Sursilvan

Sursilvan
sursilvan
Pronunciation[sursilˈvaːn]
Native toSurselva in Switzerland
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologsurs1244
Linguasphere51-AAA-ka[2]
IETFrm-sursilv[3]

Sursilvan (pronounced [sursilˈvaːn] ; also romontsch sursilvan [roˈmɔntʃ sursilˈvaːn]; Sursilvan, Vallader, Surmiran, Sutsilvan, and Rumantsch Grischun: sursilvan; Puter: sursilvaun) is a group of dialects of the Romansh language spoken in the Swiss district of Surselva. It is the most widely spoken variety of Romansh with 17,897 people within the Surselva District (54.8%) naming Romansh as a habitually spoken language in the Swiss census of 2000.[4] The most closely related variety is Sutsilvan, which is spoken in the area located to the east of the district.

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 uaul, an Old High German loanword. Selva is only used for in a few more recent terms such as selvicultura 'forestry', selvicultur 'forest officer', or cavrer selvadi 'Long-eared owl'.

A Sursilvan inscription on a house in Waltensburg/Vuorz
  1. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "Romansh". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  2. ^ "Sursilvan". Linguasphere Observatory. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Sursilvan idiom of Romansh". IANA language subtag registry. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  4. ^ Gross (2004), p. 31.