Talian dialect

Talian (

Venetian: [taˈljaŋ],Portuguese: [tɐliˈɐ̃]), or Brazilian Venetian, or Vêneto is a Venetian dialect spoken primarily in the Serra Gaúcha region in the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. It is also spoken in other parts of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as in parts of Espírito Santo and of Santa Catarina.

Talian is mainly a Venetian dialect mixed with Italian dialects from the Veneto region as well as Lombardy and other Italian regions, influenced by local Portuguese.

History

Italian settlers first began arriving into these regions in a wave of immigration lasting from approximately 1875 to 1914. These settlers were mainly from Veneto, a region in Northern Italy, where Venetian was spoken, but also from Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In the south of Brazil these immigrants settled as smallholders in the region of Encosta da Serra. There they created three settlements: Conde D'Eu (now Garibaldi), Dona Isabel (now Bento Gonçalves), and Campo dos Bugres (now Caxias do Sul). As more people arrived, the Italian settlement expanded beyond these localities. Approximately 100,000 immigrants from Northern Italy arrived between 1875 and 1910. As time went by, a uniquely southern Brazilian dialect emerged. Veneto became the basis for Italian-Brazilian regionalism.

Talian has been very much influenced not only by other Italian languages but also Portuguese, the national language of Brazil; this can be seen in the employment of numerous non-Venetian loanwords. It has been estimated that there have been 130 books published in Talian, including works of both poetry and prose.

Similar to Riograndenser Hunsrückisch (hunsriqueano riograndense), the main German dialect spoken by southern Brazilians of German origin, Talian has suffered great deprecation since the 1940s. At that time, president Getúlio Vargas started the so-called Nationalization Campaign to force non-Portuguese speakers of Brazil to "better integrate" into the national mainstream culture. Speaking Talian or German in public, especially in education and press, was forbidden.

Vocabulary

Sample text:

Current status

Municipalities where Talian is co-official in Rio Grande do Sul.

Talian has historically been spoken mainly in the southern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, as well as in Espírito Santo. Nowadays, there are approximately 3 million people of Italian ancestry in Rio Grande do Sul, about 30% of the local population, and approximately 1.7 million people in Espírito Santo, which accounts for 65% of the local population. According to some estimates, there are up to one million Italian descendants; Ethnologue reported 4,000,000 Italian descendants in the year 2006, but these numbers do not reflect absolutely the number of Talian speakers. During the "Estado Novo" period of the government of Getúlio Vargas, the use of Talian was declared illegal. As a result of the traumas of Vargas' policies, there is, even to this day, a stigma attached to speaking these languages.

In 2009, the legislative assemblies of the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina approved laws declaring the Talian dialect to be an integral part of the historical heritage of their respective states. In 2009, the city of Serafina Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, elected Talian as co-official language, alongside Portuguese. Finally, in 2014 Talian was declared to be part of the cultural heritage of Brazil (Língua e referência cultural brasileira) by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.

In 2015 Serafina Corrêa received the title of national capital of Talian. In 2019 Nova Erechim was recognized as the capital of Talian in Santa Catarina. In 2021, Governor Ratinho Júnior sanctioned state law 20,757, which makes the municipality of Colombo the capital of Talian in Paraná.

Newspapers in the Talian-speaking region feature articles written in the language. There are some radio programs broadcast in Talian.

Municipalities in Brazil that have co-official Talian language

Brazilian states with Talian as linguistic heritage officially approved statewide

See also

References

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