Sursilvan dialects (Romansh)
Sursilvan (
The name of the dialect and the Surselva District is derived from sur 'above' and selva 'forest', with the forest in question being the Uaul Grond in the area affected by the Flims Rockslide. The word selva itself has fallen out of use in modern Sursilvan, with the most common word for forest being
Distribution
Sursilvan is used across most of the Surselva District, with the exception of the Walser villages of Obersaxen, Vals, St. Martin and Safiental. Outside of the Surselva District, Flims is also part of the Sursilvan dialect area. In addition, Sursilvan was previously used as the written Romansh language of parts of the Sutsilvan dialect area. When a separate Sutsilvan written language was introduced in 1944, the villages of Bonaduz, Rhäzün s, Domat/Ems and Trin retained Sursilvan as their written language. In addition, Sursilvan was previously used in the Surmiran dialect area as the language of church, but has now been replaced by Standard Surmiran and Rumantsch Grischun.
Most municipalities in which Sursilvan is the traditional language still have a Romansh-speaking majority today. The exceptions are Flims, Laax, Schnaus, Ilanz, Castrisch, Surcuolm, and Duvin. In all of these, except for Flims, however, a majority of people reported in the 2000 Swiss census to use Romansh daily, even if only a minority named it as their language of best command. In about half of the Sursilvan villages, Romansh is the language of best command of over 70% or 80%. The highest percentage is found in Vrin with over 95%. As a daily language, it is used in nearly all municipalities by at least 70%, in about half by more than 80%, and in a third by over 90%. Overall across the Sursilvan dialect area, in the census of 2000, 70.1% named Romansh as a habitually used language, while 58.3% named it as their language of best command.[2]
Orthography
Sursilvan spelling mostly follows a phonemic system.
| Orthography | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| а | [a] | |
| аi | [aɪ̯] | |
| аu | [aʊ̯] | |
| b | [b] | |
| c | in front of a, o, u as [k] in front of i and e as [ts] | |
| ch | [k] (only occurs in front of i and e) | |
| d | [d] | |
| e | [e] [ɛ] | |
| è | [ɛ] | |
| é | [e] | |
| ei | depending on the region as [ɛɪ̯] (Gruob), [aɪ̯] (Cadi) or [ɔɪ̯] (Breil/Brigels) | |
| eu | [ɛʊ̯] | |
| f | [f] | |
| g | as [g] in front ofi and e as [dʑ] (i is silent) | |
| gh | [g] (only occurs in front of i and e) | |
| gl | At the end of a word and in front of i as [ʎ] (i is silent) in front of a, u, o, e and some loanwords as [gl] | |
| gn | [ɲ] | |
| h | usually silent [h] in loanwords | |
| i | [i] | |
| ia | [ɪ̯a] | |
| ie | [ɪə̯] | |
| iu | [ɪʊ̯] | |
| iau | [ɪ̯aʊ̯] | |
| j | [j] | |
| l | [l] | |
| m | [m] | |
| n | [n] | |
| o | [ɔ] | |
| p | [p] | |
| r | generally a Uvular r | |
| s | [s] [z] in front of c, p, t, tg, n, m [ʃ] in front of g, b, d, v [ʒ] | |
| sch | [ʃ] [ʒ] | |
| t | [t] | |
| tsch | [tʃ] | |
| tg | [tɕ] | |
| u | [u] | |
| ua | [ʊ̯a] | |
| ue | [ʊ̯ɛ] | |
| uo | [ʊə̯] | |
| uei | [ʊ̯ɛɪ̯] | |
| uau | [ʊ̯aʊ̯] | |
| v | [v] | |
| z | [ts] | |
Morphology
Nouns
Sursilvan nouns distinguish two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural).
Nouns in -a are overwhelmingly feminine (with few exceptions such as duca 'duke'). Nouns in consonants or other vowels can be either masculine or feminine.
Plurals are formed with the suffix -s. Nouns already ending in -s do not add this plural ending, but nouns in -z and -sch follow the general rule. Nominalised past participles in -au have a plural in -ai. In addition, nouns may show vowel alternations or other irregularities:
| Type | Sg | Pl | Meaning (gender) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular + -s | frar | frars | brother (m.) |
| sora | soras | sister (f.) | |
| esch | eschs | door (m.) | |
| péz | pézs | summit (m.) | |
| -s > -s | nas | nas | nose (m.) |
| -(t)schi > -(t)schals | purschi | purschals | piglet (m.) |
| utschi | utschals | bird (m.) | |
| -i > -ials | marti | martials | hammer (m.) |
| -agl > -als | cavagl | cavals | horse (m.) |
| -egl > -els | cavegl | cavels | hair (m.) |
| -iel > -euls | migiel | migeuls | glass (m.) |
| -al > -auls | armal | armauls | ox (m.) |
| -au > -ai | delegau | delegai | delegate (m.) |
| -ie- > -o- + -s | iev | ovs | egg (m.) |
| tgiern | corns | horn (m.) | |
| ies | oss | bone (m.) | |
| tgaubriechel | tgaubrochels | somersault (m.) | |
| -ie- > -o- + -s (with irreg.) | piertg | pors | pig (m.) |
| bov | bos | ox (m.) | |
| -ie- > -ia- + -s | vierm | viarms | worm (m.) |
| -ie- > -ia- (no -s) | viers | viars | animal noise (m.) |
| -ie- > -a- + -s | tschierv | tscharvs | stag (m.) |
| Irregular | um | umens | man (m.) |
| dunna | dunnauns (also: dunnas) | woman (f.) | |
| matta | mattauns (also: mattas) | girl (f.) | |
| liug | loghens (also: logs) | place (m.) |
Collective plurals
In addition to the normal plural in -s many nouns also show a collective plural in -a. These forms typically occur with natural substances (rocks, wood, plants etc.) and human body parts. Syntactically these collective plurals behave like feminine singular nouns: La crappa ei dira. 'The rocks are hard. / The rock (= material) is hard.' (with f.sg. dira 'hard' agreeing with the subject la crappa 'the rock(s)') and may best be considered as an intermediate formation between inflection and derivation (Liver 1999:132).
Articles
Sursilvan has both a definite and an indefinite article. These are preposed and agree with their noun in gender and number. (The indefinite article only has singular forms.) Forms may differ depending on whether the following word starts with a vowel or a consonant:
Indefinite Article
| masc. | in fegl | 'son' |
| in amitg | 'male friend' | |
| fem. before cons. | ina feglia | 'daughter' |
| fem. before vowel | in'amitga | 'female friend' |
Definite Article
| Sg | Pl | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc. | before cons. | il bab | ils babs | 'father' |
| before vowel | igl aug | ils augs | 'uncle' | |
| fem. | before cons. | la mumma | las mummas | 'mother' |
| before vowel | l'onda | las ondas | 'aunt' |
The definite article contracts with a number of prepositions:
| il | igl | la | l' | ils | las | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a 'to' | al | agl | alla | all' | als | allas |
| cun 'with' | cul | cugl | culla | cull' | culs | cullas |
| da 'of, by' | dil | digl | dalla | dall' | dils | dallas |
| en 'in(to)' | el | egl | ella | ell' | els | ellas |
| per 'for' | pil | pigl | pella | pell' | pils | pellas |
| sin 'on (to)' | sil | sigl | silla | sill' | sils | sillas |
| sper 'beside' | spel | spegl | spella | spell' | spels | spellas |
| tier 'to, at' | tiel | tiegl | tiella | tiell' | tiels | tiellas |
Adjectives
The adjective agrees with its noun in gender and number and (as in other Romance languages) usually follows it.
A peculiarity of Sursilvan is that the adjective distinguishes an attributive and a predicative form in the masculine singular:
in um vegl 'an old man'
igl um ei vegls 'the man is old'
The predicative masculine singular form is morphologically identical with the masculine plural.
The ending of the masculine plural is -s. Feminine adjectives suffix -a in the singular and -as in the plural. The attributive masculine singular often differs from the other forms in its vocalism.
| M.Sg.Attr. | M.Sg.Pred/M.Pl. | F.Sg. | F.Pl. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | grond | gronds | gronda | grondas | 'big' |
| -gl > -gli- | vegl | vegls | veglia | veglias | 'old' |
| -tg > -gi- | lartg | lartgs | largia | largias | 'wide, broad' |
| -C > -CC | met | mets | metta | mettas | 'dumb' |
| -el > -l- | fideivel | fideivels | fideivla | fideivlas | 'faithful' |
| -en > -n- | giuven | giuvens | giuvna | giuvnas | 'young' |
| -er > -r- | pauper | paupers | paupra | paupras | 'poor' |
| Irreg. | pign | pigns | pintga | pintgas | 'small' |
| agen | agens | atgna | atgnas | 'own' | |
| -i > -ial- | bi | bials | biala | bialas | 'beautiful' |
| -ie- > -ia- | aviert | aviarts | aviarta | aviartas | 'open(ed)' |
| -(t)schie- > -(t)scha- | detschiert | detscharts | detscharta | detschartas | 'resolute' |
| -ie- > -ia- + -er > -r- | siniester | siniasters | siniastra | siniastras | 'left' |
| -ie- > -o- | niev | novs | nova | novas | 'new' |
| gries | gross | grossa | grossas | 'thick' | |
| tgietschen | cotschens | cotschna | cotschnas | 'red' | |
| -ie- > -u- | bien | buns | buna | bunas | 'good' |
| Irreg. | bia | biars | biara | biaras | 'much' |
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
| Subject | Object | |
| 1 Sg | jeu | mei (but: a mi) |
| 2 Sg | ti | tei (but: a ti) |
| 3 Sg masc | el | |
| 3 Sg fem | ella | |
| 1 Pl | nus | |
| 2 Pl | vus | |
| 3 Pl masc | els | |
| 3 Pl fem | ellas | |
- Modern Sursilvan has no unstressed proclitic personal pronouns appearing in preverbal position (as in French je l'ai vu 'I have seen him') and only uses the (historically) stressed forms, which appear in the same position as nouns: jeu hai viu el 'I have seen him'.
- In the 1Sg and 2Sg the special dative forms mi and ti exist, which are used after the preposition a(d) 'to'. In the 3Sg agli is occasionally used instead of ad el.
- In the 3rd person Sursilvan has a neuter pronoun ei (igl before ei 'is'): ei plova 'it rains', igl ei tard 'it is late'. This pronoun is also used as an expletive pronoun in sentences like ei vegn ora in drag cun siat tgaus 'there emerges [lit: it comes out] a dragon with seven heads'. The same form can be used with 3Pl verb forms as a gender-neutral 'they/people' (French on, German man): ei dian 'they/people say'.
Demonstrative pronouns
| Neuter | Masc | Fem | |||
| Sg | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Pron. | quei 'this' | quel | quels | quella | quellas |
| Adj. | - | quei | quels | quella | quellas |
| Pron. | tschei 'that' | tschel | tschels | tschella | tschellas |
| Adj. | - | tschei | tschels | tschella | tschellas |
| Pron. & Adj. | quest 'this' | quest | quests | questa | questas |
- The proximal pronoun quel 'this' and the distal pronoun tschel 'that' have different forms in the masc. sg. depending on whether they are used adjectivally with a noun or pronominally on their own (referring to a masculine noun): El va vitier quei um vegl, e quel gi,... 'he goes to this old man, and this one says...'.
- Quel and tschel have pronominal neuter forms quei and tschei (formally identical with the adjectival masculine forms).
- Quest, which in other Rhetoromance dialects serves as proximal demonstrative, is in modern Sursilvan limited to fixed expression such quest onn 'this year', questa sera 'this evening'.
Bibliography
- Bernardi, Rut, & H. Stricker, & Società Retorumantscha, & Verein für Bündner Kulturforschung (1994), Handwörterbuch des Rätoromanischen : Wortschatz aller Schriftsprachen, einschliesslich Rumantsch Grischun, mit Angaben zur Verbreitung und Herkunft; erarbeitet auf Initiative von Hans Stricker ; herausgegeben von der Società Retorumantscha und dem Verein für Bündner Kulturforschung. Zürich: Offizin.
- Cahannes, Gion, & Ligia romontscha (1924), Grammatica romontscha per Surselva e Sutselva, Ediziun della Ligia romontscha. Mustér: Stampa da G. Condrau.
- Da Sale, Flaminio (1729), Fundamenti principali della lingua retica, o griggiona, con le regole del declinare i nomi, e congiugare i verbi, all'uso di due delle principali valli della Rezia, cioe di Sopraselva e di Sorset che può servire alli italiani per imparare [...], Disentis : Francesco Antonio Binn. [Online: copy (1), copy (2).]
- Decurtins, Alexis (2001), Niev vocabulari romontsch sursilvan - tudestg / Neues rätoromanisches Wörterbuch surselvisch-deutsch, Chur. ISBN 3-03900-999-0.
- Eichenhofer, Wolfgang (1999), Historische Lautlehre des Bünderromanischen. Tübingen: Francke.
- Gartner, Theodor (1883), Raetoromanische Grammatik. (Sammlung romanischer Grammatiken.) Heilbronn: Gebr. Henninger. [Online: copy (1), copy (2), copy (3).]
- Gregor, D.B. (1982), Romontsch : Language and literature : The sursilvan Raeto-Romance of Switzerland. (Oleander language and literature ; 11). Cambridge: Oleander.
- Janzing, Gereon (2006), Rätoromanisch Wort für Wort, Reise Know-How Verlag Rump. ISBN 3-89416-365-8 (Deals in spite of its title only with Sursilvan).
- Liver, Ricarda (1982). Manuel pratique de romanche : Sursilvan-vallader : Précis de grammaire suivi d'un choix de textes. (Romanica Raetica ; t. 4). Chur: Ligia Romontscha.
- Liver, Ricarda (1999), Rätoromanisch : Eine Einführung in das Bündnerromanische. (Narr Studienbücher). Tübingen: G. Narr.
- Lutz, Florentin, & Dieter Strehle (1988), Rückläufiges Wörterbuch des Surselvischen = Dicziunari invers dil romontsch sursilvan. (Romanica Monacensia ; 29). Tübingen: Narr.
- Nay, Sep Modest, & Ramun Vieli, & Ligia romontscha (1948), Lehrbuch der rätoromanischen Sprache (deutsch-surselvisch). (2. Aufl. / im Auftrage der Ligia Romontscha besorgt von Ramun Vieli. ed.). [Chur]: Ligia Romontscha.
- Spescha, Arnold (1989), Grammatica sursilvana, Lehrmittelverlag Graubünden, Chur. (This grammar is entirely written in Romansh.)
- Vieli, Ramun (1938), Vocabulari scursaniu romontsch-tudestg, redigius da dr. Ramun Vieli. Ediziun della Ligia romontscha 1938. Mustér: G. Condrau.
- Vieli/Decurtins (1994), Vocabulari tudestg - romontsch sursilvan, Lia Rumantscha.
Sursilvan literature is published among others by the Lia Rumantscha in Chur.
External Links
Sample
The fable The Fox and the Crow by Jean de La Fontaine in Sursilvan, as well as a translation into English, the similar-looking but noticeably different-sounding dialect Sutsilvan, and Rumantsch Grischun.[3]
| Sursilvan |
Sutsilvan |
Rumantsch Grischun |
Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| L'uolp era puspei inagada fomentada. Cheu ha ella viu sin in pegn in tgaper che teneva in toc caschiel en siu bec. Quei gustass a mi, ha ella tertgau, ed ha clamau al tgaper: «Tgei bi che ti eis! Sche tiu cant ei aschi bials sco tia cumparsa, lu eis ti il pli bi utschi da tuts». |
La gualp eara puspe egn'eada fumantada. Qua â ella vieu sen egn pegn egn corv ca taneva egn toc caschiel ainten sieus pecel. Quegl gustass a mei, â ella tartgieu, ed ha clamo agli corv: «Tge beal ca tei es! Scha tieus tgànt e aschi beal sco tia pareta, alura es tei igl ple beal utschi da tuts». |
La vulp era puspè ina giada fomentada. Qua ha ella vis sin in pign in corv che tegneva in toc chaschiel en ses pichel. Quai ma gustass, ha ella pensà, ed ha clamà al corv: «Tge bel che ti es! Sche tes chant è uschè bel sco tia parita, lur es ti il pli bel utschè da tuts». |
The fox was hungry yet again. There he saw a raven upon a fir holding a piece of cheese in its beak. This I would like, he thought, and shouted at the raven: "You are so beautiful! If your singing is as beautiful as your looks, then you are the most beautiful of all birds.". |
References
- ↑ Gross (2004). p. 31
- ↑ Cathomas (2008). pp. 19
- ↑ Gross, Manfred (2004), Rumantsch – Facts & Figures. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2012-02-28. Archived April 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.