Is Arpitan one of it's 'dialects'? I had never heard that name before.
Arpitan is the language of Savoy, West Switzerland, Aosta and South of Burgundy.
Is Arpitan one of it's 'dialects'? I had never heard that name before.
Exactly. Perhaps Swiss nationalism goes to a level not seen OTL and in order to assert its difference from any German state (plus Austria-Hungary), uses Romansh as the administrative language and the language instructed in school in order to unify the French, Italian, and German Swiss. The closest parallel I can think of is that when the Kingdom of Sardinia, it used the Tuscan dialect of Italian in its government and schooling and that's how we got "Standard Italian".
I had a dream in which Italy invaded Switzerland. France then annexed the French speaking part, and Germany annexed the rest, except for Grischun and the the part bordering Liechtenstein. Germany also annexed Austria with the exception of Tyrol and Voralberg. The rump Switzerland then united with the rump Austria. Fearing that they would also be annexed, greater Grischun made Romansch into the official language. There were other border asjustments. Grischun took Friulia and
Trieste from Italy. As compensation, Italy took Nice and Savoy.
The only timeline I could think of for this to happen would be a post Hitler Third Reich successor state, aligned with a post fascist Italy and a Vichy type France.