Endangerment

What types of language policies are in place in the country/countries where the language is spoken (both at local and national levels) that may either threaten or assist in the survival/maintenance of the language?

The Swiss government is currently still continuing their monetary support of Lia Rumantscha and other programs supporting the usage of the language. This isn't likely to change as they codified the language into being one of the official languages of the country in 1938 and Lia Rumantscha has existed in one manner or another since 1919. Based on economic trends, the monetary support may either be increased or decreased, but it's unlikely that the government would reverse its verbal support for the language. (5)

What, if anything, is done at the local/community level to re-introduce or promote the use of the language to younger generations?

The language is being taught to younger generations through numerous schools and usage being passed down through familial usage. Additionally Lia Rumantscha provides classes for learning Romansh in many different communities to allow for people who didn't learn the language as an L1 language to learn the langauge and reclaim their cultural heritage. There is no number that shows the age comparison of the speakers, though it is assumed that most speakers are older due to trends in language shift, especially with the introduction of many businesses who do work in German/Italian into traditionally Romansh areas in the latter half of the 20th century. (5)

What, if anything, exists or is done in schooling environments to promote the language?

Romansh is taught in many schools, some of which are bilingual schools. Community support is working to create more teaching materials, content, and educational opportunities for those who wish to learn the language and/or attend a bilingual school. (5)

What, if anything, exists within the media (print, audio, video) to promote the language?

Romansh has a literarary tradition that goes back centuries. As for modern media, many newspapers are published in Romansh if the community is a Romansh community. Lia Rumantscha and other Romansh activists are working to create more audio, video, and web based media to allow for new speakers to continue using the language in a 21st century setting. (5)

Does the language have its own writing system or does it make use of another writing system? To what degree is it recognized and used by the communities themselves? Do they respect and use it? Is it just decorative and symbolic? Are there any conflicts over multiple systems?

Romansh uses a version of the Latin alphabet that has a number of additional characters to account for language-specific sounds. The language has been written in this way for centuries so there's no specific argument over changing the orthography. Written Romansh will differ based on idiom. 

Have you been able to locate any web or internet resources to promote this language or document its situation? Who is behind these web resources (locals/speakers or outsiders--who made these resources)? What is your sense of how actively the website is accessed/used by others? Can you find statistics or user data tracking? What types of resources does it contain to promote the language? 

The only source I've located to support the language is Lia Rumantscha's webiste (http://www.liarumantscha.ch/). The website is supproted by the Lia Rumantscha organization which is a government supported agency. The website seems to be actively used, as it updates its news stories quite frequently. Additionally, there's a community calendar that's updated frequently. There's no specific user data tracking, but there are a number of educational resources and listings for educational opportunities, which promotes the language. (5)

Other Factors

In comparison to other European languages, Romansh falls in the minority. Sitting at 40,039 speakers puts the language at just below the 30.2% of European languages that have less than 100,000 speakers. (7)

In the Rhaeto-Romance branch of the Romance languages, Romansh is the second most spoken. Its two fellow Rhaeto-Romance langauges, Ladin and Friulian, are both langauges of Northern Italy that have similar smaller communities who speak their prospective langauges in combination with the national language(s). All three benefit from national protection and the ability to have schooling and government acts in their language. Romansh does not have as much usage as its more spoken sister language, Friulian, and has not experienced a spike in media being produced in the language like Friulian, but it does have a number of newspapers and a rich literary history (11)

Due to government interest in preserving the minority language and the recent rise of a larger Romansh entitiy that promotes usage and teaching of the language, Lia Rumantscha, the language isn't in a particulary dangerous position. The Swiss government gives $4 million annually to the preservation of the language. The number of speakers has declined in the past century due to the expansion of its nieghbors, but schooling in the language has been promoted and the number of speakers who are bilingual in both Romansh and another national language is high. 

The factor that stand against the language's future is the sheer power of the other two close-proximity languages, Italian and German. Businesses are skeptical of changing their processes into Romansh because it only holds relevance in the few cantons that speak the language. Additionally, in the larger scope, the language is only spoken by less than 1% of the Swiss population, making it a drop of water in the larger linguistic bucket of the country. Many supporters of the language also encourage the parents who raise their children to speak the language to also educate their children in one of the other two larger national languages in order to allow the children to have a better opportunity in ventures outside of the Romansh-speaking world. (10)

It is all these aforementioned factors that lead many to list the language as "threatened" but not "in danger of extinction" or "moribund". These facts lead one to the conclusion that the language will continue its decline into fewer speakers, but the larger community and national support will allow for the langauge to continue being spoken, even if the number of speakers is smaller.   

Using the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, one could categorize Romansh as between 2-5 (Provincial, Wider Communication, Educational) depending upon the region. The scale does not fit comfortably with the nature of Romansh, as the language is shifting at different speeds for different Romansh-speaking cantons. Many areas have lost the ability to use the language at work in favor of Italian/German and media in the language is only produced in the larger cantons. Luckily the support of the Swiss government has made Romansh education very sustainable. (4)

Threats

The biggest threats to the language fall into four categories:

Local: Romansh is being passed over in favor of other, more widely-spoken languages as the language of education for many Romansh children. 

Regional: The Romansh-speaking areas are hidden in mountain valleys and are very often in contact with their counterparts due to the geography of the region. This impedes upon the ability of a Romansh speaker to have mobility while still using their language.

National: Many businesses and universities do not want to offer Romansh as a language of usage. They find that because the language is used in such a small area that it is not beneficial to the business/university to conduct business in the language when they can choose any of the other three national languages that are established business/academic languages in many other areas of the world. 

International: Because Romansh is only spoken in Eastern Switzerland and Leichtenstein, there is no room with which a Romansh speaker could freely move their lives. If they wish to use the language on a daily basis outside of their family group, they have to live within a Romansh-speaking canton or community. If they want to be able to use the language as a work language, they must also live in the aforementioned areas. Additionally, as the main 100 global languages have started to create concrete spaces for themselves on the global market, it discourages the growth and usage of other languages on a global scale. 

Possible Outcomes

As Romansh doesn't easily fit into just one category of any scale due to its idiom separations, it's hard to predict what shifts might take place. Currently, one could qualify Romansh as a 3-5 on the GIDS depending on the idiom. If Lia Rumantscha or other organizations do work to create equity amongst the support of the language, it's possible that we might see a shift towards numbers as high as 2, but no higher than that. It's extremely unlikely this language will take on a national or international scale as it would be up against many productive languages such as German, Italian, or French, but in an optimistic outcome, we might see Romansh take an example from its neighbor, Catalan, and move to a provincial status wherein most to all speakers are bilingual in the language and another, more spoken language to use their provincial language in every day life, but have the ability to work in another language for economic benefit. 

The number of speakers is another factor that creates a vagueness about the future outcomes, as it has gone up and down and has many conflicting sources as to the trends in number of speakers. In the past 10 years, there has been a decline of speakers and it's assumed many of the current speakers are older, so we might expect to see a decline in speakers very slowly over a longer period. (10) (11)