gion Antoni Calvenzano. The first translation of the New Testament into Sursilvan was published in 1648 by the son of Steffan Gabriel, Luci Gabriel. The first complete translation of the Bible, the Bibla da Cuera was published between 1717 and 1719.
  In music, choirs have a long tradition in the Romansh-speaking areas. Apart from traditional music and song, Romansh is also used in contemporary pop or hip-hop music, some of which has become known outside the Romansh-speaking regions, for instance, in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, Switzerland was represented by a Romansh song, Viver senza tei. Since 2004, the hip-hop group Liricas Analas has become known even outside of Grisons through their Romansh songs. Other contemporary groups include the rock-band Passiunai with its lead singer Pascal Gamboni, or the rock/pop band The Capoonz. Composer Gion Antoni Derungs has written three operas with Romansh librettos: Il cerchel magic (1986), Il semiader (1998) and Tredeschin (2000).
  Romansh is used to varying extents in newspapers, the radio, and television. Radio and television broadcasts in Romansh are produced by the Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha, which is part of the Swiss public broadcasting company SRG SSR. The radio Radio Rumantsch broadcasts a 24-hour program including informational and music broadcasts. The broadcasters generally speak their own regional dialect on the air, which is considered a key factor in familiarizing Romansh speakers with the dialects outside their home region. News broadcasts are generally in the pan-regional variety Rumantsch Grischun. The two local radio stations Radio Grischa and Radio Engiadina occasionally broadcast in Romansh, but primarily use German. The Televisiun Rumantscha airs regular broadcasts on SF 1, which are subtitled in German. Programs include the information
caption: Front page of the Engadiner Post/Posta Ladina in February 2010
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