Riograndenser Hunsrückisch

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Riograndenser Hunsrückisch (hunsriqueano riograndense) is a Brazilian variation of the German dialect Hunsrückisch, which is originally from the Hunsrück region of Germany (Rheinland-Pfalz).

Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has been spoken and developing in Brazil for almost two hundred years and has been greatly influenced by other German dialects (such as Pomeranian or Pommersch-Platt and Plautdietsch) and also by other immigrant languages (such as Portuguese and Italian or Talian).

(Talian is a uniquely Brazilian form of Italian that emerged in the Italian settled, traditional wine-producing region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.) Here is an example of the Talian influence in Riograndenser Hunsrückisch: "Awa wie kann das doch sin, Polenta mit Rinsfleisch?" "-Ecco, hait hon mea Polenta mit Rinsfleisch!"

Regardless of the foreign borrowings, it is still not considered as a German creole or a dialect of a German creole because both grammar and vocabulary are still German.

Although Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has long been the most widely spoken German dialect in southern Brazil, like all other minority languages in the region, it is experiencing very strong decline - especially in the last three or four decades.

A strong stigma has been forming around the public use of this language in southern Brazil. Today it is spoken mostly in private, in family circles and by older folks and in the rural areas. It is very common for people not to admit that they know it and speak it in their most private environs.

This might have been the result of Brazil's stance during World War II. Even though president Getúlio Vargas flirted with the Germans during his term, Brazil ended up lining up with the Allies and sent troops to fight in Europe. During the War, German immigrants in Brazil were prohibited from speaking German in public, lest they be imprisoned as political prisoners. In addition, Portuguese was enforced in every village, even though there were many inhabitants who spoke German only. It created an atmosphere of fear among German descendants that can be held accountable for the decline in the status of German (or Hunsrückisch) as a language in Rio Grande do Sul.