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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Rhaetic (Rhaeto-Roman)
Switzerland’s
Canton Grischun (Graubünden)—one of
the places at which Latin-speaking enclaves survive
Language information:
Rhaeto-Roman or Rhaetian (whose native name is spelled Rumantsch, Romansh,
Romansch or Romanche) is used in border regions of Switzerland, Austria and
Italy. Due to having developed in numerous relatively isolated Alpine valleys,
it has
several
very
distinct
varieties that may well be considered separate languages.
Rhaeto-Roman is closely related to both Friulian
and Ladin (used mostly in Alpine Italy) but is a considered a separate language.
The differences tend to be so great that mutual comprehension is difficult,
and speakers of different “dialects” usually resort to German to communicate
with each other. In 1982, the Zürich-based linguist Heinrich Schmid created
a generalized variety based mainly on the dialect of Grischun/Grigione/Grissons/Graubünden.
Known as Rumantsch Grischun, this variety has been generally well-received and is well on its way of becoming
the Rhaeto-Roman standard dialect, being used in most of the media now.
Rhaeto-Roman
is a Romance language on Celtic substrates and with mainly Swiss German influences.
Although
it is
used
by
relatively
few
people
and keeps
losing
speakers mostly to Swiss German, it is recognized as an official language of
Switzerland, along with Italian, French and German.
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