“A plan in the Swiss Alps to tidy up Romansh—spoken by less than one per cent of the country—set off a decades-long quarrel over identity, belonging, and the sound of authenticity.”
Romansh is spoken by less than one percent of Switzerland’s population. A plan to standardize it set off decades of quarrel over identity and belonging. The fight over this very small language became a very big one. Speakers are divided over what counts as authentic and who gets to decide.