Romansh, one of the three languages spoken in Grisons, has been under pressure from German for decades. As a result, all Romansh speakers are considered to be bilingual in German and Romansh today. In some areas, the Germanization process has even been completed (cf. Grünert 2008: 28; Goebl 2000–2001: 205; Kristol 1989: 816–819; Liver 2010: 69). This is the case in the valley of Heinzenberg/Domleschg, where Romansh disappeared mostly in favour of Swiss German. In some regions, such as Imboden, a part of the population still speaks Romansh and it is being taught in schools. In others, like the Surselva valley, it is still the dominant language. This spread of one language to the disadvantage of another one is called language shift. Language shift is preceded by language contact, in which the involved languages influence each other.
In the past, only Romansh was spoken in these regions, except for some Walser settlements with their Highest Alemannic variant of Swiss German. With the language shift, Swiss German took its place. A new Swiss German dialect started to develop, which is influenced by the Swiss German from the cantonal capital Chur, but also by Walser German and Romansh. This process is still ongoing today.
The constellation of several Swiss German dialects and Romansh as well as the ongoing language shift are fascinating from a linguistic viewpoint. Remarkably, the dialects at hand have never been systematically documented. This is due to the fact that the Swiss German dialect atlasses concentrate on the “traditionally German-speaking areas”, excluding Heinzenberg/Domleschg, Imboden and the Surselva valley (SDS; Glaser 2010a&b; Leemann et al. 2025).
Our project’s aim is to partially close this gap. We are documenting the dialects spoken in these areas today, with a focus on word forms and language structure. To this end, we are conducting interviews with informants from 24 survey sites, including both men and women from three age cohorts. We are interviewing people with German as well as with Romansh as a first language. The interview is highly structured, which means that informants have to translate Standard German sentences into their own dialect or choose from multiple options.
The following examples show how different influences have shaped the local dialect: The proverb (1) from Thusis shows word-final /n/ in the verbs gaan, staan, laan. This /n/ is typical for Walser German and for traditionally German Thusis. However, our data shows that it has now spread to some degree into the formerly Romansh-speaking area.
(1) Gaan, staan, blibe laan, wer das nid kan därf nid uf Thusis gaan.
‘Go, stand, let it be, if you can’t do that, you can’t go to Thusis’.
Sentence (2), while impossible to say in most Swiss German dialects, is common in our area as our interview data shows. The sentence structure shows a clear parallel with the Sursilvan construction in (3) (Spescha 1989: 402). We assume that this structure has been transferred from Romansh to German as a result of language contact.
(2) De machi schu zum Tokter goo.
‘I will make him go to the doctor.’
(3) Il frar fa gidar la sora la mumma.
‘The brother makes the sister help the mother.’
In our talk, we will (i) map the linguistic situation in Heinzenberg, Domleschg, Imboden and the Surselva valley, (ii) describe how we are collecting language data to document the regional dialects and (iii) offer linguistic examples to illustrate our findings.
Literature:
Glaser, Elvira (Hrsg.). 2021a. Syntaktischer Atlas der Deutschen Schweiz (SADS). Band 1: Einleitung und Kommentare. Bearbeitet von Elvira Glaser und Gabriela Bart, sowie Claudia Bucheli Berger, Guido Seiler, Sandro Bachmann und Anja Hasse, unter Mitarbeit von Matthias Friedli und Janine Richner-Steiner. Tübingen: Narr.
Glaser, Elvira (Hrsg.). 2021b. Syntaktischer Atlas der Deutschen Schweiz (SADS). Band 2: Karten. Bearbeitet von Sandro Bachmann, Gabriela Bart und Elvira Glaser, sowie Claudia Bucheli Berger und Guido Seiler. Tübingen: Narr.
Goebl, Hans (2000–2001): Externe Sprachgeschichte des Rätoromanischen (Bündnerromanisch, Dolomitenladinisch, Friaulisch). Ein Überblick. In: Ladinia 24–25.
Grünert, Matthias (2008): Die drei Sprachen Graubündens aufgrund der Volkszählungsergebnisse. In: Grünert, Matthias; Picenoni, Mathias; Cathomas, Regula & Gadmer, Thomas (eds.): Das Funktionieren der Dreisprachigkeit im Kanton Graubünden. Tübingen/Basel: A. Francke.
Kristol, Andres Max (1989): Bündnerromanisch. Soziolinguistik. In: Holtus, Günter; Metzeltin, Michael & Schmitt, Christian (eds.): Die einzelnen romanischen Sprachen und Sprachgebiete von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart. Rumänisch, Dalmatisch/Istroromanisch, Friaulisch, Ladinisch, Bündnerromanisch. Berlin: Max Niemeyer.
Leemann, Adrian/Steiner, Carina/Studerus, Melanie/Oberholzer, Linus/Jeszenszky, Péter/Tomaschek, Fabian/Kistler, Simon (2025): Dialäktatlas. 1950 bis heute. Zollikon: VDF Hochschulverlag.
SDS = Hotzenköcherle, Rudolf; Baumgartner, Heinrich; Schläpfer, Robert; Trüb, Rudolf; Zinsli, Paul (Hrsg.) (1962–2003): Sprachatlas der deutschen Schweiz. 8 Kartenbände, Abschlussband. Bern: Francke.
Spescha, Arnold (1989): Grammatica Sursilvana. Chur: Casa editura per mieds d’instrucziun.