Hunsrik
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox language Template:External media Hunsrik (natively Hunsrik<ref name="Wiesemann 2008">Template:Cite book online at sil.org</ref> Template:IPA, Hunsrückisch<ref name="Inventário de uma língua 2018">Template:Cite book</ref> or Hunsrickisch and Portuguese hunsriqueano or hunsriqueano riograndense),<ref>Piter Kehoma Boll: Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense – Português. 2021</ref> also called Riograndese Hunsrik,<ref>Mateusz Maselko, Alter und Dialektgebrauch: Zu (jugend-)altersspezifischen Markern im mundartlichen Bereich: Fallbeispiel (Morpho-)Syntax des Hunsrückischen in Südbrasilien (with an English abstract), in: edited by Arne Ziegler with assistance by Melanie Lenzhofer and Georg Oberdorfer, Jugendsprachen / Youth Languages: Aktuelle Perspektiven internationaler Forschung / Current Perspectives of International Research, vol. 2, 2018, p. 647ff., here p. 647</ref> Template:Lang or Template:Lang, is a Moselle Franconian language derived primarily from the Hunsrückisch dialect of West Central German which is spoken in parts of South America. A co-official language in the Brazilian municipalities of Antônio Carlos, Santa Maria do Herval, and São João do Oeste,<ref name="IPOL realizará formação 2015">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Decreto Nº 005">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Lei Nº 1.685/16">Template:Citation</ref> Hunsrik is spoken in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná, as well as some regions of neighboring Paraguay and Argentina.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It has been an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul since 2012, and considered an intangible cultural heritage of Santa Catarina state since 2016.<ref name="Lei Nº 16.987">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Lei N.º 14.061">Template:Citation</ref>
Hunsrik developed from the Hunsrückisch dialect spoken by immigrants from the Hunsrück region of Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland) who settled in Brazil's southern region such as Rio Grande do Sul, beginning under the Empire of Brazil in 1824. This immigration later fell under the control of individual states, and then of private European investment enterprises. While primarily based on the Hunsrückisch branch of the German language, it has also been greatly influenced by other German dialects such as East Pomeranian and Plautdietsch and by Portuguese, the national language of Brazil. It has been influenced to a lesser extent by indigenous languages such as Kaingang and Guarani and by immigrant languages such as Italian and Talian.
Portuguese expressions and words are commonly imported into Hunsrik, particularly in reference to fauna and flora (which are different from those of Germany) and to technological innovations that did not exist when the original immigrants came to Brazil, leading to words like Template:Wikt-lang for airplane (Portuguese Template:Wikt-lang) instead of Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang (Pt. Template:Wikt-lang, truck) instead of Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang (Pt. Template:Wikt-lang) instead of Template:Wikt-lang, etc. Daily expressions are often calques (literal translations) of Portuguese.
Also common are the use of German suffixes attached to Portuguese words, such as Template:Lang, "little mug", from Portuguese Template:Lang, "mug", and German diminutive suffix Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Lang in Hunsrik); hybrid forms such as Template:Lang, "shoe shop", from German Template:Wikt-lang and Portuguese Template:Wikt-lang, and Germanized forms of Portuguese verbs: Template:Lang, "to remember"; Template:Lang "to flirt"; Template:Lang, "to answer" (Portuguese Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, and Template:Wikt-lang). However, regardless of these borrowings, its grammar and vocabulary are still largely Germanic.
Although Hunsrik is the most common Germanic language in south Brazil, the use of this language—particularly in the last three to four generations—continues to decrease. Glottolog classifies the language as "shifting" on its Agglomerated Endangerment Status.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
In Germany
The Hunsrückisch dialect, from which Hunsrik derived, has its origins in the Moselle Franconian dialects spoken in the Hunsrück region, on the banks of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, in western Germany. Germany, as a national state, only unified in 1871, so the standard German existing today was, until the 19th century, a literary language, the one used by Martin Luther in his famous translation of the Bible. The German people, in their daily lives, did not use standard German to communicate, but several regional dialects.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Until around 1800, Standard German was primarily a written language in Germany. Standard German was often learned as a foreign language and had an uncertain pronunciation. With the country's unification process and the mass literacy of the population, standard German has become the language used by speakers of different dialects to understand each other, although regional dialects have remained the language used at home.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Brazil
With German immigration to Brazil, over the past two centuries, German dialects have also come to establish themselves as a regional language. However, something curious happened: while in Germany standard German served for speakers of different dialects to communicate, in Brazil, due to the still incipient consolidation of standard German when immigration started, this role was played by the Hunsrückisch dialect.<ref name="Meyer">Template:Citation</ref> There are two hypotheses for this phenomenon. The first because most immigrants would have come from Hunsrück, so their dialect predominated. The second because Hunsrückisch has intermediate features between the different German dialects, so it served as a koiné between speakers of various dialects. What is known is that German immigrants in Brazil came from different parts of Germany, so Hunsrik-speaking Brazilians do not necessarily descend from people from Hunsrück.<ref name="Meyer" /> In these German communities, the Hunsrückisch dialect remained the main language of communication for several decades. German colonies in the South were usually formed in regions of forest depopulated or inhabited by Indians, who were expelled for the arrival of immigrants. Due to this isolation, the Germans managed to create a "linguistic island", in which German was the main language, and not Portuguese.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> At the beginning of the 20th century, there were hundreds of thousands of second- and third-generation German-Brazilians who could barely speak Portuguese. This differentiation favored the feeling of a minority group, which allied itself with the formation of solid ethnic institutions, such as schools, churches, social associations and a German-language press. All of these elements combined promoted a general feeling of "cultural group".<ref name="nebraska">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1930, there were 2,500 ethnic schools in Brazil. Of these, 1,579 were from German immigrants.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In these schools, children learned the standard German that is spread in Germany. This linguistic and cultural isolation was combated aggressively by the nationalist government of then Brazil's president Getúlio Vargas, through the nationalization campaign. All German schools in the country were closed, annihilating the German-Brazilian middle school. The standard German learned at school was thus eliminated, greatly weakening the use of German in urban centers, which became limited to the countryside. People were harassed and beaten if they spoke German on the street. The police inspected people's private lives, breaking into houses to burn books written in German, or languages other than Portuguese. Many people were arrested for the simple fact that they speak German. In 1942, 1.5% of the inhabitants of Blumenau were imprisoned for speaking German.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The closure of schools has caused people to become increasingly attached to the German dialect used in everyday life, far from standard German.<ref name=":0" />
Language name
The language has two main names—Hunsrik and Hunsrückisch—because it initially lacked an official grammar and is not governed by a centralized entity. One of the first efforts to standardize the language was done by Adriano Steffler, who developed a "Hunsrik Grammar", "Hunsrik Dictionary", and an alphabet. His 45-character alphabet is a combination of the Latin alphabet (all except Q) and other Latin characters, as well as Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, and Greek.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The grammar developed by Steffler is not currently applied in any teaching method or government initiative.
Currently, the language has two codification proposals. The first, from the SIL International, is led by professor and doctor Ursula Wiesemann and has an approach more focused on using the writing system used naturally by its native speakers in everyday actions, such as interpersonal interaction and the use of social networks. With a strong influence of the Latin alphabet used in Portuguese, it has the native name of Hunsrik, with the aim of distinguishing it as a unique Germanic language and not just as a dialect of the German language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This codification is applied in the teaching of municipal schools in Santa Maria do Herval, Estância Velha, and Nova Hartz, as well as in other municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul.<ref name="Wiesemann 2008" /> The name Hunsrik can also be used officially to refer to the language in English and Portuguese, being officially called "Hunsrik language" by most federative entities that recognize it in Brazil.<ref name="Lei N.º 14.061" /><ref name="Decreto Nº 005" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The spelling translated into Portuguese as "Brazilian Hunsrückisch" is also accepted by the project, however the preference is for the use of the former to generate a clearer differentiation of the language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The second coding project, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, is led by doctor and professor Cléo Vilson Altenhofen and has a more unionist approach to the German language, characterized by the preservation of the writing of the German Hunsrückisch dialect with few variations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This project recommends the spelling Hunsrückisch to refer to the dialect in its native form,<ref name="Inventário de uma língua 2018" /> with Hunsrickisch being an alternative as a way to emphasize the pronunciation of the word. At the same time, the project states that it refers to the same language denoted by Hunsrik in other projects and also accepts it as a spelling.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The term Hunsrückisch is also used officially in statements by some federal entities.<ref name="Lei Nº 16.987" /><ref name="IPOL realizará formação 2015" /> To differentiate the dialect used in Brazil from that used in Germany, Altenhofen called the Brazilian dialect Riograndenser Hunsrückisch (with reference to the state of Rio Grande do Sul). This nomenclature, however, is criticized by other scholars, since there are also considerable numbers of native speakers in other Brazilian states, as well as in other countries.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Currently, UNESCO officially uses the Hunsrik spelling to refer to the language in its native form, made official with that name after studies by Ethnologue, an official advisory institution of the international body and whose publications are led by SIL International. The Hunsrik spelling is also used by Glottolog in its bibliographic database of the least known languages in the world, catalog of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Other international bodies that use this native spelling in the recognition of Hunsrik as a language are the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the International Organization for Standardization; the latter assigns the hrx code as ISO 639-3 for the Hunsrik language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In some municipalities in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, the language is also called Deitsch (Altenhofen) or Taytx (Wiesemann), in clear reference to its roots in standard German.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
Notable speakers
Recent Roman Catholic papal candidate Odilo Scherer<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> of Cerro Largo (located in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul) grew up with Hunsrik as many from his native region did, using it side-by-side with Portuguese, the national language.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Cláudio Hummes of Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul (in the Altkolonie region of the state), grew up speaking Portuguese alongside Hunsrik.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
According to supermodel Gisele Bündchen, while her parents and her parents' siblings still speak Hunsrik, she has forgotten all of it herself.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During an interview in 2011, renowned Brazilian writer, translator, and international relations professor Aldyr Schlee talked in detail about having been an eyewitness to the repression of Hunsrik in his native state of Rio Grande do Sul during World War II.
Phonology
Vowels
| Spelling (Wiesemann)<ref name=Wiesemann>Wiesemann, U. 2008. Contribuição ao desenvolvimento de uma ortografia da língua Hunsrik falada na América do Sul. Associação Internacional de Linguística—SIL Brasil, Cuiabá.</ref> | A | AA | AY | AU | E | EE | Ë | EY | I | II | O | OO | OY | U | UU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling (Altenhofen et al.)<ref name=Altenhofen>Altenhofen, C. V.; Frey, J.; Käfer, M. L.; Klassmann, M. S.; Neumann, G. R.; Spinassé, K. P. 2007. Fundamentos para uma escrita do Hunsrückisch falado no Brasil. Revista Contingentia, 2: 73–87.</ref> | A | OO | EI | AU | E | E, EE, EH | E | EE | I | I, IE | O | O, OH | EU | U | U, UH |
| Spelling (Boll)<ref name=Boll>Template:Cite web</ref> | A | AA | EI | AU | E | E, EE, EH | Ë, Ä | E, EE | I | I, IH, IE | O | O, OH, OO | EU | U | U, UH, UU |
| Pronunciation | Template:IPA | Template:IPA~Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA~Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA~Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
Consonants
Orthography between plain angle brackets follows Wiesemann's<ref name=Wiesemann /> orthography and between italic angle brackets follows Altenhofen et al.'s<ref name=Altenhofen /> orthography.
The contrast between plosives is not of voice, but of articulatory force, a phenomenon observed in some other dialects of German.
Sample
The passages of Luke 23:1-5 in Hunsrik, according to Dr. Ursula Wiesemann's<ref name=Wiesemann /> orthography:
The same Bible section in Hunsrik, according to Dr. Altenhofen's<ref name="Altenhofen" /> orthography:
23 Do sinn die ganze Leit uffgestieh, honn Jesus bis Pilatos genomm unn honn ongefang onsegewwe unn soohte: 2 Mea honn do der Mann ongetroff unser Vollek om uffhetze. Der is degeche ‘em Kaiser Steier bezoohle unn sooht weer der Messias unn Keenich. 3 Do hot de Pilatos gefroht: Bist du der Judde seine Keenich? Is wohr, hot Jesus geantwott. 4 Do hot Pilatos fer der hoche Priester unn zum Vollek gesooht: Ich kann kee Schuld on dem Mann finne! 5 Awer die honn ongehall unn honn gesooht: Der tut Unoddnung onrichte unninch’em Vollek mit sein Untricht iwerall in Judea. In Galilea hot er ongefang, un jetz is er do bei uns!
The same Bible section in Luxembourgish:Template:Efn
Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In Standard German:
Template:Lang<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
And in English:
23 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King." 3 And Pilate asked him, saying, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" And he answered him and said, "Thou sayest it." 4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, "I find no fault in this man." 5 And they were the more fierce, saying, "He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place."
See also
- Geographical distribution of German speakers
- Brazilian German
- German Brazilians
- Heimat (film series)
- Transylvanian Saxon, another dialect similar to Moselle Franconian
Notes
References
External links
Template:Wiktionary Template:Incubator
- Template:Cite news
- Template:Cite web
- Os imigrantes alemães e a sua cozinha/German Immigrants and Their Cuisine (in Portuguese and German)
- Katharinensisch (German – out of the various titles, seek the one titled Katharinensisch)
- Hunsrik verb conjugator
- YouTube videos:
- interview with Hunsrückisch speaker from the town of Roque Gonzales, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
- Gespräch uff Riograndenser Hunsrückisch mit Selma Beppler - im Mitte von 2012 uffgenoom
- documentary Viver no Brasil falando Hunsrückisch (Living in Brazil speaking Hunsrückisch).
- conversation between two Hunsrückisch speakers from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
- interview with Hunsrückisch speaker from the town of Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- interview with a couple of Hunsrückisch speakers from the town of Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- Portuguese-Hunsrik online dictionary
- Information at Omniglot
Template:Languages of Brazil Template:German language varieties outside Europe Template:Germanic languages