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.[9][10][11]
History
Italian settlers first began arriving into these regions in a wave of immigration lasting from approximately 1875 to 1914.[12][13] These settlers were mainly from
Veneto, a region in
Northern Italy, where
Venetian was spoken, but also from
Trentino and
Friuli-Venezia Giulia.[12][13] 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).[14] As more people arrived, the Italian settlement expanded beyond these localities.[14] 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.[15]
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.[16][17]
Come noantri perdonemo a quei che noi ga ofendesto
As we forgive our debtors
Come noialtri i rimetemo ai nostri debitori
E non assar che caschemo in tentassion,
And lead us not into temptation,
E non sta portarne in tentasion,
Ma liberta noantri de tuto el mal. Amem.
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Ma liberane dal maigno. Amen.
Current status
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.[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,[14] and approximately 1.7 million people in Espírito Santo, which accounts for 65% of the local population.[20] According to some estimates, there are up to one million Italian descendants; Ethnologue reported 4,000,000 Italian descendants in the year 2006,[21] 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.[22] 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.[14][23][24] In 2009, the city of
Serafina Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, elected Talian as co-official language, alongside
Portuguese.[25][26] 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.
^Tonial, Honório (26 June 2009).
"Subsídios para o reconhecimento do Talian" [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.
^Law No. 13.178Archived 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
^Law No. 14.951Archived 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
Portuguese essay, written by Bernardette Soldatelli OliboniA 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")