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9/21/06

swissinfo - Romansh struggles with status as fourth Swiss language

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Romansh struggles with status as fourth Swiss language

Romansh, a Latin-based language spoken by a tiny minority of the Swiss population, is one of Switzerland's four national languages. But although Romansh has strong support - on a federal level and in the southeastern canton of Graubünden where it is spoken - the language remains underrepresented in the country as a whole.

For a long time Romansh struggled to be recognised in Switzerland. In 1938 it scored a big triumph when the Swiss population voted to amend the constitution and make it a national language. However, Romansh had to wait until 1996 for official status. As it is only used for dealings with Romansh speakers, it is known as a "partially official" language.

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