Talian (Venetian: [taˈljaŋ], Portuguese: [tɐliˈɐ̃]), or Brazilian Venetian,^[2] 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]

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Talian
taliàn
Native to	Brazil[1] (co-official language in Serafina Corrêa and Flores da Cunha)
Native speakers	(undated figure of 500,000[citation needed])
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Romance Italo-Western Western Romance (unclassified) Venetian Talian
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Rio Grande do Sul  Santa Catarina  Paraná  Espírito Santo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	tali1266
IETF	vec-BR

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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.

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]

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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.^[17] According to some estimates, there are up to one million Italian descendants; Ethnologue reported 4,000,000 Italian descendants in the year 2006,^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[11][20][21] In 2009, the city of Serafina Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, elected Talian as co-official language, alongside Portuguese.^[22][23] 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.^[24] In 2019 Nova Erechim was recognized as the capital of Talian in Santa Catarina.^[25] In 2021, Governor Ratinho Júnior sanctioned state law 20,757, which makes the municipality of Colombo the capital of Talian in Paraná.^[26][27][28]

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

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