Talian (, ), also known as Brazilian Venetian or Brazilian Italian, is a Venetian dialect spoken primarily in the Serra Gaúcha region in the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, as well as in other parts of Rio Grande do Sul, and in parts of Espírito Santo and of Santa Catarina.
It is a "Recognised Minority Language" in 4 states of Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and Espírito Santo. The word "Talian" is the same used in Veneto to name the Italian language.
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. As more people arrived, the Italian settlement expanded beyond these localities. 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
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=6 | Sample words in Talian
|-
! Talian
! Standard Italian
! English
!Venetian
|-
| mi
| io
| I/me
|mi
|-
|ti / te
|tu
|you (singular)
|ti
|-
| lu / el / elo
| lui
| he
|eło
|-
|noaltri / noantri
|noi
|we
|noialtri / noialtre
|-
|voaltri / valtri / voalti
|voi
|you (plural)
|voialtri / voialtre
|-
|lori
|loro
|they
|łuri / łore
|-
|bambin / putel / fantolin
|bambino
|child
|putel
|-
| fòja / fógia
| foglia
|leaf
|foja / fogia
|-
| côa / coda
| coda
|tail
|cóa / coda
|-
|cavel / cavegio / caigio
|capello
| hair
|cavel / caveło / cavéjo
|-
|recia
|orecchia
|ear
|recia
|-
|sufiar / supiare
|soffiare
|to blow
|sufiar / sbufar
|-
|tajar / taiar
|tagliare
|to cut
|tajar
|-
|pióva
|pioggia
|rain
|piova
|-
|brasilian / brasiliero
|brasiliano
|Brazilian
|brasilian
|-
|}
Sample text:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=6 | The Lord's Prayer in Talian
|-
!Talian
!English
!Venetian
|-
|Pupà nostro che stai nel cielo,
|Our father which art in heaven,
|Pare Nostro che te si nei ciei
|-
|Santificà sìa el tuo nome,
|Hallowed be thy name,
|Sia santificà el to nome;
|-
|Vegna a noantri el vostro regno,
|Thy kingdom come,
|Vegna el to regno
|-
|Sia fata la tua volontà,
|Thy will be done,
|Sia fata ła to vołontà
|-
|Coss'in tera come nel cielo.
|on earth, as it is in heaven.
|In tera così come in ciel.
|-
|Dai a noantri el pan de cada giorno,
|Give us this day our daily bread,
|Dane anquo el nostro pan quotidiano,
|-
|Perdona i nostri pecati,
|And forgive us our debts,
|Rimeti a noialtri i nostri debiti,
|-
|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
right|thumb|330px|[[Municipality|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. 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.
- Antônio Prado, Rio Grande do Sul
- Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul
- Camargo, Rio Grande do Sul
- Casca, Rio Grande do Sul
- Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
- Coronel Pilar, Rio Grande do Sul
- Chopinzinho, Paraná
- Cotiporã, Rio Grande do Sul
- Doutor Ricardo, Rio Grande do Sul
- Encantado, Rio Grande do Sul
- Fagundes Varela, Rio Grande do Sul
- Farroupilha, Rio Grande do Sul
- Flores da Cunha, Rio Grande do Sul
- Garibaldi, Rio Grande do Sul
- Gentil, Rio Grande do Sul
- Guabiju, Rio Grande do Sul
- Guarani das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul
- Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul
- Ijuí, Rio Grande do Sul
- Ipumirim, Santa Catarina
- Ivorá, Rio Grande do Sul
- Monte Belo do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
- Nova Bassano, Rio Grande do Sul
- Nova Erechim, Santa Catarina
- Nova Pádua, Rio Grande do Sul
- Nova Roma do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
- Paraí, Rio Grande do Sul
- Pinto Bandeira, Rio Grande do Sul
- Putinga, Rio Grande do Sul
- São Jorge, Rio Grande do Sul
- São Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina
- Serafina Corrêa, Rio Grande do Sul
- Silveira Martins, Rio Grande do Sul
- União da Serra, Rio Grande do Sul
- Venda Nova do Imigrante, Espírito Santo
- Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul
- Vila Flores, Rio Grande do Sul
- Vila Maria, Rio Grande do Sul
- Vista Alegre do Prata, Rio Grande do Sul
Brazilian municipalities where Talian has historical and cultural heritage status
- Anta Gorda, Rio Grande do Sul
- Capinzal, Santa Catarina
- Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
- Marechal Floriano, Espírito Santo
- Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul
Brazilian states with Talian as linguistic heritage officially approved statewide
- Rio Grande do Sul
- Santa Catarina
See also
- Italian Brazilians
- Chipilo Venetian dialect
- Venetian language
- Languages of Brazil
- Languages of South America
- Italian language in Brazil
References
External links
- Brazilian Repository of Linguistic Legislation
- Talian Corpus, a project by linguists Natália B. Guzzo and Guilherme D. Garcia.
- 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
- Portuguese essay, written by Bernardette Soldatelli Oliboni 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"
- Musibrasil
- Talian, heritage of Rio Grande do Sul