#romansh

[yvanspijk]

Galactic latte

The English words galaxy and latte are etymologically related. Galaxy stems from the Ancient Greek word for 'milk', gála, which has the same Proto-Indo-European ancestor as Latin lactem, which became latte in Italian.

The Milky Way was named after its milky glowing band in the night sky. Galaxy used to mean 'Milky Way', but it became a word for any star system when it turned out ours is not the only one in the universe.

[dogandcatcomics]

Hoffmann, Felix (Aarau, Switzerland, 1911-1975). Snippet from Joggeli Wott Go Birli Schüttle : Neui Bilder Zum Alte Värs 4. Aarau: Verlag Sauerländer, 1963. This children's book in Romansh language is about a progressively intensifying series of obstacles encountered in a quest to pick pears. I appreciate the canine representation.

[deep-down-in-drowsy-town]

hey guys, here's a masterlist of hip-hop bangers in western european minority languages!

Liricas Analas- Lungatg (in Romansh, spoken in the Swiss Alps)

Kneecap- H.O.O.D (in Gaeilge, spoken in Éire/ Ireland)

ZIFSI & KBEK- Parats Com Cau (in Gascon, spoken in Gascony, Southwestern France)

Manau- La tribu de Dana (in French and a bit of Breton, from Breizh/ Brittanny) (this one doesn't really count but it's still a banger)

Llwybr Llaethog- Tour de France (in Cymraeg/ Welsh, spoken in Cymru/Wales)

Yungmiqu- Muital (in Sámi, spoken in Sápmi, stretching across contemporary Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia)

bonus- the Sámi have an entire rap festival!

Negu Gorriak- Radio Rahim (in Euskara/ Basque, spoken in Euskal Herria/ Basque Country, in northern Spain and south-western France)

Acros- Escruire Amb La Sang (in Català, spoken in Catalunya, Spain)

Doctors De Trobar- Me'n Bati (in Occitan/ Lenga D'òc, spoken in Occitanie, Southern France)

Los Serenos Sefarad- La Rosa Enflorese Ladino (in Ladino, spoken... all over the world! Jewish Diaspora languages do be like that- though this particular group is from Seattle)

go ahead drop some more in the reblogs!

[gwydionmisha]

A Very Big Fight Over a Very Small Language

In the Swiss Alps, a plan to tidy up Romansh—spoken by less than one per cent of the country—set off a decades-long quarrel over identity, b

[disaster-with-a-hat]

Behold, I have made a meme about the four official languages of Switzerland.

[oakenting]

The hobbit has been translated to Romansh, a Swiss language with 5 dialects that only 60'000 people speak. I'm so amazed, I don't speak it myself but it makes me happy to know that the translation exists and will be published. I'm sure Tolkien would have found joy in this as well.

I'm very tempted to get the book.

(Source in German)

[folkfashion]

Romansh boys, Switzerland, by Sils

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Romansh (rumantsch)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 45,000

Official language: Switzerland

Script: Latin, 23 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: fusional, SVO

Language family: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Western Romance, Gallo-Romance, Rhaeto-Romance

Number of dialects: 5

History

1552 - first appearance in print

1857 - first grammar and spelling guidelines

1880 - recognition of Romansh as an official language in the canton of Grisons

1982 - standardized written form

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the alphabet: a b c d e f g h i j l m n o p q r s t u v x z.

Stress normally falls either on the last or the penultimate syllable of the word.

Grammar

Nouns have two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and no cases. Collective plural is used to refer to a mass of things as a whole.

One of the dialects uses only one reflexive pronoun to form reflexive verbs. The first and second person pronouns for a direct object have two distinct forms.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, conditional, imperative, and subjunctive), person, and number.

Dialects

There are five main dialects: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Syrmiran, Puter, and Vallader. They are not always mutually intelligible and speakers from different dialects usually prefer to speak Swiss German with each other.

The differences between them can be found in phonology, morphology, and syntax.