Talian dialect

Not to be confused with Talion law (lex talionis).

Talian (or Brazilian Venetian,^[2] Venetian pronunciation: [talj'aŋ], Italian: [tal'jan], Portuguese: [tɐliˈɐ̃] but locally [taliˈɐŋ]) is a dialect of the Venetian language, 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 Espirito Santo^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and of Santa Catarina.^[8]

Talian
taliàn
Native to	Brazil^[1] (co-official language in Serafina Corrêa and Flores da Cunha)
Native speakers	around 500,000
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Venetian Talian
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Rio Grande do Sul  Santa Catarina  Minas Gerais  Espírito Santo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
IETF	vec-BR

Despite the similar names, Talian is not derived from standard Italian (usually called italiano gramático or 'grammatical Italian' in Brazil), but is mainly a mix of Venetian dialects influenced by other Gallo-Italian languages as well as local Portuguese.

History

Italian settlers first began arriving into these regions in a wave of immigration lasting from approximately 1875 to 1914.^[9][10] These settlers were mainly from Veneto, a region in Northern Italy, where Venetian was spoken, but also from Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.^[9][10] 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, Rio Grande do Sul), Dona Isabel (now Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul), and Campo dos Bugres (now Caxias do Sul).^[11] As more people arrived, the Italian settlement expanded beyond these localities.^[11] 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.^[12]

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 a campaign of nationalization (similar to the Nacionalismo of neighboring Argentina) to try 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.^[13][14]

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 Espirito Santo.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Nowadays, there are approximately 3 million people of Italian ancestry in Rio Grande do Sul, about 30% of the local population,^[11] and approximately 1.7 million people in Espirito Santo, which accounts for 65% of the local population.^[15] All Talians adopted in the past Portuguese as their mother tongue. According to some estimates, there are up to one million Italian descendants; Ethnologue reported 4,000,000 Italian descendants in the year 2006,^[16] 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.^[17] As a result of the traumas of Vargas' policies, there is, even to this day, a stigma attached to speaking these languages. In fact, the vast majority do not even understand Talian and the few people who understand a little bit Talian have Portuguese as their mother tongue (the same thing happens with the Hunsrik language).^{[citation needed]}

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.^[11][18][19] In 2009, the city of Serafina Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, elected Talian as co-official language, alongside Portuguese.^[20][21] 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.

Newspapers in the Talian-speaking region feature articles written in the language. There are some radio programs broadcast in Talian.^[12]

Municipalities in Brazil that have co-official Talian language

• Antônio Prado, Rio Grande do Sul^[22]
• Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul^[23][24][25]
• Camargo, Rio Grande do Sul^[26]
• Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul^[27]
• Casca, Rio Grande do Sul^[28]
• Fagundes Varela, Rio Grande do Sul^[29]
• Farroupilha, Rio Grande do Sul^{[30][31][32][33]}
• Flores da Cunha, Rio Grande do Sul^[34][35][36]
• Garibaldi, Rio Grande do Sul^[37][38]
• Guabiju, Rio Grande do Sul^[26]
• Ipumirim, Santa Catarina^[39]
• Ivorá, Rio Grande do Sul^[26]
• Nova Bassano, Rio Grande do Sul^[40]
• Nova Erechim, Santa Catarina^[41]
• Nova Pádua, Rio Grande do Sul^[26]
• Nova Roma do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul^[42][43]
• Ouro, Santa Catarina^[44][45]
• Paraí, Rio Grande do Sul^[46]
• Pinto Bandeira, Rio Grande do Sul^[47]
• Serafina Corrêa, Rio Grande do Sul^[20][48]
• Vila Flores, Rio Grande do Sul^[49][50][51]

Brazilian states with Talian as linguistic heritage officially approved statewide

• Rio Grande do Sul^[52]
• Santa Catarina^[53][54][55]

See also

• Italian Brazilians
• Chipilo Venetian dialect
• Venetian language
• Languages of Brazil
• Languages of South America

References

1. Tonial, Honório (26 June 2009). [Subsidies for the recognition of Talian]. Instituto de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Política Linguística (IPOL) (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
2. "Lingua portoghese e cultura brasiliana" [Portuguese language and Brazilian culture]. guide.supereva.it (in Italian).
3. . Archived from the original on 2014-12-01.
4. . Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
5. . Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
6. "Dialeto falado por imigrantes italianos é reconhecido como patrimônio nacional".
7. "Brasil Talian documentado em filme".
8. Andreola, Alice (2015). Being Italian in Brazil – cultural maintenance after the 1880–1920 immigration wave (PDF) (Master's thesis). Universität Bielefeld. p. 18.
9. . Sitoveneto. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
10. Franceschetto, Cilmar (June 2001). [Espirito Santo, the most Venetian state in Brazil]. Veneti nel Mondo (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2004-03-16.
11. Losekann, Silvana (June 13, 2009). "Sancionada lei que declara o Talian dialeto integrante do patrimônio do RS". Defender – Defesa Civil do Patrimônio Histórico. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
12. Alves, Ozias (2013). Parlons Talian: Dialecte vénitien du Brésil. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-343-01576-7.
13. (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2022-07-01. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
14. . 2019-10-17. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
15. . Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
16. Venetian at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)  
17. Bolson, Bibiana (2014-11-20). "Dialeto de imigrantes italianos se torna patrimônio brasileiro" [Italian immigrants' dialect becomes Brazilian patrimony]. Jornal Hoje (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-09-03.
18. Law No. 13.178 2021-04-22 at the Wayback Machine, of 10 June 2009. "Declaring the Talian dialect as historical and cultural patrimony of the State, originating from Italians and descendants living in Rio Grande do Sul". DOE No. 109, of 12 June 2009
19. Law No. 14.951 2018-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, of 11 November 2009. "Declaring the Talian dialect as historical and cultural patrimony of the State, originating from Italians and descendants living in Santa Catarina". DO No. 18.728, of 11 November 2009
20. (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
21. "Talian em busca de mais reconhecimento" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
22. . 2019-04-18. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
23. Machado, Felipe. "Aprovado em primeira votação, projeto que torna o Talian, segunda língua oficial de Bento" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-02-27.
24. Machado, Felipe. "Co-oficialização do Talian é aprovada pela Câmara de Bento" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-02-27.
25. . Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
26. , Instituto de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Política Linguística (IPOL)
27. "Lei confirma o Talian como segunda língua oficial de Caxias do Sul". from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
28. "Lei Municipal Nº 3.049, de 16 de março de 2022 - Dispõe sobre a Cooficialização da Língua Talian e do Polonês no Município de Casca - RS". from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
29. . 2019-04-18. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
33. , Dispõe sobre a cooficialização da língua talian à língua portuguesa no Município de Farroupilha
34. . Archived from the original on 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
35. "Talian é língua cooficial de Flores da Cunha". from the original on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
36. . Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
37. and , Câmara de Vereadores de Garibaldi, accessed on September 11, 2022
38. "Lei Nº 5.568, de 06 de setembro de 2022". from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
39. Lei Nº 1.868, de 17 de dezembro de 2020 2021-03-07 at the Wayback Machine - Dispõe sobre a cooficialização das línguas talian e hunsrückisch no município de Ipumirim - SC.
41. . 2016-01-14. Archived from the original on 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
42. – Dispõe sobre a cooficialização da língua do "talian", à língua portuguesa, no município de Nova Roma do Sul"
43. , município de Nova Roma do Sul
46. . 2019-05-08. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
47. Lei Nº 414, de 20 de dezembro de 2019 2022-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, Dispõe Sobre a Cooficialização da Língua Talian, à Língua Portuguesa, no Município de Pinto Bandeira
48. "Talian em busca de mais reconhecimento" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
49. , Câmara Municipal de Vila Flores
52. Aprovado projeto que declara o Talian como patrimônio do RS 27 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine, accessed on 21 August 2011
53. "LEI-014951". server03.pge.sc.gov.br. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
54. "Palavras livres: Rotary apresenta ações na Câmara. FEIBEMO divulga cultura italiana". cacador.net (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-02-27.
55. "Untitled Document". archive.ph. 2012-07-30. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2022-02-27.

External links

• YouTube video interview about Talian with Talian speaker from the town of Monte Belo do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
• YouTube video interview with a couple of Talian speakers from the town of Venda Nova do Imigrante, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
• YouTube video radio station broadcast in Talian in the town of Serafina Correa, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
• La Rena Brasil
• A estigmatização como fator determinante dos bloqueios de fala de descendentes de italianos no nordeste do Rio Grande do Sul ("Stigmatization as a determining impeding factor to the language of descendants of Italians in the northeast of Rio Grande do Sul")
• Main Dialects of Rio Grande do Sul
• Il "talian"
• Talian, heritage of Rio Grande do Sul 2013-07-23 at the Wayback Machine