Romanisch

Romanisch, or Rumansch, a Romance (Neo-Latin) language, formerly current throughout the Central and Eastern Alps of Switzerland and Tyrol, but now reduced by continued German and Italian encroachments to three enclosed groups: Romansch proper, spoken by about 40,000 in the canton of the Grisons, East Switzerland; Ladin of Tyrol, spoken by about 50,000 on the east bank of the Upper Adige; and Ladin of Friuli, spoken by about 200,000 in the Tagliamento basin, North-East Italy and thence to Goritz, in Austria. Total of Ladino-Romansch, or Rhseto-Romance, speech, as it is also called, 290,000. The vocabulary is mainly Latin, while the phonetics and structure resemble those of Brescia, and other rude dialects of North Italy. Oldest monuments some Friuli inscriptions, dating fromithe 12th century; literature chiefly religious, with some national poetry and newspapers.