As may be inferred from chapter I, the German immigration into Brazil
antedating the nineteenth century was quite insignificant. Beginning
with the early years of that century, however, there was a steady
current of new settlers from the German-speaking sections of Europe into
the southern part of the country. The people who made up this current
settled, particularly during the early years, in small, widely separated
colonial nuclei where they found themselves more or less thoroughly cut
off from the outside world and its influences. It is not surprising,
therefore, to find that these people have developed a new dialect which
we may call "Brazilian German."
The Germanic settlers from Europe who had come to Brazil found
themselves located in surroundings radically different from the ones to
which they had been accustomed in the land of their nativity. Physically
they had to adapt themselves to a new climate. From the moment of their
arrival on the parcel of land allotted to them they were in contact with
many objects for which their mother tongue offered no designation. The
animals, plants, insects and even the agricultural implements in the new
home land had, to a large extent, names for which the German language
offered no equivalent. As a result, many non-germanic words had to be
immediately adopted.
In reference to the older colonies, the German-speaking immigrants from
any particular section of Germany, Switzerland or Austria would more or
less settle in a particular section of Brazil. Thus we have Petropolis
in Rio de Janeiro settled by former inhabitants of the Coblenz district
and Blumenau in Santa Catharina settled largely by Pomeranians. In a
general way it may be stated that the older colonies were in this
respect relatively homogenious, while those founded since the middle of
the past century drew their settlers to a larger extent from different
German-speaking sections of Europe.
The settlers, largely drawn from the agricultural class, naturally
brought with them from Europe a variety of German dialects. These were
more or less preserved depending on the relative isolation of the
colonies. In cases where a considerable and constant influx of settlers
either by direct or indirect immigration was kept up after the first
years of the history of any particular colony the original dialect
largely gave way to a modified form of High German, due primarily to the
normalizing influence of the German school and church. Such is the case
in the "Stadtplätze"[41] of Dona Francisca, Blumenau, Santa Cruz and São
Lourenço.
The preceding statements are intended to present, as it were, the
background or basis on which the new dialect was developed. We now come
to the most potent influence in the formation of that dialect. It is the
Brazilian Portuguese, a language which has no connection with the
Germanic group. In this point, therefore, our case differs radically
from that of the student of the German dialects which have been
developed in North America.
The degree of linguistic influence exerted by the Brazilian Portuguese
on the High German or its various dialects as spoken by the immigrants
varies again according to the relative isolation of the settlements. We
have degrees ranging from that of the old settlements in the Santo Amaro
district of São Paulo,[42] where the German language has practically in
its entirety given way to the Brazilian Portuguese, to that of some of
the sections of the "municipios"[43] of Blumenau in Santa Catharina and
São Leopoldo in Rio Grande do Sul where a modified German has not only
held its own among the inhabitants of German extraction, but has also
become the language of parts of the Luso-Brazilian[44] and negro
elements as well.[45] About half way between these two extremes we might
range the case of Petropolis in Rio de Janeiro.