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I just found out that this is not just a language, but a language that may be in danger of disappearing. Anybody know anything about it? My source tells me it's in what used to be the Roman province of Rhetia. EDIT: Dr. Bill sent me this link (thank you) which is very interesting, language-wise: http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Rhaeto-Romanic
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's a language spoken only (as far as I know) in Switzerland. Has at least three dialects of which I know the names of only two, Ladin and Sur Sylvan.
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member
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From somwhere in one of my language classes, I recall that it is considered one of the Romance languages, although I remember its name being 'Romanche'.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Isn't this also the language of the Gypsies, or am I all mixed up again?
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Carpal Tunnel
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the language of the Gypsies
That's Romany. And yes, it is a Romance language. Somewhere around here the lovely AnnaS and I have a couple of copies (another reason we knew we were meant for each other) of a Rumansch phrase book. I find it I can grace y'all with a few choice phrases.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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While travelling a decade or two ago I met a young man who's first language was Rumantsch. He spoke four others of which his excellent English was the "worst" although it took a while to get him to admit it for fear of boasting. Put the Canadian high school cry of "How come I hafta study French?" to shame.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think Insel's on the right track: Romany is also know as Ladino, if I'm not totally losing my memory.
Back to the Swiss dialect, the family is called Rhaeto-Romance.
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Yo, Zed, good to see your funny fonts again. :)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Man, it's so hard keeping all this stuff straight. Ladino is a dialect of Spanish. It is the language of the Sephardic Jews, developed when they were in Spain. Ladin is a dialect of Rumantsh. Like Ladino, it is a Romance language, but not particularly closely related to Ladino. Looks like its closest relative in the Big Three is French. http://home.wanadoo.nl/arjenbolhuis/language-family-trees/Romany is the language of the people known commonly in English as gypsies. It is an Indo-European language in the Indo-Aryan branch. It is closely related to Hindi and Punjabi.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Man, it's so hard keeping all this stuff straight.
Holy cow--I am impressed (as usual), Faldage.
That thread a while back was so interesting to me; about...(stupid memory!) the Welsh(?) language being apparently related to Hindi(?). Given your statement above, I wonder if the Gypsies had anything to do with that.
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