The German Element in Brazil Part 3

[Footnote 33: _Cf._ Ludwig, p. 84.]

[Footnote 34: A particularly strong current of German settlers has in recent years been moving into Ijuhy, mostly by indirect immigration.]

[Footnote 35: _Cf._ report of the inspector C. Lila da Silveira in _Relatorio_.]

[Footnote 36: About equal to that of the United States without the colonies and Alaska, but with the state of Texas doubled.]

[Footnote 37: The study of emigration reports in European archives does not help us much because by no means did all persons listed as emigrants for Brazil finally arrive in the latter country.]

[Footnote 38: In order to enable the reader to put a correct valuation on the popular bugaboo, the "perigo allemo" (German peril), the following facts are noted by way of comparison:

According to the statistics above referred to, the German immigrants occupy fourth place in point of numbers for the period 1820-1915, inclusive. They are superseded by:

a) Italians. First mentioned in the records 1836.

Total to 1862.................................... 209 Total to and including 1915...................... 1,348,777

b) Portuguese. First noted in 1837.

Total to and including 1915...................... 977,524

c) Spaniards. First noted 1841.

Total to 1868.................................... 274 Total to and including 1915...................... 470,107]

[Footnote 39: Dr. Ernst Wagemann, of the Kolonialinst.i.tut, Hamburg, recently estimated the German population of Espirito Santo at 20,000-30,000, according to statements by W. Munzenthaler, German Consular-General in Rio.]

[Footnote 40: The above estimates refer to conditions at the end of 1915. The estimate for the total population of the country for that year was 23,000,000.]

=CHAPTER II.=

THE BRAZILIAN GERMAN DIALECT.

THE UNDERLYING BASIS AND REASONS FOR THE FORMATION OF THE DIALECT.

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 h.o.m.ogenious, 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 cla.s.s, 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 "Stadtplatze"[41] of Dona Francisca, Blumenau, Santa Cruz and So Lourenco.

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 So 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 So 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.

BRAZILIAN GERMAN WORD FORMS.

The following general principles are observed in connection with the dialect which has been developed by the German element in Brazil.

Nouns form by far the greatest number of words taken over, followed next in order by verbs, exclamatory words and phrases, adjectives and adverbs. The last two appear relatively rarely.

OBSERVATIONS ON WORDS FROM THE BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE.

I. Nouns.

A. Masculines.

1) In the case of masculines the vowel ending is as a rule dropped, e.g.,

_Brazilian_ _Brazilian_ _Portuguese._ _German._ _English._

abatimento... abatiment... discount.

campo........ camp........ field, plain.

faco-....... fac......... hunting-knife.

intendente... intendent... administrator.

pasto........ past........ pasture.

2) The same holds for words of the following type where there have been further orthographical changes with preserve, however, the same phonetic values.

_Brazilian_ _Brazilian_ _Portuguese._ _German._ _English._

macaco....... makak....... monkey.

trapiche..... trapisch.... warehouse (on the wharf).

3) Internal phonetic changes have taken place in such words as:

_Brazilian_ _Brazilian_ _Portuguese._ _German._ _English._

kaschero..... kaschor..... shop-man, clerk (in a store).

municipio.... munizip..... district.

B. Feminines.

In feminines the final vowel '_-a_' is as a rule weakened to _'e'_, e.g.,

_Brazilian_ _Brazilian_ _Portuguese._ _German._ _English._

capoeira..... capoeire.... copse.

carreta...... carrete..... cart.

garaffa...... garaffe..... bottle.