Romance language of the Rhaetian group spoken in northern Italy and Switzerland, primarily in the Rhine Valley in the Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grisons). Since 1938 Romansh has been a “national” language of Switzerland for cantonal, though not federal, purposes; a referendum in 1996, however, accorded it semiofficial status. Romansh occurs in two dialectal forms, Sursilvan (spoken on the western bank of the Rhine) and Sutsilvan (spoken on the eastern bank). The earliest written material in Romansh is a Sursilvan text dating from the early 12th century. See also Rhaetian dialects.